2004 IndyCar champion, 2013 Indy 500 champion, and long-time series fan-favorite Tony Kanaan, who currently serves as the team principal for Arrow McLaren, now has another claim to fame.
During his time at Chip Ganassi Racing, his No. 10 Chevrolet was sponsored by Taylor Swift for the doubleheader race weekend on the streets of Belle Isle, Michigan back in May 2015.
Swift, who is obviously known for a couple things other than sponsoring one of the world's top race car drivers a decade ago, recently got engaged to Travis Kelce, who made his fifth Super Bowl appearance and second with Swift in the crowd this past February for the Kansas City Chiefs, the team he's played for since 2013.
Taylor Swift's IndyCar involvement revisited
Kanaan, who finished the two races in 20th and 13th place, landed this sponsorship through Big Machine Label Group, the company founded and owned by former race car driver Scott Borchetta. Swift formerly made recordings for Borchetta, who also owns the Big Machine Racing team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The sponsorship was tied to Swift's fourth tour, the 1989 World Tour, which had begun just a few weeks prior to that race weekend. A decade later, the popularity of the Wyomissing, Pennsylvania native has only continued to skyrocket. She concluded the Eras Tour, her sixth, at the end of 2024, just in time for another Chiefs playoff run.
After infamously falling behind 34-0 to Swift's hometown team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in Super Bowl LIX, Kelce was forced to consider retirement over the offseason, and there was plenty of speculation that he was leaning in that direction after what was by far the least productive season of his 12-year career.
However, he is set to be back for another season with the Chiefs. Though he is still a three-time Super Bowl champion, and whether he and Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the gang can get a fourth Super Bowl title this coming winter, a fourth ring is now firmly in his sights.
The engagement ironically comes ahead of the 2025 IndyCar season finale, which is also sponsored by Borchetta. Sunday's race at Nashville Superspeedway, in which Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward are set to settle this year's oval championship, is officially called the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix.
We're 99% sure it wasn't planned that way, but it's a funny coincidence, nonetheless. We wish the newly engaged couple well and pray that the media gives them some room to breathe and recognizes there isn't a dire need to show her cheering on the Chiefs from the Arrowhead suite whenever Isiah Pacheco takes a carry for two yards up the middle.