Dario Franchitti gambled on the rain and won Sunday, another bittersweet day for the Andretti family at America's richest race.
Franchitti, one of five Andretti Green Racing drivers in the field, inherited the lead by staying on the track when the leaders pitted for fuel for a final dash to the finish, a gamble that paid off as he drove on fumes when the race was stopped just 10 laps later, when the downpour came, to the chagrin of the other drivers.
Teammate Marco Andretti was involved in a spectacular crash just three laps from the premature finish. Andretti, who lost this race last year as a 19-year-old rookie when Sam Hornish Jr.passed him on the final straightaway, had slipped into the pack and was trying hard to move back into contention when he tried to make a pass in traffic and came together with 2005 Indy winner Dan Wheldon on the back straightaway. Marco had lost his Right mirror, and didn't see Wheldon when he was making a move, and they barely touched wheels, but it sent Marco into the outside wall, and back across the track ,flipping over.
Any chance Tony Kanaan had to win evaporated on Lap 157 when Jaques Lazier crashed in front of him and Kanaan spun, barely avoiding the inside barrier near the pit entrance. He rolled into the pits with a flat tire and was later penalized when his crew changed all four tires in a closed pit, instead of just the one that was flat.
Once Franchitti got out of his car, he was mobbed, hugged and kissed by teammates Tony Kanaan, his best friend (who finished 12th), and his other two teammates, Danica Patrick (who finished 8th) and Michael Andretti (who finished 13th).Marco was still being looked at by Medics.
Franchitti's actress wife Ashley Judd, soaking wet in a summer dress, climbed the pit wall and dashed toward the victory celebration.
Ashley Tyler Judd Ciminella is the daughter of country singer Naomi Judd (a.k.a. Diana Judd; former member of the Judds) and marketing specialist Michael Ciminella. Divorced when Ashley was 4.
Ashley and Dario were married on December 12, 2001, at Skibo Castle in Scotland. http://www.superiorpics.com/ashley_judd/
While there seemed to be such an emphasis on desrcibing Franchetti being Scottish, Certainly we wouldn't want anyone getting the idea that Dario Franchitti (not very Scotch sounding) was of Italian ancestry. In fact, Dario's grandfather migrated to Scotland from Italy, and became a Restaurateur. Dario has lived in the USA for 10 years, and is married to an Italian American Ashley. They have homes in Tenessee (although she is a Kentucky Basketball fanatic, where she attended), and Scotland.
It was Andretti Green's second victory in three years, but that's about all the good luck the Andrettis have had at Indy since Mario Andretti, Marco's grandfather and Michael's father, Mario won in 1969, while racing for another racing legend, Andy Granatelli.
Indy Script is a Hit for Franchitti
She's a race driver's wife, running barefoot in a pouring rain down the pit lane at Indy, soaking wet, hair and dress stuck to her skin, shivering more with joy than cold ? just ecstatic.
She's trying to get to Victory Lane to kiss her husband, who has just become the first Scotsman to win the Indianapolis 500 since Jimmy Clark in 1965, by gambling that rain would cut short the race before he ran out of fuel.
For a while it didn't look like Dario would make it. (Dario's her husband, see. How a Scot got the name Dario Franchitti makes the story line even better.)
But then his brilliant young protege crashed horrifically and went upside down and caused a terrible melee, debris flying everywhere.
Awful as it was, the crash guaranteed that Dario could cruise comfortably under caution, conserving fuel. (Don't worry, the kid wasn't hurt, other than bruised.)
No sooner had Ashley lifted her face to the sky with gratitude than she felt the rain on it. As it began to pour, she made no effort to take cover; she removed her hat and shoes and began that barefoot sprint.
What's that? When will this be in theaters?
Wait a minute. Nobody said Ashley Judd portrays a race driver's wife. She is a race driver's wife.
And the scene was fact, not fiction Sunday.
And finally, Dario Franchitti will be known as the winner of the 91st Indy 500, and not just as Ashley Judd's husband, as he has been in the past.
The protege who crashed was Marco Andretti. (The subplot being that the saga of Andretti family heartbreak at Indy just kept on rolling, the longest-running tragedy in the history of the Brickyard.)
So, anyway, Ashley gets to Victory Lane, and there's her husband taking his helmet off. He's so dazed with disbelief that he has actually won this thing that he's a little glassy-eyed. Almost as if he barely recognizes her.
She barely gets to plant one good smooch on his mouth before here comes his whole adoring team of drivers to hug and kiss him, even though they've lost to him: Michael Andretti, then Tony Kanaan, then Danica Patrick.
Everybody except Marco, who, outside the track hospital, is being asked about his crash and showing it hardly means a thing to him, considering.
"It was a big one, all right," Marco said. "All I can say is, I'm so happy for Dario Franchitti."
That's the kind of guy Ashley's husband is ? beloved. Appreciated. Felt for.
Largely his was supposed to be a supporting role at Andretti Green Racing: the savvy, hard-luck veteran, mentoring the two bright young stars of IndyCar racing, Marco and Danica.
Franchitti is 34 now, pretty old for a race driver nowadays. He has been in America for a decade but spent the first six years exiled from Indy because of the CART boycott. Since he finally got to Indy in 2002, his best finish had been third, in '04.
When he arrived in the U.S., from Edinburgh, nobody could quite figure out how a guy with such an Italian name could speak with such a burr.
