INDIANAPOLIS – Tony Kanaan believes Andre Ribeiro was a driver who helped create the path for talented Brazilian racers to make it to IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500.
Ribeiro passed away Sunday at the age of 55 from cancer in Brazil.
“I knew Andre Ribeiro really well,” the 2004 NTT IndyCar Series champion and 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner said. “Andre, after Emerson Fittipaldi, was the guy who opened the doors. He was the guy that came to Indy Lights and got together the kids – myself and Helio Castroneves. He was racing for Steve Horne and showed us the path.
“I have to say, if it wasn’t for Andre, I wouldn’t have looked to come to Indy Lights.”
Ribeiro was part of a rookie class at the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 that included fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran and Christian Fittipaldi. Drivers that would soon follow included Brazil’s Helio Castroneves, Kanaan, Bruno Junqueira and Cristiano da Matta.
He won four races as an Indy Lights rookie in 1994 for Horne’s Tasman Racing. Ribeiro started 12th and finished 18th in his only Indianapolis 500 in 1995 in the LCI International Reynard Honda.
He scored a victory in CART’s first race in Brazil in 1996 when he defeated Al Unser Jr. He scored three CART wins.
Ribeiro joined Roger Penske’s CART team in 1998, but after 68 career starts, he retired at the end of that season at the age of 32. He returned to Brazil to run a large group of auto dealerships owned by Penske in Sao Paulo.
“It’s really sad,” Kanaan said. “Completely unexpected. It looks like he didn’t tell anybody. I was pretty shocked this morning to find out.
“My plan was to put it on the pole and then give it to him, but I think he will be happy with this result.”
Kanaan qualified fifth, the middle of row two, for the 105th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday in the No. 48 American Legion Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.