OBSCURE F1 A-Z: DANNY ONGAIS

In this 26 part series of posts I will be going through the alphabet and for each letter, a profile piece on an obscure driver - some you may have heard of before some you may never knew even sat in an F1 car let alone raced one. I have chosen a driver for each letter choosing them based on their surnames.

Danny Ongais was active in Formula One for two years from 1977 - 1978 and managed to enter just six races starting only four of them. The American born driver made his F1 debut at the 1977 United States Grand Prix a race which would end just six laps in after an accident.

In 1978 he made his final F1 appearance at that years Dutch Grand Prix where he failed to qualify which back then meant you were unable to officially enter the race. Ongais' best finish was a seventh place - his F1 career never really took off with Ensign, Penske and Shadow with;

0 Fastest Laps

0 Pole Positions

0 Career Points

0 Podiums

0 Wins

Ongais left F1 to try his hand at the Indy 500 and in 1996 he raced the Indy 500 after being called up to replace Scott Brayton who had been killed in a Friday practice session - Ongais started 33rd and managed a very respectable seventh place finish at 53 years old - the oldest driver to have competed in the Indy 500.