Dave Reardon: Maui-born auto racer Danny Ongais was never afraid to push limit

Danny Ongais, who risked his life routinely as part of his job — even more than most auto racers — died peacefully at age 79. He passed away due to congestive heart failure Feb. 26 at his home in Anaheim Hills, Calif.

Ongais, who was born in Kahului and started his career racing motorcycles and then cars as a teenager on Maui, went on to international stardom after moving to California.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as a drag racer, but also made 11 Indianapolis 500 starts, raced in Formula 1, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most versatile racers of all time.

“ ‘The Flyin’ Hawaiian’ has earned the reputation as someone who can drive nearly any type of race car as hard as it can possibly be driven,” the hall of fame’s website said of Ongais, who remains the only driver in history to win professionally in drag racing, oval track racing and road racing.

In some ways, the Indy 500 is still a bigger sports event than the Super Bowl. It was even more debatable when Ongais was at his prime, in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Danny Ongais not pushing a car to the limit every time he gets behind the wheel would be like nobody showing up to the Indy 500 — it just doesn’t happen,” wrote Mark Matsunaga, who was sent to cover Ongais for the Honolulu Advertiser in the 1978 race … where around 325,000 people congregated to watch in person.

Despite Ongais’ relative inexperience on the oval and longer races, he had won two of the four previous IndyCar events in ’78 and was one of the favorites to win in his second of 11 starts at the Brickyard. He was front-and-center at the starting line, having qualified second to pole-sitter Tom Sneva.

One handicapper had him at 3-to-1 to win, touting him as “the most special newcomer since Mario Andretti.”

Ongais led for 71 laps, but an engine blowout forced him to settle for 18th place among the 33 racers.

The next year, Ongais was fourth, for his best Indy placing. He accomplished this despite crashing his team’s best car two weeks prior.

His racing philosophy was simple, as quoted by Matsunaga in 1978:

“You run as hard as you can all the time.”

That was often a formula for success, but sometimes disaster.

“Ongais’ notorious willingness to stand on the gas had some frightening consequences,” wrote Preston Lerner in a 2004 MotorSport magazine article. “Over the years he wrecked more cars than all but the most dedicated demolition derby entrants. Most of these crashes weren’t his fault, of course. But how many drivers can say they flipped their F5000 car while being towed back to the pits by a wrecker truck?”

His head-on-crash into a wall at the 1981 Indy 500 looked so bad it prompted a premature announcement of a fatality. Ongais suffered serious internal injuries and a shattered right leg.

But he was back racing a year later.

“I remember everything up until I hit the wall,” Ongais said in 1982. “For some odd reason it never passed through my mind (to retire). The doctors never told me I would never be able to (race again).”

In 1987, a concussion suffered in yet another crash forced him out of the Indy 500. He was replaced by Al Unser, who won it for the fourth time.

Ongais got his turn to compete as an Indy alternate in 1996. This time the circumstances were tragic, as he was called upon to replace Scott Brayton, who had earned the pole position but died in a post-qualifying crash.

It would be the last Indy 500 for Ongais, and due to the circumstances, his most impressive finish. He placed seventh starting from the back row — at age 54.

Ongais was enshrined in the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

He rarely spoke about himself and almost never about his personal life to reporters. His crew members and sponsors claimed to know little or nothing about him away from the track, except that he had a wife and a son. Brian Ongais, Danny’s son, was also a racer, and in 1987 he won the Formula Ford national championship.

Whatever Danny Ongais lacked in media relations did not affect his popularity with fans and his peers, who admired his skill and courage in a sport full of fearless competitors.

“He was very thrilling to watch — if he wasn’t in your car,” said Jim Chapman, race director for Ongais’ team, Vel’s Parnelli Jones. “Nothing frightened him, and that frightened me.”