A graduate of the Kentucky Military Institute with the “Hollywood” tag, an image he never liked, Danny Sullivan is the son of a building contractor from Louisville, Kentucky. This popular American who celebrates the big 5-0 this millennial year, started out as many other fellow European and Latin American drivers: at the famous Jim Russell Racing School, based at Snetterton back in 1971.
Prior to that the multi-talented Sullivan held odd jobs such as a lumberjack in the Adirondack Forest, a New York cab driver and also a waiter at a posh New York restaurant. His looks also made him a sometime model. And then he decided to become a racing driver. That would make sense indeed…
Untypically, Danny’s career began in England and he never drove ovals until joining the CART scene in 1982! Back to the early years, he drove a season of Formula Fords in 1972. In 1974 he distinguished himself by never finishing worse than third in a total of 12 F3 races while for the rest of the decade he spent climbing the career ladder from F3 to F2 and Formula Atlantic.
For 1980 he moved on to the SCCA Can-Am single-seater sportscar series, a career path many drivers explored during the late 1970s. The cars were similar to many Interserie cars of the 1990s: in effect a single-seater formula car with the wheels covered. The cars were generally sportscar-bodied Formula 5000 cars. Notable drivers included Keke Rosberg and Patrick Tambay. Danny finished 6th overall in the final standings and was named Can-Am Rookie of the Year in 1980.
He continued in Can-Am for 1981-’82 when he took his first win at the Las Vegas race on the Caesar’s Palace parking lot in the 1981 season finale and finished fourth in the overall standings. In the 1982 series Danny finished 3rd overall while again winning the Las Vegas round of the championship. Now he was driving for the Budweiser-sponsored Paul Newman team. As he gained in reputation, also in 1982 Danny made his Indycar debut when he joined the Forsythe-Brown team. (Alongside team owner Forsythe, co-owner Garvin Brown was the owner of the famous Tennessee-based bourbon maker Jack Daniels.) Remarkably, Danny made it to the podium with a record third-overall finish in his first ever CART race at Atlanta. He then also did his first Indy 500 race, sadly wiping out his Cosworth-powered March 82C on the 148th lap when he hit the outside retaining wall.
In 1983, Danny suddenly found himself in Grand Prix racing but at the season came to a close he was out again. At the wheel of the second Benetton-backed Tyrrell, Sullivan never achieved much success in the world’s top series, his best performance coming in the non-championship Race of Champions. His dice with World Champion Keke Rosberg, the two touching each other more than once was a thrill to watch and marked the highlight of Danny’s Formula One career. Apart from that remarkable performance, a fifth at Monaco gained him two World Championship points, his normally-aspirated Tyrrell 011 less handicapped on the street track against the growing numbers of turbo cars.
He would now rejoin CART and would remain there for the rest of his career. In semi-retirement he made a few appearances in sportscars towards the end of the 1990s.
With Team Shierson for 1984, he was an immediate hit in the Domino Pizza car. Driving a Lola T800 he won at Cleveland, Pocono and Montreal. This attracted the attention of Roger Penske who had no doubt in signing him for 1985, putting him behind the wheel of a Miller-sponsored March 85C. This was the year he made his famous “spin-and-win” at the Indy 500 when while leading he lost his car on lap 120 and did a full 360 – actually it was a 400-degree spin. He was lucky not to hit anything and was able to continue. The engine almost stalled during the spin but he managed to get it going again. After pitting for fresh tires he dropped to second and found that the car was handling better than before his spin! He regained his lead on lap 140.
While still in the lead on lap 192 the final yellow of the race came out. When the green flag dropped again at the end of the 197th lap only Mario Andretti and Roberto Guerrero were on the same lap. It would be three-lap dash to the finish. On lap 198 lap Danny led by 2.4 seconds. Both Danny and Mario did their fastest lap on lap 199 and when the white flag came out Danny was still leading by 2.5 seconds. They remained hard on the throttle. Finally, when the double-checkers came out Mario had lost the battle with 2.477 seconds…
Danny had turned into a superstar of American racing. He appeared in talkshows and also guest-starred in a episode of Miami Vice, which made Danny an instant celebrity outside the motorsport arena.
Sullivan would remain with Penske for six years until the end of the 1990 season. It proved to be a successful cooperation as he added 12 more wins to his first-season tally of 3. His best year was 1988 when at 38 he was crowned CART champion. Four wins and a host of poles proved he was the fastest man around in 1988. That year he was also signed by the crack TWR Silk Cut Jaguar sportscar team for their Le Mans effort that year. Driving a XJR9LM with fellow Americans Davy Jones and Price Cobb he finished a lowly 16th after hitting trouble along the way.
A high-profile signing with the Miller-sponsored Pat Patrick Racing team in 1991 to drive the Alfa-powered March proved unfruitful but in his forties he continued to win while driving for other teams. He never again challenged for the title but was quick enough on his day to rack up a few more wins. For Galles Kraco, at the age of 42, Danny won the Long Beach race in 1992 and finished third in Toronto, the year spent in the unusual Galmer G92. His final win came the following year when still driving for Rick Galles he won the Detroit event.
His career now winding down, Sullivan was forced to take a one-year sabbatical from CART, spending a 1994 season back in Europe driving an Alfa 155 V6 TS in the German Touring Car Championship. He also competed in the inaugural Brickyard 400. Then, late-season testing for PacWest led to contract with them for 1995. So at 45 he finished his single-seater career with a season in a Ford-powered PacWest Reynard 95I. His best result came in Surfers Paradise, taking a fifth.
In semi-retirement he then drove a McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans together with Johnny Cecotto and Nelson Piquet in 1996 before last being seen in a racecar in 1998, finishing a tremendous second at the Daytona 24 Hrs in Porsche 911 GT1 Evo shared with Allan McNish, Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen. He also adds colour to television broadcasts these days and enjoys swimming, skiing, snowmobiling, tennis and racquetball.
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