He competed professionally in motorcycle, sports car, CART, IndyCar, Formula One, and drag racing.

A fearless figure on the racing circuit, Ongais was nicknamed "On-the-Gas" and "The Flyin' Hawaiian.

In the 1960s he won multiple drag racing championships and was named one of the National Hot Rod Association’s Top 50 Drivers for 1951-2000.

Eventually progressing through regional series and Formula 5000, Ongais and Field moved to USAC and Indy cars in 1976 under the banner of Interscope Racing.

[3] That year he also ventured into Formula One with the Interscope team, entering the U.S. and Canadian Grands Prix at the end of the season in a year-old Penske PC4.

He crashed out on a wet track at Watkins Glen after moving up early but managed a 7th place in Canada in what would be his best finish in F1.

Ongais won five races:[7] at Ontario, Texas World, Mosport, the Milwaukee, and again at Michigan.

Ongais started in the middle of the front row at the 1978 Indianapolis 500, and dominated the early stages of the race.

Still, those five wins—three on the large superspeedways at Ontario, Texas, and Michigan, one at the short Milwaukee Mile oval, and one road race at Mosport—demonstrated Ongais' versatility as a driver.

He entered the season with the Ensign team, in a year-old N177 chassis, and retired in Argentina and Brazil with brake problems.

Interscope then bought a new Shadow chassis for him to race but he was unable to qualify at Long Beach and also in the Netherlands later in the season.

The highlight of their sports car endeavours during this time was a victory in the 1979 24 Hours of Daytona, with Ongais and Field sharing their Interscope Porsche 935 with Hurley Haywood.

He then competed at the Gould Twin Dixie 125 however bad luck hit Ongais in both races.

Ongais came into the pits on lap 63 as the leader of the race, but problems during the stop caused it to drag on for a disastrous 46 seconds.

Carrying too much speed out of the turn, the car drifted out into the grey and the back end began to slide.

Ongais scored a best finish of 5th place at the Escort Warning Radars 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Ongais finished in 3rd place at the Detroit News Grand Prix at Michigan International Speedway.

After a 9-year hiatus from racing, Ongais was asked by John Menard to fill in for Scott Brayton who was killed during Friday Practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500.

[12] Ongais was notoriously reclusive and a private man, rarely giving interviews and revealing little or no details of his life outside of racing.

[16] Ongais died from congestive heart failure in Anaheim Hills, California, on February 26, 2022, at the age of 79.

[18] His former Indy car competitors remembered him well after his passing, with Mario Andretti calling him “that quiet lion.”[19] Throughout his career, Ongais information listed his birth in 1942.