Dario Franchitti

Dario J. Franchitti (born 19 May, 1973 in Bathgate, West Lothian) is a Scottish racing driver of Italian descent. He formerly competed in the CART series before switching to the IndyCar Series where he was 2007 champion, and won the rain-shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500. He also competed in the American Le Mans Series for Andretti Green Racing with his brother Marino and former IndyCar Series teammate Bryan Herta. Franchitti drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series. He won the 2007 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year award.

Career history

Early career

Franchitti began his racing career in karts, winning the Scottish Junior Championship in 1984, the British Junior Championships in 1985 and 1986 and the Scottish senior title in 1988. He progressed to Formula Vauxhall Junior where he won the championship with four victories in 1991.

He moved up to Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1992, where he joined Paul Stewart Racing. In his first year, he finished fourth in the overall championship, and was named the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year. Staying with the team for the next season, he won the championship in 1993.

He graduated to the British Formula Three Championship in 1994, where he finished fourth and won one race in his first year. However, he was not retained for 1995 which was his final year in single-seaters in Europe.

Instead, Franchitti was contracted by AMG Racing to drive a works Mercedes C-Class in the German Touring Car Championship and the related International Touring Car Championship, where he finished fifth and third respectively. He continued in the ITC in 1996, finishing fourth overall with one race win.

CART

With the demise of the ITC, Mercedes placed Franchitti in Hogan Racing in 1997, making his US debut in the PPG/CART Champ Car World Series where his best finish was a ninth. In 1998 he joined Team Green (forerunner to the current Andretti Green Racing), finishing third in the season standings with three wins and five pole-positions.

Franchitti finished runner-up in the 1999 CART series behind Juan Pablo Montoya. Both drivers scored 212 points, but Montoya had seven wins to Franchitti's three and was crowned champion. Franchitti's close friend Greg Moore died in a crash during the final race of the year at California Speedway in Fontana, California.

A heavy crash in pre-season testing the next year ruined Franchitti's 2000 season, and he only won once in 2001. In 2002 he won the Vancouver Molson Indy. He dedicated his win to Greg Moore, who lived in Vancouver before dying in 1999. He finished fourth in Champ Car in 2002.

IRL

Franchitti moved with the Andretti Green team to the IndyCar Series in 2003 but his season was ended by a back injury sustained in a motorcycle accident while on holiday in Scotland. Franchitti missed most of the year, and his place was taken by Dan Wheldon at Motegi, Robby Gordon at Indianapolis and Bryan Herta for the remainder of the year (with Wheldon taking over a regular role from retiring team boss Michael Andretti). Franchitti returned to the cockpit in 2004, and won races at Milwaukee and Pikes Peak.

On January 3, 2007, Andretti Green Racing announced that Franchitti had re-signed for the IRL team for a tenth consecutive season in American Open Wheel racing. He also undertook a limited programme in the American Le Mans Series driving an Acura ARX-01, teaming up with his younger brother, Marino Franchitti and long-time AGR team-mate Bryan Herta. On May 27, 2007, Franchitti won a rain-shortened Indianapolis 500, finishing under a yellow flag after an accident involving Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti following lap 163. The race was halted due to rain three laps later. His prize money of $1.6m was equal to the entire purse for the 1982 race.

During the 2007 season, Franchitti survived two huge crashes which saw his car flip upside down both times. The first at Michigan saw him tangle with Dan Wheldon resulting in his car flipping before being hit again by Scott Dixon. The contact with Dixon was only inches away from his head and the accident saw seven cars (including Franchitti) retire from the race. The second flip came a week later at Kentucky. As Franchitti crossed the start/finish line to finish the race, the Scotsman who had not realised the chequered flag had been waved continued to race and crashed into the back of Kosuke Matsuura flipping yet again and hitting the outside wall. Franchitti took full responsibility for the incident.

Franchitti finished 1st in points in the 2007 season with four wins finishing ahead of Scott Dixon by just 13 points. Dixon ran out of fuel on the last lap of the season-ending race, allowing Franchitti to take the win and the championship, his first championship win since Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1993.

Franchitti will be returning to the IndyCar series for 2009 in the Target/Ganassi #10 car, replacing Dan Wheldon. It has been confirmed that he will drive in the non points Surfers Paradise race in Australia.

NASCAR

On October 3, 2007, it was announced that Franchitti would move to NASCAR to replace David Stremme in the #40 Fastenal Dodge. He made his stock car debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series on October 5 at Talladega Superspeedway, qualifying 6th and finishing 17th in the #42 Target Dodge Charger for Chip Ganassi Racing. His move to stock cars is similar to his good friend and former CART rival Juan Pablo Montoya's move from Formula 1 to NASCAR in 2006.

Franchitti made his first NASCAR start on October 20, 2007 in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He drove the #41 Target Dodge Ram truck, owned by Cunningham Motorsports, with Brian Pattie from Chip Ganassi Racing serving as crew chief. He would finish 33rd after being plagued by problems with the rear of the car during the race.

Prior the 2008 season, he joined Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas and won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Lexus-Riley. On April 26, 2008, Franchitti suffered a slight left ankle fracture in a hard crash with Larry Gunselman while competing in the Nationwide Series Aaron's 312 race. David Stremme, Ken Schrader, and Sterling Marlin all filled in for him.

