With his good looks and casual charm, Sullivan quickly gained notoriety after his Indianapolis win. He appeared on the ‘Tonight Show,’ guest-starred on an episode of ‘Miami Vice’ and was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People.
Sullivan’s polished, corporate-friendly image didn’t always sit well with rough-and-tumble veteran racers. Similar marketing-driven strategies were later used with great success by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
“That’s really Danny's legacy,” remarked Sullivan’s former boss, Roger Penske. “Even more than his win at Indianapolis or the CART championship he won with us in 1988, he changed the way people look at race car drivers and racing as a whole.”
As a racer, Sullivan’s greatest success came in 1988, when he claimed nine poles, won four races and the CART series championship for Penske. He was extremely competitive at Indianapolis that year, starting from the middle of the front row and leading 91 of the first 94 laps.