Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Deadly crash ends Renna’s run to the top

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.

NAME: Tony Renna

AGE: 26 (born Nov. 23, 1976; killed Oct. 22, 2003)

HOMETOWN: Deland, Fla.

RESIDENCE: Las Vegas

RACE TEAM: Ganassi Racing

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Began racing at age 6, winning 252 races in mini-sprints, go-karts, micro-sprints and quarter-midgets. Twice was national quarter-midget champion, then the 1996 rookie of the year in the Barber Dodge Pro Series. Also raced in the Barber Dodge series in 1997 and in the developmental Indy Lights series in 1998-2000. Made IRL debut last year with Kelley Racing as substitute for Al Unser Jr. Competed for Kelley in this year's Indianapolis 500. Joined Ganassi this month as teammate of 2003 series champ Scott Dixon.

PERSONAL: Was a batboy for the Yankees as a youngster. Hobbies included golf and karting.

In that he had recently gotten engaged and finished seventh in May's Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, maybe Wednesday didn't dawn as the best day in Tony Renna's young life.

But it's safe to say it should have been in the top 3.

It was going to be the day he made his debut as driver of one of Chip Ganassi's Indy racecars, which in his sport, is as good as it gets. It's like playing the violin at Carnegie Hall, or center field for the Yankees.

It was only a test session, with just a smattering of mechanics and technicians on hand to witness and record it, but it was the start of the dream career that Renna had spent most of the past two years in Las Vegas trying to jump start.

Cruelly, it lasted all of 3 1/2 laps.

Renna was still getting up to speed during a tire testing session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when the familiar red Target car, the one that had carried Scott Dixon to the Indy Racing League championship only 10 days before, bobbled exiting turn 3 at the sometimes unforgiving Brickyard.

Sadly, Wednesday morning was one of those times Indy's concrete walls weren't accepting apologies.

In less than the time it takes to read this sentence, Tony Renna, perhaps the next big thing in auto racing, was gone. He would have been 27 next month.

"It's just a shame," said Jeff Shaffer, director of operations at the Derek Daly Performance Driving Academy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Renna worked as an instructor last year. "I've known Tony since we raced go-karts together. He was a good character, a good guy, always having fun.

"He was part of the Derek Daly family here. We're trying to run a program today, and it's been a little difficult. It's like losing a family member. Everybody's pretty down."

It was the same way down the road at Dick Cobb Enterprises. You could hear the sadness in the proprietor's voice when he answered the phone and a reporter identified himself.

"He was a super guy," said Cobb, who prepared the late model stock car that Renna drove at the LVMS Bullring last summer when it appeared his Indy-car career might stall out.

"He didn't drink and he didn't smoke."

Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but it's about the ultimate compliment you could pay a racecar driver who grew up in Cobb's era.

About 20 years ago, Cobb was in much the same position as Renna, working hard, driving hard, trying hard to get discovered. But that was in the days you almost had to live in North Carolina to become a NASCAR driver, and Cobb never had a chance, because he never got a chance.

Maybe that's why he took so much interest in Renna's career. He said while Renna's heart was always set on Indy-cars, he had the soul it takes to drive a stock car.

"He could have done anything he set his mind to," Cobb said. "He was committed, he had a lot of talent and nobody ever said a bad word about him."

Cobb said Renna used to joke about driving a car with fenders, so he went out and knocked them off. Renna drove Cobb's car in about six races at the Bullring, most of which ended in crashes that weren't Renna's fault.

"He made the comment that maybe those fenders made the car safe, but they sure are expensive (to replace)," Cobb said.

"What a shame. I hated to see him go."

Renna, who grew up in Deland, Fla., not far from Daytona, was spinning his wheels as a test driver and spotter for the IRL's Kelley Racing team last summer, when Al Unser Jr. entered an alcohol treatment center. While filling in for his famous mentor, Renna finished fourth at Michigan, and this year had a solid month of May at Indianapolis where Tom Kelley, the owner of the team, secured sponsorship to run a third car.

Kelley wanted to run Renna full-time in 2004. But with sponsorship looking bleak, he talked up Renna to his friend and rival car owner Ganassi, when word got out that that Ganassi and driver Tomas Scheckter might part ways.

Soon thereafter, Renna found himself being fitted for one of the most sought- after seats in motor sports.

"I never considered giving up on racing," Renna told ESPN.com's Robin Miller earlier this month about his brief stint with the pack-of-cigarettes-rolled-up-in-the-T-shirt-sleeve Las Vegas late model crowd. "But I did think about getting more involved in other things. I always tried to keep myself in a car of some kind.

"There were some lean times, definitely, but I wouldn't take back any of the last couple years."

Renna went on to talk about the opportunity with Ganassi, which was supposed to be the ride of a lifetime, not the one that would end it.

While I never had a chance to meet Renna, I did edit his column. During the month of May, he wrote four guest columns for the Sun chronicling his Indy 500 experience, which included meeting former President George H.W. Bush, who was a guest of Kelley Racing on race day.

"It was a tremendous honor," Renna began the final sentence of his final column, "something I'll be able to tell my kids about."

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