On July 1, 2008, Franchitti's #40 Sprint Cup team was disbanded by co-owner Chip Ganassi because of a lack of sponsorship. Franchitti was running 41st in points in the Sprint Cup series at the time, and Ganassi had been funding the team out of his own pocket. The entire #40 team was shut down, and 71 employees were released.

On August 9, 2008 Dario won his 1st ever NASCAR Nationwide Pole at Watkins Glen.

Personal life

Franchitti married American actress Ashley Judd in 2001, at Skibo Castle near Dornoch, Scotland. They now reside near Franklin, Tennessee, United States.

Though Bathgate-born, his family moved to Whitburn when he was eight years old. He is a former pupil of Stewart's Melville College and despite his local football clubs being Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian of Edinburgh, he chose to support Celtic Football Club.

Motorsports Career Results

Touring Car Racing

German Touring Car Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final Pos	Points
1995	AMG Racing	HOC1 3	AVU1 Ret	NOR1 6	DIE1 2	NUR1 Ret	ALE1 2	HOC1 Ret	5th	74
		HOC2 DNS	AVU2 22	NOR2 2	DIE2 4	NUR2 Ret	ALE1 10	HOC2 DNS

International Touring Car Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final Pos	Points
1995	AMG Racing	MUG1 4	HEL1 12	DON1 2	EST1 5	MAG1 Ret									3rd	80
		MUG2 1	HEL2 DNS	DON2 2	EST2 3	MAG2 DNS
1996	AMG Racing	HOC1 3	NUR1 2	EST1 9	HEL1 17	NOR1 5	DIE1 2	SIL1 21	NUR1 3	MAG1 6	MUG1 4	HOC1 Ret	SAO1 13	SUK1 1	4th	171
		HOC2 4	NUR2 8	EST2 10	HEL2 Ret	NOR2 Ret	DIE2 2	SIL2 14	NUR2 3	MAG2 4	MUG2 2	HOC2 7	SAO2 10	SUK2 Ret

American Open-Wheel

(American Open Wheel driver results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1997	Hogan	MIA Ret	SRF 9	LBH 12	NZR 13	RIO Ret	STL Ret	MIL 16	DET 13	POR Ret	CLE 11	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	MDO 11	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LS 13	FON DNP					20th	10
1998	Team Green	MIA 9	MOT 8	LBH 2	NZR Ret	RIO Ret	STL Ret	MIL 4	DET 4	POR Ret	CLE 3	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 1	VAN 1	LS 4	HOU 1	SRF 2	FON Ret			3rd	160
1999	Team Green	MIA 3	MOT Ret	LBH 2	NZR 8	RIO 2	STL 3	MIL 7	POR 3	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR 1	MIS 5	DET 1	MDO 3	CHI 2	VAN 10	LS Ret	HOU 2	SRF 1	FON 10		2nd*	212*
2000	Team Green	MIA 11	LBH Ret	RIO 11	MOT 2	NZR Ret	MIL 6	DET 4	POR 9	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS 3	CHI Ret	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 2	LS 3	STL Ret	HOU Ret	SRF Ret	FON Ret		13th	92
2001	Team Green	MTY 9	LBH 6	TXS NH	NZR 8	MOT Ret	MIL 9	DET 2	POR 6	CLE 1	TOR Ret	MIS 2	CHI 15	MDO 16	ROA Ret	VAN 9	LSZ Ret	ROC 9	HOU 2	LS Ret	SRF Ret	FON Ret	7th	105
2002	Team Green	MTY 2	LBH 9	MOT 3	MIL Ret	LS Ret	POR 3	CHI 3	TOR Ret	CLE Ret	VAN 1	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	MTL 1	DEN Ret	ROC 1	MIA 10	SRF 7	FON Ret	MXC 5			4th	148

* Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya tied on points in the championship, but Montoya was crowned champion because he won 7 races to Franchitti's 3.

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2002	Team Green	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY 19	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2			44th	11
2003	Andretti Green	HMS 7	PHX Ret	MOT	INDY	TXS	PPIR 4	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	STL	KTY	NZR	CHI	FON	TX2		25th	72
2004	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	PHX Ret	MOT 7	INDY 14	TXS 2	RIR 12	KAN 4	NSH Ret	MIL 1	MIS Ret	KTY 6	PPIR 1	NZR 3	CHI Ret	FON 6	TX2 Ret		6th	409
2005	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	PHX 4	STP 3	MOT Ret	INDY 6	TXS 8	RIR 2	KAN 4	NSH 1	MIL 2	MIS 8	KTY Ret	PPIR 7	SNM 8	CHI 12	WGL 3	FON 1	4th	498
2006	Andretti Green	HMS 4	STP Ret	MOT 11	INDY 7	WGL 14	TXS 13	RIR 3	KAN 12	NSH 6	MIL 6	MIS 12	KTY 9	SNM 2	CHI INJ				8th	311
2007	Andretti Green	HMS 7	STP 5	MOT 3	KAN 2	INDY 1	MIL 2	TXS 4	IOW 1	RIR 1	WGL 3	NSH 2	MDO 2	MIS Ret	KTY 8	SNM 3	DET 6	CHI 1	1st	637

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
6	1	65	5	8	15	22	1 (2007)	1

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	28	19
2004	Dallara	Honda	3	14
2005	Dallara	Honda	6	6
2006	Dallara	Honda	17	7
2007	Dallara	Honda	3	1*

* 2007 victory first in race history in a car fueled by bioethanol.

Sports Car Racing

American Le Mans Series results

(American Open Wheel driver results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)