CT ONE
have come to an open-wheel
he other to leave it for stock cars
Donald Miralle/Getty
10-year career with a new team,” he says of
winning the 500 and the championship in
2007. “It allowed me to go off on a new
challenge. I got to do that and now I can look
back with pride on what happened. There is no
‘what might have been.’ I’ve done it.”
Same for Sam. Without his championship/
500 season of 2006, he might not have
considered branching out. But the time was
right, the goals had been accomplished, and
the move was made.
“I feel that I’ve done a lot more than I ever
thought I would do or accomplish,” Hornish
says. “It’s time to try something different.
Good, bad or indifferent, this is the choice
that we made and hopefully it will be the
right one.”
The reaction to the moves proved
predictable. If the past two winners of the
Indy 500 and the IndyCar Series move to
another form of racing, then something must
be wrong, right?
Wrong. If anything, it shows the strength
of the IndyCar Series, both drivers say. Their
goals, first and foremost, were to win the
Indianapolis 500 and the series
championship. Attaining those goals allowed
them to consider a different challenge, to
consider taking their careers in a different
direction, to consider their legacies.
“There is a misconception that I left the
IndyCar Series because there was something
wrong with it, and there really is not,”
Franchitti says. “It was time for that new
challenge. It was time to start a new
adventure. I was looking for that, but there is
nothing wrong with the IndyCar Series. In fact,
it’s one of the greatest series in racing.”
They were, as race car drivers go, at the
Sam earned three
titles, but the Indy
win put the crown
on his career
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Rear-view mirror
IndyCarSeries 2007 winterspecial 27
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