Tag Archives: Indy 500

We’ll Miss You, Dario

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Dario Franchitti, Long Beach 2009

Just over a month ago, Dario Franchitti suffered a frightening crash on the last lap of the second race of the Houston Grand Prix double-header.  His car was thrown into the catch fencing which caused his car to violently spin through the air while disintegrating.  This was by far the worst IndyCar crash since the 2011 season ending crash that took the life of Dan Wheldon – another case of a car being ripped apart by catch fencing.  Along with countless fans, I breathed a sigh of relieve when we learned that although he was pretty banged up, Dario would be okay.

A week ago, on advice from his doctors, Dario announced that he was retiring from motor racing, effective immediately.  Sadly, the injuries he sustained in Houston were serious enough to put his well-being at grave risk should he consider racing again.

Dario Franchitti, Long Beach 2009

Dario Franchitti – A Humble Hero

Dario closes out his career with four IndyCar titles, three Indy 500 wins, and 31 open wheel wins – one of the most successful all-time US open wheel racers – while being a cheerful, approachable, fan favorite along the way.  One of the special things about Dario is his knowledge, respect, and reverence for the history of the sport and its heroes – especially fellow Scot, Jim Clark.  Strangely though, he consistently and humbly underestimated his place in that history.  He’ll be remembered along with his heroes.

I was fortunate to see him race six times at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, including his 2010 IndyCar victory, once at Auto Club speedway, and meet him at the Monterey Historics races.

Dario Franchitti, Long Beach 2009

Even without the Houston crash, Dario had fewer days in IndyCar ahead of him than behind him.  I did think he had the chance to be a four-time Indy 500 winner, though, having just won his third in 2012.  As a versatile driver and true lover of the sport, I expected Dario to race sports cars for a long time even after an IndyCar career came to a close.  In 2008, he joined fellow Ganassi racers Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas in winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  I could have even imagined him joining Mark Weber on the Porsche LMP1 team sometime in the future.

Dario Franchitti, Auto Club Speedway 2012

I really hope Dario stays involved in IndyCar in some meaningful way – the sport and the series needs him.  Losing him as a driver is a serious blow to Target Chip Ganassi Racing, his teammate Scott Dixon, the entire paddock, and the series.

We’ll miss you, Dario.

Dario Franchitti & Scott Dixon at Auto Club Speedway

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Auto Club Speedway (ACS) in Fontana will be hosting the IZOD IndyCar finale under the lights in September when the series returns to SoCal, and today, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon came to ACS to treat a small group of fans to a lunchtime visit that included interviews, Q&A, a photo session, and a sampling of their signature cuisine.

Dario Franchitti

Scott Dixon

Gillian Zucker, President of Auto Club Speedway was the event host, and she did a nice job of interviewing and engaging the drivers with audience submitted questions. Both of these guys quickly make connections to a crowd and are approachable good sports.

Scott Dixon is currently 4th in the standings and 28 points behind IndyCar series leader Will Power with three races to go.  He has a chance of winning the Championship if he has a couple of good races at Sonoma and Baltimore heading into the finale – especially if Power (1st), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2nd), and Helio Castroneves (3rd) founder.  Dario Franchitti is currently 8th with no realistic chance of defending his Champion status.  Aside from a fabulous month of May that saw him win his third Indy 500, Dario has had a tough year in which just about anything that could go wrong, did.  Aside from trying to take wins, his main role for the rest of the season will be supporting Dixon, his Target Ganassi teammate.

Dario & Scott were having fun!

During the interview we learned that Dario’s family fled Mussolini’s Italy for the ‘place with the worst weather.’  His maternal grandmother is, in fact, Scottish.  Scott Dixon’s wife Emma was a former top middle distance runner for Great Britain.  Dario favors street courses, while Scott favors road courses.

Dario and Scott are both lukewarm on the push-to-pass. In the recent race, the 5 second push-to-pass delay made it confusing and difficult to use it properly at the start. How do you time the boost that will happen 5 seconds in the future when you don’t know exactly when the green flag will drop?  Everybody got it wrong.  Supposedly the delay is going away.

Both of them felt the finale will be an interesting race with changing conditions as the sun goes down – compromising vision – and the track cools off.  500 miles around the Auto Club Speedway will be exciting and tough.

After the interview and a picture session, fans were invited to sample Scott Tots and Franchitti Ziti – really.

