Dario Franchitti

Template:Former Champ Car driver

Dario at the 2007 Long Beach Grand Prix

Dario's car being pushed up to qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500

Dario waiting to qualify, May 12, 2007 at Indy

Dario relaxes at Indy for a few minutes with his wife, Ashley Judd, in 2007

Dario Franchitti (b. 19 May, 1973 in Bathgate, West Lothian) is a Scottish race car driver of Italian descent. He currently competes in the Indycar series, formerly drove in the CART series, and won the rain shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500. He also competes in the American Le Mans Series.

Career history

Early career

Dario began his racing careers in karts, winning the 1984 Scottish Junior Championship, 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 4 victories in 1991.

He moved up to Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1992, where he joined Paul Stewart Racing. In his first year, he finished 4th in the overall championship, and was named the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year. He won the championship in 1993.

He graduated to the British Formula Three Championship in 1994, where he finished fourth and winning one race in his first year. However, he was not retained for 1995.

He then drove in the German Touring Car Championship and the related International Touring Car Championship finishing 5th and 3rd respectively. He continued in the ITCC in 1996, finishing fourth overall with one race win.

CART

In 1997, Dario made his US debut in the CART series with Hogan Racing. His best finish was ninth place. In 1998 he joined Team Green, the forerunner to Andretti Green Racing, finishing 3rd in the season standings with 3 wins and 5 pole positions.

Franchitti finished as the runner-up in the 1999 CART series behind Juan Pablo Montoya. Both drivers finished the season with a score of 212 points, but Montoya had more wins in the year (seven, to Franchitti's three) and was thus crowned champion. Franchitti's close friend Greg Moore died in a crash during the final race of the year.

A heavy crash in pre-season testing the next year ruined his 2000 season, and he only won once in 2001.

In 2002 he won the Vancouver Molson Indys. He dedicated his win to Greg Moore, who lived in Vancouver before dying in 1999. He finished 4th 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.

Franchitti returned to the cockpit in 2004, and won races at Milwaukee and Pikes Peak.

On January 3, 2007, Andretti Green Racing announced that Dario had re-signed for the IRL team for a tenth consecutive season in American Open Wheel racing. He will also undertake a limited programme driving an Acura-powered Courage in the American Le Mans Series, teaming up with long-time AGR team-mate Bryan Herta and Dario's brother, Marino Franchitti. [1]. 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 155. The race was halted due to rain three laps later.

Personal Life

Franchitti has been married to American actress Ashley Judd since 2001. The ceremony was held at Skibo Castle near Dornoch, Scotland. They now reside near Franklin, Tennessee, USA.

He is a graduate of Stewart's Melville College and is also a supporter and season ticket holder of Celtic Football Club.

American Open Wheel results

CART Champ Car career

Yr	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	SUR 9	LBH 12	NAZ 13	RIO Ret	GAT Ret	MIL 16	DET 13	POR Ret	CLE 11	TOR Ret	MIC Ret	MDO 11	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LAG 13	FON DNP					20th	10
1998	Team Green	MIA 9	MOT 8	LBH 2	NAZ Ret	RIO Ret	GAT Ret	MIL 4	DET 4	POR Ret	CLE 3	TOR Ret	MIC Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 1	VAN 1	LAG 4	HOU 1	SUR 2	FON Ret			3rd	160
1999	Team Green	MIA 3	MOT Ret	LBH 2	NAZ 8	RIO 2	GAT 3	MIL 7	POR 3	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR 1	MIC 5	DET 1	MDO 3	CHI 2	VAN 10	LAG Ret	HOU 2	SUR 1	FON 10		2nd*	212*
2000	Team Green	MIA 11	LBH Ret	RIO 11	MOT 2	NAZ Ret	MIL 6	DET 4	POR 9	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIC 3	CHI Ret	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 2	LAG 3	GAT Ret	HOU Ret	SUR Ret	FON Ret		13th	92
2001	Team Green	MTY 9	LBH 6	FTW NH	NAZ 8	MOT Ret	MIL 9	DET 2	POR 6	CLE 1	TOR Ret	MIC 2	CHI 15	MID 16	ROA Ret	VAN 9	LAU Ret	ROC 9	HOU 2	LAG Ret	SUR Ret	FON Ret	7th	105
2002	Andretti Green	MOY 2	LBH 9	MOT 3	MIL Ret	LAG Ret	POR 3	CHI 3	TOR Ret	CLE Ret	VAN 1	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	MON 1	DEN Ret	ROC 1	MIA 10	SUR 7	FON Ret	MEX 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 career results

(Races in Bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2002	Andretti Green	HMS	PHX	CAL	NZR	IND 19	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2			44th	11
2003	Andretti Green	HMS 7	PHX Ret	JPN	IND	TXS	PPIR 4	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	STL	KTY	NZR	CHI	CAL	TX2		25th	72
2004	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	PHX Ret	JPN 7	IND 14	TXS 2	RIR 12	KAN 4	NSH Ret	MIL 1	MIS Ret	KTY 6	PPIR 1	NZR 3	CHI Ret	CAL 6	TX2 Ret		6th	409
2005	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	PHX 4	STP 3	JPN Ret	IND 6	TXS 8	RIR 2	KAN 4	NSH 1	MIL 2	MIS 8	KTY Ret	PPIR 7	SNM 8	CHI 12	WGL 3	CAL 1	4th	498
2006	Andretti Green	HMS 4	STP Ret	JPN 11	IND 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	JPN 3	KAN 2	IND 1	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	MIS	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	4th*	131*

* 2007 season currently underway

Years	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships	Teams	Total Points
6	55	3	5	10	20	1 (2007)	0	1	1,432

Indy 500 results

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

External links

• Driver web site
• Driver details at www.indycar.com