Fox Chapel's Chip Ganassi celebrates race team's 30th anniversary

When Chip Ganassi was a young kid, he always found himself on something with an engine. Whether it was a go-kart, a dirt bike, a snowmobile or a car, Ganassi loved to just go.

“I sort of had a fossil-fuel-fired youth,” Ganassi said. “I was always racing one thing or another.”

Now, Ganassi is the owner of Chip Ganassi Racing, which is one of the most successful motorsports teams in the industry and is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year.

Thirty years in a business filled with innovation, new technology and fast-moving cars is an accomplishment in itself. But Ganassi has taken it to the next level in three decades of ownership.

CGR Racing is currently fielding five cars across NASCAR and the NTT IndyCar Series and since 1990, Ganassi’s first year in business, the team has won 19 series championships and tallied over 220 victories.

Ganassi said the success has been developed from the people he’s encountered along the way, but when he first started out, winning was the least of his worries.

“You certainly dream of one day, that (the business) would be something,” Ganassi said. “But, quite frankly, when you’re first getting started, I remember the first year I was in business, I just wanted to make sure I was in business for a second year and so on and so forth. For a couple of years there, you’re just trying to make sure you can make it in the business.”

Ganassi made it through those first few years, and as time went on, the team started winning. Michael Andretti won the team’s first race in 1994 on the IndyCar circuit in Australia. Seven years later, Sterling Marlin captured the team’s first NASCAR race at Michigan.

The organization has also earned historical wins along the way in some of the industry’s most iconic races. It’s captured eight wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, four Indianapolis 500s, the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2010, CGR won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in a single season, and Ganassi became the only team owner in history to do so.

“It’s just been a ride that I wouldn’t trade for anything,” Ganassi said. “Whether it’s been the great people you get to work with, the great partners and just the people you meet. It’s a lot of fun to be able to make my living in sports, and motorsports is even better.”

Ganassi’s success isn’t something that’s come easily. Over the course of his ownership, the Fox Chapel native and his company have had to overcome changes within the sport.

From technological shifts to business dilemmas, Ganassi said change is a constant in the sports business.

“I remember someone told me once, ‘If you don’t like change, you’ll like your relevancy even less,’” Ganassi said. “So you have to accept change in this business, in any business actually. That was something that sports teaches you early on. You gotta be able to accept change, almost embrace it, and it makes it easier if you do that.”

Over the years, CGR has won races and championships with eight different manufacturers — Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Dodge, Oldsmobile, Lexus and BMW — and has employed a total of 88 drivers.

Developing solid relationships with his drivers, his partners and his employees over the years is something that he believes has contributed to his company’s success the most.

“I’ve been blessed to work with some great people over the years, and it makes my job easier,” Ganassi said. “Hopefully it makes for a better company, too. We’ve had a lot of people that have been with us for over 20 years in the business.”

Over the past 30 years, Ganassi has turned CGR Racing into one of the most successful teams in the motorsports industry. He doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“I’ll see you at 60 years,” Ganassi said. “Thirty more.”