By ANDREW CHERNOFF
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Tony Kanaan may have retired from the NTT IndyCar Series as a driver, but he is still spending a lot of time around the sport he loves.
The 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner has been at the track a bunch, working as a special advisor for Arrow McLaren. In fact, he was recently given a new title as the team’s sporting director.
He’s not only spending time at physical racetracks, though, because he’s also spending a lot of time at virtual racetracks.
“Since the pandemic, we’ve been racing simulators a lot,” Kanaan told News 8 Sports’ Andrew Chernoff. “Simulators are a big part of every racecar driver and team’s life because you don’t get to test all the time.”
Kanaan is a big fan of the sim racing world, and a couple of weekends ago, he unveiled his new private simulator center in Westfield.
Kanaan says he needed a place to park his racing bus in the winter, so he used that as an “excuse” to get a warehouse.
Once he got the warehouse, Kanaan says he started thinking about everything he could use the facility for.
“Let’s build four or five (simulators) and invite some people to have some fun,” Kanaan said.
Kanaan says that down the road, the new facility could be used to host things like sponsor events, birthday parties, or watch parties.
“I’m really proud of it, to be honest,” Kanaan said. “I’ve always worked on my race cars, my go-karts and I’ve built everything that is here with three of my buddies. So, every single thing you see here apart from the cabinets, I built it… Every sim, every wire. So, I’m really proud to see it running.”
The sim center is also a look back at Kanaan’s racing career. There are plenty of memories on the walls, on shelves, and on tabletops. The sim center is also a look back at Kanaan’s racing career. There are plenty of memories on the walls, on shelves, and on tabletops.
“My first-ever trophy in go-karts when I was eight years old is here,” Kanaan said. “Some of my helmets are here. Every track that I had my big wins, it’s on the wall.”
In a sense, the new facility is a museum of Kanaan’s career as well.