Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Kosuke Matsuura, Marco Andretti, Michael Andretti, Danica Patrick, Bob Jenkins, Chicagoland, Honda
“I kind of made the mistake of counting
Tony out of the championship,” says Franchitti
with a wry smile. “He didn’t say anything to
me, he just went out and won a couple of races
and got back in it. I learned my lesson there.”
Aside from Kanaan winning, there was
another similarity to Michigan – Franchitti took
another flight, this time after the checker. Not
realizing the race was over, he ran up on the
back of slowing Kosuke Matsuura and launched
into the air, flying backward into the SAFER
Barrier. Again unhurt, Franchitti had already
suffered a blow in the race. First he ran wide
while challenging Dixon for second; then he
came into the pits too fast and hit the pit lane
speed-limit pylon, breaking his front wing. An
eighth-place finish to Dixon’s second meant he
lost a big chunk of his points cushion.
“Kentucky was a missed opportunity, and
I’m talking about before the accident,” says
Franchitti. “I was running for second with Scott
and for some reason we ran wide in Turn 3, and
we still don’t know why; it just took off.”
Things got worse at Infineon Raceway.
Franchitti dominated until the last round of pit
stops. As he came into Turn 2, he tried to pass
teammate Marco Andretti, who had just exited
the pits. The two touched; Andretti’s day was
done, his father and Andretti Green co-owner
Michael Andretti was angry, and Franchitti’s
front wing was broken. He couldn’t hold off
It was an ugly July for
Dario Franchitti,
starting with this flip
after tangling with
Dan Wheldon at
Michigan. He
followed it up by
going upside down at
Kentucky as well
VIDEO EXTRA FLIGHT 27 TO MICHIGAN
Watch Dario Franchitti’s flip and the aftermath at Michigan
Dixon for long, nor Castroneves. The next car to
pass him would be teammate Kanaan, but
rather than push his friend farther down the
order, Kanaan made sure no one else was
going to, either. Despite the Brazilian’s efforts
on behalf of his teammate, Dixon held the
points lead for the first time in 2007.
“I was kind of surprised when Tony was the
blocker,” says IMS Radio announcer Bob
Jenkins. “He played a factor in who finished
behind him, when it should have been get
yourself to the front and see how many points
you can earn for the championship.”
Kanaan bounced back at Detroit, winning
while Franchitti and Dixon tangled again.
Patrick finished second, her best finish to date
and third podium of the season.
Kanaan was into overtime with a shot,
albeit a slim one, at the championship. After a
tough second and third quarters, he dominated
the fourth to put himself back in the hunt.
OT: CHICAGOLAND
Three slim points, practically a dead heat,
separated Franchitti and Dixon and moved the
game into overtime. In the end, pit strategy
played the key; only Franchitti and Dixon had a
chance to make it to the end without a stop in
the last few laps. Kanaan was already out of
luck having suffered a cut tire early in the race.
The season came down to a two-lap shootout
between the title contenders. Franchitti got a run
on Dixon at the restart, but couldn’t get by. He
was setting up a last-gasp slingshot move on the
final lap when Dixon’s empty Honda engine
sputtered, nearly collecting Franchitti as he
slowed. In the blink of an eye, the title changed
hands from the New Zealander to the Scot.
“Most of the race I was just sitting there, I
couldn’t do anything,” says Franchitti. “We came
down the backstretch, I was drafting him and was
trying to get a slingshot when he slowed down.”
It came down to more than that, of course.
Consistency was the name of the game. Both
drivers only DNF’d one race.
“I think if you look at Dario and myself and
the amount of points we have, and the
consistency – and even Tony – you’d think that
would be an outright championship right
there,” says the runner-up. “I think with the
results we’ve had, we’d expect to be in a
totally different situation.”
“We’ve been there in the top three,
weekend in and weekend out,” says Kanaan.
“If it’s not me, it’s Dario, and if it’s not Dario,
it’s Dixon. You can’t sneeze without someone
passing you. You’ve got to keep it focused, and
you can’t afford to make a single mistake. And,
in a way, I think it’s making all of us much
better drivers.”
If that’s the case, it’s going to make the time
until the next game pretty hard to wait out.
Season review
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