Turned out his grandfather, a restaurateur, had migrated from Italy to Scotland, so Dario was indeed a native Scot.
Took a while to get the pronunciation of his surname too. Some at first said, "Fran-Chitty" until they learned it's "Fran-KEETI."
Anyway, back to the 500, whose end was at first rain-delayed by three hours, and then hastened by another shower at 166 laps of the scheduled 200.
The long delay had begun just past the halfway point, after 113 laps. When the drivers finally took to the track again, Franchitti got a punctured tire just before the restart.
He had to pit, and his stellar teammates left him behind. Off they went, running 1-2-3: Kanaan, Patrick, Marco Andretti, with Michael Andretti running within striking distance.
Now the plot was thicker than the humid air that threatened rain again on Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
As it would turn out, the unscheduled stop "put us on the strategy that won us the race," Franchitti would say later.
The pivotal moment was the next caution, when the leaders all pitted. Franchitti stayed out and inherited the lead.
On that restart, Kanaan was caught in the crash of Jaques Lazier. Patrick narrowly dodged the wreck. Then she and both Andrettis were stuck in traffic after their stops.
Then Marco went upside down on Lap 162, and Franchitti cruised under caution until the rain started so that on the 166th lap the checkered flag joined the yellow flying.
"Who would have thought it? Can you believe it?" he said in his Scottish lilt and burr. "I'm in shock ? I'm definitely in shock."
From a guy who'd barely noticed Ashley Judd kissing him, you could believe that.
His wife attended the winner's news conference but stood silent in a corner. This moment, for once, belonged solely to Dario Franchitti.
--
Ed Hinton covers auto racing for Tribune newspapers.
*
Indianapolis 500
Results from Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Race was stopped after 415 miles by rain (lap length: 2.5 miles):
| RESULTS | ||||
| PL | PP | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS COMPLETED |
| 1 | (3) | Dario Franchitti | Dallara | 166 laps, 151.774 mph |
| 2 | (4) | Scott Dixon | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 3 | (1) | Helio Castroneves | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 4 | (5) | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 5 | (7) | Ryan Briscoe | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 6 | (12) | Scott Sharp | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 7 | (10) | Tomas Scheckter | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 8 | (8) | Danica Patrick | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 9 | (20) | Davey Hamilton | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 10 | (19) | Vitor Meira | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 11 | (13) | Jeff Simmons | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 12 | (2) | Tony Kanaan | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 13 | (11) | Michael Andretti | Dallara | 166 laps, running |
| 14 | (18) | A.J. Foyt IV | Dallara | 165 laps, running |
| 15 | (26) | Alex Barron | Dallara | 165 laps, running |
| 16 | (17) | Kosuke Matsuura | Dallara | 165 laps, running |
| 17 | (14) | Ed Carpenter | Dallara | 164 laps, crash |
| 18 | (21) | Sarah Fisher | Dallara | 164 laps, running |
| 19 | (22) | Buddy Lazier | Dallara | 164 laps, running |
| 20 | (15) | Darren Manning | Dallara | 164 laps, running |
| 21 | (23) | Roger Yasukawa | Dallara | 164 laps, running |
| 22 | (6) | Dan Wheldon | Dallara | 163 laps, crash |
| 23 | (32) | Richie Hearn | Dallara | 163 laps, running |
| 24 | (9) | Marco Andretti | Dallara | 162 laps, crash |
| 25 | (16) | Buddy Rice | Dallara | 162 laps, crash |
| 26 | (25) | Al Unser Jr. | Dallara | 161 laps, running |
| 27 | (28) | Jaques Lazier | Panoz | 155 laps, crash |
| 28 | (30) | Marty Roth | Dallara | 148 laps, crash |
| 29 | (33) | Phil Giebler | Panoz | 106 laps, crash |
| 30 | (24) | John Andretti | Dallara | 95 laps, crash |
| 31 | (29) | Milka Duno | Dallara | 65 laps, crash |
| 32 | (27) | Jon Herb | Dallara | 51, laps, crash |
| 33 | (31) | Roberto Moreno | Panoz | 36 laps, crash |
--
RACE STATISTICS
- Time of race: 2 hours 44 minutes 3.5608 seconds.
- Margin of victory: 0.361 seconds under caution.
- Caution flags: 11 for 55 laps.
- Lead changes: 23 among nine drivers.
- Lap leaders: Kanaan 1-2, Castroneves 3, Kanaan 4-13, Castroneves 14-17, Kanaan 18-26, Castroneves 27-40, Marco Andretti 41-46, Dixon 47-53, Kanaan 54-68, Dixon 69-71, Hornish 72-73, Franchitti 74-88, Dixon 89, Michael Andretti 90, Kanaan 91-100, Simmons 101, Marco Andretti 102-107, Kanaan 108-116, Marco Andretti 117, Kanaan 118-136, Franchitti 137-143, J.Lazier 144-145, Kanaan 146-154, Franchitti 155-166.
- Points standings (After five of 17 races): 1. Dixon, 184. 2. Wheldon, 183. 3. Franchitti, 181. 4. Castroneves, 171. 5. (tie), Kanaan and Hornish, 151. 7. Scheckter, 130. 8. Sharp, 110. 9. Patrick, 109. 10. Meira 103.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-indy28may28,1,456492,full.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=2&cset=true
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