THE MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW Dario Franchitti
DARIO FRANCHITTI MBE (FOR services to motor racing) is an American idol whose heart remains firmly in his native Scotland where he is a patron of the Jim Clark Museum and where his career began in karting. By the age of just 15 he’d won four championships. Having taken both the Vauxhall Junior and Vauxhall Lotus championships, impressed in Formula 3 and for Mercedes in touring cars, he was offered the job of test driver at McLaren in 1997. He turned it down, preferring to focus on a new career with the Hogan team in CART. It was a good decision. Dario won three races in ’98, was runner-up to Juan Pablo Montoya in the championship in ’99 and, now with Andretti Green, he took his first of three Indy 500 victories and his first of four IndyCar championships in 2007. All the other championships and wins at the Brickyard came with Chip Ganassi where he stayed until an accident ended his career in Houston in October 2013.
These days he’s working with Ganassi as a driver mentor and coach, commentating on Formula E, racing historic cars and working with Gordon Murray on the development of the new V12 T.50 supercar. Motor Sport caught up with this busiest of ‘retired’ racers at Goodwood.
Motor Sport: You’ve just done a two-day trip to Indy and flown in overnight to prepare for Goodwood Members’ Meeting in a Ford GT40. Life is busy for Dario Franchitti.
“Yeah, a damp track in a GT40 is a good way to shake off the jet lag. A wonderful car on a great track. A good start to my day. I just love racing, you know, but I do it for fun, not because I’m desperate to win, so I’m at nine-10ths round