The guys with Scott Tots and Franchitti Ziti

Both of these guys are passionate racers, and the fans love them.  They’re great ambassadors for the sport, and I wish them well for the rest of the season.

Scott Dixon & Dario Franchitti

Congratulations to Dario Franchitti

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In one of the most exciting Indy 500 races, Dario Franchitti took his place on the Borg Warner Trophy for the third time.  He withstood an aggressive challenge on the final lap from Takuma Sato, who spun after trying to pass Franchitti on the inside into Turn 1.  Franchitti traded first place with Target Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon multiple times over the last several laps.  Dixon ultimately finished a close second.  Tony Kanaan also mounted a challenge, leading the race as late as lap 193 of 200, and finished third.

The win was a significant vindication for both Target Ganassi and Honda after both had a disappointing qualifying session.  Only one Honda engine was in the top ten grid places at the start, but Honda engines were in the top two cars – Franchitti and Dixon – as well as five of the top ten.  The result was a major disappointment for the Chevrolet powered teams of Andretti Autosport and Team Penske, both of whom did well in qualification.

Dario Franchitti has now joined a very select group of three time Indy500 winners – including some of his heroes.

Ryan Briscoe Takes Pole at Indy

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Ryan Briscoe put in a fantastic four lap qualifying run on a warm afternoon at

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Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach

Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take the pole in next Sunday’s Indy 500.  James Hinchcliffe had been fast all day, and he he had Briscoe beat until the final two corners of his last qualifying lap, but he fell short by 0.0023 seconds – the closest margin in the history of the Indy 500.  That’s the equivalent of 9.168 inches over the four laps.

Hinchcliffe said that he went out too hot and was not able to maintain the pace throughout

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James Hinchcliffe at Long Beach

four laps.  He went out again later trying to beat Briscoe by starting slightly slower and trying to hold his pace throughout; however his first lap was slower than Briscoe’s pole taking average and his speed fell off from there.  Nobody else was able to mount a serious challenge to Briscoe’s pole time, although Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, and Will Power all tried.

The first three rows for running of the 96th Indy 500:

  1. Ryan Briscoe
  2. James Hinchcliffe
  3. Ryan Hurnter-Reay
  4. Marco Andretti
  5. Will Power
  6. Helio Castroneves
  7. Josef Newgarden
  8. Tony Kanaan
  9. EJ Viso

Notably, all three Team Penske drivers made the 90 minute, top nine shootout for pole while none of four Target Ganassi drivers did, and Andretti Autosport has three of the fastest four qualifiers.  IZOD IndyCar points leader, Will Power, will start from 5th.  Rookie Josef Newgarden of the underdog Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team qualified 7th.  Newgarden is also the highest placed Honda powered car on the grid – the other eight of the top nine being Chevrolet powered.  In the rest of the field, Dario Franchitti, reigning IndyCar champion will start 16th, and his teammate Scott Dixon will be 15th on the grid.  IndyCar rookie and 19-year Formula 1 veteran, Rubens Barrichello will start 10th.  SoCal’s Charlie Kimball will start 15th, while his teammate Graham Rahal will be 12th. Last year’s phenom and near winner, JR Hildebrand will start 18th.

Fast Friday Results – Marco Sets Fastest Lap of May at IMS

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Marco Andretti turned the fastest time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the final practice day before Pole Day.  His speed of 227.540 mph (39.5535 lap time) put his Chevrolet powered Andretti Autosport #26 on the top of the sheet ahead of the Ryan Briscoe’s Team Penske#2 by a scant 0.1229 seconds.  Four of Marco’s Andretti Autosport teammates are also in the top ten.

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Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport

The top ten:

  1. Marco Andretti, 227.540
  2. Ryan Briscoe, 226.835
  3. Helio Castroneves, 226.716
  4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 226.400
  5. Scott Dixon, 226.224
  6. James Hinchcliffe, 225.874
  7. Ana Beatriz, 225.653
  8. JR Hildebrand, 225.571
  9. Dario Franchitti, 225.370
  10. Tony Kanaan, 225.322

Current IZOD IndyCar points leader Will Power was in 11th, rookie Josef Newgarden was 13th, and SoCal’s Charlie Kimball was 14th.

The last time someone named Andretti was on pole at the Indy 500 was in 1987, and his name was Mario.  Incidentally, that was also the year Marco was born.