Chicagoland, Dario Franchitti, Andretti Green Racing, Canadian Club, Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Target, Hideki Mutoh, Panther Racing, Alex Lloyd, Indy Pro Series
Dan Streck/LAT
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VIDEO EXTRA LAST LAPS AT CHICAGOLAND
Watch Franchitti win the race and the championship
REVERSAL
OF FORTUNE
Championship comes
down to the final corner
Indy Pro Series top rookie shines in IndyCar Series debut
6 IndyCarSeries 2007 Review
he battle for the IndyCar Series
championship, as it so often does, went
Tdown
to the final race this season. Going
into the finale at Chicagoland, Indy 500 winner
Dario Franchitti had a slim three-point lead over
2003 series champ Scott Dixon, while
Franchitti’s teammate, friend and 2004 champ
Tony Kanaan was in third. However, Kanaan
would need both Dixon and Franchitti to have
bad luck on race day to have a shot at the title.
Hideki Mutoh may not have been a household
name in this country when he joined
Panther Racing’s Indy Pro Series team in
2007, but the series champion knew
plenty about the 24-yearold
Tokyo native
who would
become the
2007 series
Franchitti gave his odds a boost by winning
the pole on Saturday, but the car’s handling
wasn’t where he wanted it to be early in the
race. Kanaan also found trouble when a cut
right-rear tire forced him to pit.
For much of the day, the Penske cars of Sam
Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves and the Ganassi
cars of Dixon and Dan Wheldon ran up front in
two-by-two formation, creating a wall between
Franchitti and the race lead. But the Scot was
getting better fuel mileage than any of the front
four, and once the Penske pair stopped for a
splash-and-go and Wheldon ran into gearbox
trouble, it was down to just him and Dixon.
And when Danica Patrick’s spin entering the
pits with seven laps to go brought out the yellow,
both championship protagonists, now the only
two cars on the lead lap, opted to stay out,
hoping the slow laps behind the pace car would
let them save enough ethanol to get to the end.
Rookie of the Year.
“We had raced against each other back in
England,” said Indy Pro Series champion
Alex Lloyd. “When people heard his name
they may not have known of him, but I said
that guy is going to be quick.”
Mutoh impressed in his IndyCar Series
debut at Chicagoland Speedway. He
qualified 13th and stayed out of trouble all
When the race went green with two to go,
Franchitti had a couple looks to the outside of
Dixon, but to no avail. Rounding Turn 3 on the
final lap, it seemed like the Kiwi had the race
and his second championship sewn up; but then
his car suddenly slowed, out of fuel, and the
quick-thinking Franchitti jerked the Canadian
Club machine around the outside, narrowly
missing the now-coasting Dixon, and on to the
checkered flag and the championship.
“We came down that backstretch and I was
drafting him trying to get a slingshot,” said Dario.
“Just as I pulled out I saw him slow down and I
almost hit the back of him as I was going out. It
was some good fuel saving and some great
strategy from my boys on the Canadian Club
Team and the whole Andretti Green Team. They
are the best team in the world.”
A roller coaster of a finish to a roller coaster
of a season in more ways than one.
day, maintaining a respectable pace to bring
home a solid eighth place at the finish
along with turning the fastest race lap.
“I am very happy to win the Indy Pro
Series Rookie of the Year honor,” Mutoh
said. “It was one of my goals coming into
this season. But my big accomplishment
was winning the race at Kentucky Speedway
for my first oval victory.”
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