Wild Championship Ride!

Dario Franchitti Wins IRL Title

By Bill Moore   Photos by Butch Noble and The Author

After winning the Indianapolis 500, to make himself the first Scotsman to win at the Brickyard since Jim Clark did it back in 1965, Dario Franchitti had an up and down season -- mostly up, up and away, and down, down . . . and down over the final five races of the season!

Remember, at both Kentucky and Michigan, wheel-to-wheel contact during those races meant that Dario became an all too frequent flyer . . . and only the fact that IndyCars have become safe cocoons for their drivers was he able to survive horrific airborne crashes with nothing more than a scratch on his nose.

Then, in the final race of the season, trailing in the Indy Racing League points championship at that moment in time out on the track at the Chicagoland Speedway, he combined racing skills with racing luck to win the event and the 2007 IRL championship when fellow title contender Scott Dixon lost the lead and the laurels when, with two turns to go, he ran out of fuel and Dario motored past.

We picked up on Dario and Andretti Green Racing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, where that team and several others spent a full day of testing around the difficult 2.26-mile, 11-turn road course a week before the Motorola 300. Dario was fastest on that test day, and in qualifying for the race that ran on August 26th.

Yikes!

All in a single moment Franchitti pissed off the boss, angered the 20-year-old son, lost the race to New Zealander Scott Dixon, fell out of the championship lead . . . and probably strengthened his own resolve to seek employment driving a NASCAR stock car in 2008. (Rumors have it that he WILL drive the No. 40 Dodge currently being driven for Target Ganassi Racing by David Stremme).

In the final stages of the Motorola 300 Dario continued, but critical components of his nose wing were fluttering, changing the handling of the racecar dramatically. Caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to stop for repairs and give up all chance for victory, he continued on at a reduced pace, to be passed first by Dixon and then Helio Castroneves. Dixon won $131,400 for his efforts, while Franchitti brought home only $92,050.

Worse than the third-place finish were the angry words after the race, coming from both the father and son Andrettis. And, you've gotta know, in private the words could have been tainted by additional poison. The centerpiece for Michael Andretti's jab at the track was this: Marco's dad, focused on Franchitti, said, "I hope he sleeps well tonight."

Franchitti, for his part, said, "Michael's in an awkward position as a team owner and a father." And at that point, Dario danced away as best he could, with his wife, actress Ashley Judd.

In the overall scheme of things at Infineon Raceway, it was Dixon taking the win, followed by Castroneves, Franchitti, Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr.

In the week following the Motorola 300 at Infineon Raceway, the family feud continued. Franchitti apparently talked with Marco Andretti in the week after the Infineon race, but not team owner Michael. Dario said, "I've talked to Marco, which for me was important. It was good to talk to Marco and get clear there.

"I wasn't very impressed with the reaction I've had from Michael, I'd have to say. At some point we'll try to sort it out as we've always done." And, he added, "This isn't the first time we've had disagreements on the team between drivers and owners. We'll try to talk about it. I disagree with what he said. I was not happy with his (Michael Andretti's) comments and I've made that plain."

All talk of a family feud, though, seemed to be resolved once the race around the 2.0-mile Belle Isle racecourse in Detroit got started. And, it was Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan who collected the checkered flag.

The excitement, though, took place a few places back and involved both Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Dixon closing in on Buddy Rice who was in second place, when Rice ran out of fuel and Scott collided with him. But as Dario cruised through, Scott rolled back into his way and collected him as well. Michael Andretti felt Dixon had intentionally wrecked Dario, but Dario made like a duck and let the incident slide -- especially given the fact that when emergency personnel arrived, they cleared the Scotsman with the Italian name first, so he finished in sixth ahead of Dixon's eighth to gain the points lead going into the finale at Chicagoland's 1.5-mile oval.

Equally important in Detroit, Danica Patrick (who was voted the IRL's most popular driver for the third straight year) had a strong race and finished a career-best second.

Despite starting on the pole in Chicago, Franchitti trailed Dixon for almost the entire race -- until having a marginally more fuel efficient car decided his fate. That's somewhat ironic, because all of the IRL cars are the same combination of Dallara chassis and Honda engine.

At the end of the race, at the end of the 2007 season, Franchitti had 637 points to Dixon's second-place total of 624, and each had scored four victories. Franchitti's teammates also did well, with Tony Kanaan in third place with 575 points and five wins, Danica in seventh with 424 points followed by Marco Andretti in 11th with 350 points, for what had to be a disappointing sophomore season. Overall, Dan Wheldon was fourth (466 points, two wins), Sam Hornish Jr. was fifth (465, one win) and Helio Castroneves was sixth (446, one win).

While the margin of victory in the finale was 1.8439 seconds, Dixon was rolling with a dead engine, and Franchitti didn't have enough fuel to make it back to the pits. So, in the end, both drivers were sitting by themselves at the side of the track, leaving Dario's wife, Ashley Judd, to speak to the TV commentators. Like any good wife, she was talking about safety for her husband, and damning the IRL for allowing Milka Duno to run at a snail-like crawl around every racetrack they run on, creating in the process a dangerous situation. You can bet she'll feel better when her man is sitting in the comparative safety of a NASCAR stockcar in 2008.

In the Sideshow!

In Saturday's Armed Forces Grand-Am 250 at Infineon Raceway, it had been a battle of second-generation racing stars as Alex Gurney overtook David Donahue on the penultimate lap to win, springing he and his teammate, Jon Fogarty (yes, that Fogarty) into the lead for the Rolex Sports Car Series championship. On the 96th lap of the 97-lap race, Gurney took the lead on Turn 4. Finishing third in the race was Scott Pruett.

That championship was resolved over a long weekend (September 15-16) of racing in Tooele, Utah, where the Sunchaser 1000 took place at the monstrous 4.486-mile, 20-turn Miller Motorsports Park. Going in, Gurney/Fogarty held a 1-point lead over Pruett/Felix Sebates. In the end it was the team of Jim Matthews, Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay winning the race in their Riley-Matthews Pontiac Riley . . . and the Infineon winners capturing the season championship. Alex Gurney and John Fogarty got the title in their GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley thanks to an eighth-place finish while Pruett/Sebates took a ninth.