Racer Franchitti learns what pleases him
By Racer Franchitti learns what pleases him
ATLANTA -- If there's anything to be learned from Dario Franchitti's
topsy-turvy 2008 season it's that one should to focus on doing something that
challenges them and makes them happy.
After winning the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Racing League IndyCar
Series championship, Franchitti said he didn't feel as motivated as he should
have been to go straight back into another IRL season. So he signed on with car
owner Chip Ganassi to race in NASCAR. He was making progress there, both in the
Sprint Cup and Nationwide series, when Ganassi shut down the Cup team because
of lack of sponsorship. Franchitti continued in the Nationwide Series for a
time then decided to go back to the IndyCar circuit, where he'll run next year
as a teammate to 2008 champion Scott Dixon. This weekend he'll team with Scott
Sharp and David Brabham to drive an Acura for Patron Highcroft Racing in the
Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, part of the American Le Mans Series.
"Obviously it's been an interesting year," Franchitti said. "It's disappointing
that the Cup deal didn't go the way we'd hoped.
"Typical of the way these things normally happen, we were staring to run a lot
better just before it got closed down. At Pocono, Michigan and Loudon [New
Hampshire)] we were running top 15 in those races. We qualified seventh at
Loudon. I was starting to get it, as they say."
It showed in the Nationwide Series when later he won the pole at Watkins Glen
and took the outside pole at Bristol and led 87 laps on the high-banked short
track.
Even as his Nationwide results were showing dramatic improvement, he began to
have renewed interest in open-wheel racing, especially after the reunification
of the two sanctioning bodies - Champ Car and the Indy Racing League - and the
addition of road and street courses to the schedule.
"I was talking to my friends that were still racing [Indy cars]," he said. "And
watching the Indy 500 from afar, it really started to get into my head again
that I wanted to do Indy cars again.
"One of the things I've learned as I've gotten older is that you've got to do
what makes you happy if you can, and that's what I did."
Another open-wheel driver who has had a fling at NASCAR can identify with that.
Adrian Fernandez has run 10 Nationwide Series races for Hendrick Motorsports
over the past four seasons, but he's satisfied running the ALMS. He said it's
not that open-wheel drivers can't run fast in NASCAR cars, it's that it takes
time - lots of it - to learn the nuances of the cars and what adjustments must
be made to be fast at the end of the 500-mile race.
"It's not about being quick," he said. "In testing I was as quick as Jimmie
Johnson and Kyle Busch. But it's the whole weekend and the changes that need to
be made - thousands of little things."
Rather than spend years perfecting his NASCAR skills, Fernandez chose the
ALMS.
"The ALMS is perfect for me," he said. "I don't fancy making NASCAR my career.
I'm satisfied with what I've done. I don't have to prove anything."
One thing that makes both drivers happy is getting to compete in a race such as
the Petit.
"I love sports-car racing," Franchitti said. "The cars are fabulous, and the
type of racing is exciting.
"The fact that I can do this and Indy-car racing at the same time means I've
got the best of both worlds."
Rick Minter writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: rminter AT
ajc.com
