Dario Franchitti: Why He Almost Lost His Love For Racing
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Concept
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a very famous car race in the United States where drivers race stock cars on a big oval track. Winning it is a big deal in racing.
Car
Chrysler Daytona
The Chrysler Daytona is an old American car from the 1960s and 70s that was built to go fast and look cool. It had a special front part to help it move better through the air. People talk about it because it was important in car races and muscle car history.
Concept
racetrack
A racetrack is a special road made for car races where drivers compete by driving fast around it.
Concept
front stretch
The front stretch is the long straight part of the race track where cars go fastest and where the race usually starts and ends.
Term
braking zone
A braking zone is the part of the race track where drivers slow down their cars to safely turn a corner.
Concept
street circuit
A street circuit is a race track made from normal city roads that are closed off for the race, usually with tight turns and walls close by.
Term
tight corners
Tight corners are sharp turns on the race track where drivers have to slow down a lot to make the turn.
Term
narrow track sections
Narrow track sections are parts of the race track that are very close together, so drivers have less space to drive and pass other cars.
Term
fender
A fender is the part of the car around the wheel that helps keep dirt and rocks from hitting the car.
Concept
wall contact
Wall contact means the car hits the walls on the side of the track, which can slow it down or cause problems.
Concept
turn one
Turn one is the first big turn on the race track right after the straight part where the race starts.
Concept
IndyCar Championship
The IndyCar Championship is a big car racing competition in the U.S. where special fast cars race on different types of tracks.
Concept
Indy 500
The Indy 500 is a very famous car race in the U.S. where drivers race for 500 miles on a big oval track.
Car
Shelby Cobra
The Shelby Cobra is a fast and famous old car from the 1960s. It was made by putting a big engine into a small car, making it very quick and popular for racing. People talk about it because it’s a classic and exciting car from the past.
Car
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is a very fast race car made in the 1960s to beat other race cars in long races. It won many important races and is famous for being one of the best race cars ever. People mention it when talking about cool and important cars from history.
Concept
Formula One World Championship
Formula One is a top-level car racing competition where drivers race very fast cars on special tracks all over the world. It’s like the Olympics of car racing.
Concept
racing motorbikes
Racing motorbikes means riding motorcycles really fast in races, which is different from driving cars.
Company
Paul Stewart Racing
Paul Stewart Racing was a team that helped young drivers learn how to race cars better. It was started by a famous racing family.
Brand
Autosport
Autosport is a magazine and website that talks about car races and racing news. People read it to learn what's happening in the racing world.
Concept
Formula Three
Formula Three is a type of car racing where smaller, less powerful cars race on tracks. It's like a training league for drivers who want to race in the top-level Formula 1.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is the top level of car racing where the fastest and most advanced cars compete on race tracks around the world.
Concept
DTM
DTM is a type of car racing in Germany where cars look like regular cars but are specially built for racing. They used to be as fast as Formula 1 cars but with car bodies on them.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a famous car company from Germany that makes luxury and race cars. They compete in big car races like Formula 1 and DTM.
Car
Mclaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a very fast and special car made in the 1990s that was famous for being one of the best sports cars ever.
Concept
test driver
A test driver is someone who drives new cars to check how well they work and to help make them better before they are sold.
Concept
Formula One engines
Formula One engines are very powerful and special engines made for the fastest car races in the world.
Concept
IndyCar engines
IndyCar engines are strong engines made for the fast cars that race in IndyCar competitions.
Concept
NASCAR truck engines
NASCAR truck engines are the engines used in special racing trucks that compete in NASCAR races.
Term
oval
An oval is a race track shaped like a big loop, where cars mostly turn left and go very fast.
Term
die cast
Die cast means making small metal toy cars by pouring melted metal into a shape so they look like real cars.
Company
Lionel Racing
Lionel Racing makes small, detailed toy cars that look just like real race cars, especially from NASCAR.
Car
Tata Motors Aria
The Tata Aria is a type of family car made in India that is good for both city and rough roads. It’s made to be comfortable and useful without costing too much. People might talk about it when discussing cars that help small businesses or new technology.
Term
stock car
A stock car is a special race car that looks like a regular car but is made just for racing on tracks.
LIVE
You had this massive crash and suffered another concussion, a lot of fractures, two spinal fractures.
You had to eventually hear from your doctors that you didn't need to be driving.
You had that taken from you, someone telling you what you were going to do for the first
time in your life.
I was alive, so I was okay, honestly.
I was so happy to be alive.
The sky was blue, or the grass was green, or...
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You're Dale's Jr.
Should I say it?
It's Dale Jr. podcast. I gotta say it.
Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr.
download. And we got a great guest for you today as we are in the
Arby's studio and want to mention before we get going the Arby's new meat and
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We have the meats.
I want to thank them for being able to bring us a great guest, Dario
Franckini. He was supposed to be in the studio, supposed to come in here.
There's a there was a storm up north.
He's in he's in New York City and could not get here, but asked
if he could do it remotely.
So, hey, we've put in the effort to prepare for Dario, excited about
what he's going to do this weekend at St. Pete in the truck series
and can't wait to talk to him about how that deal come together.
He's also a champion, Daytona 500 winner.
He actually had some unfortunate experiences with head injuries
similar to mine that I'm aware of and want to dive into all of that.
We're going to get into it. Let's bring him on.
Dario Franckini on the Dale Jr. download.
All right. So Dario Franckini on the Dale Jr. download.
He is coming remote because of the weather up north.
We're supposed to be in the studio today, which we miss not having you here, Dario,
but thankful that you're able to tune in and talk to us.
How are you doing doing?
Well, doing well. Thank you.
What does it they say?
A long time listener, first-time caller.
Yeah, that's perfect.
So, yeah.
How is the weather up there?
Well, the sun is shining right now,
but we had a couple of interesting days
and that just kept snowing and snowing.
And yeah.
So that was a bit of a shock.
So sorry, I can't be in the studio, but it's good to chat.
It is.
You're going to race in the truck series at St. Pete this weekend.
You know, is the weather going to affect your ability to get in there
and do all the things you need to do?
Yeah.
No, no, we're all good.
I'm going to get down there tomorrow morning, just in case.
Have you had the chance to get in a sim or how's your preparation going?
I got in the sim.
And you and I are similar ages.
I don't know how you get on with the sim.
Not very good.
No, I suck.
Yeah.
You know, static sim, I am okay, but I suck.
I went into the Toyota sim up, I think it's Salisbury.
I had two laps of Sebring,
where we were going to race in the truck series.
So, yeah.
Salisbury, I had a two laps of Sebring,
where we were testing the truck later that week.
I stopped.
I said, okay, let's try St. Pete.
I did one lap of St. Pete and I got out and went to lunch.
Yeah.
It didn't go well.
It was not a good time.
Tell us what St. Pete is like.
I'm not very familiar.
What kind of racetrack is that?
So, half of it's airfield.
You've got the front stretch.
It's big, wide braking zone into turn one.
And then it gets into the city streets of St. Pete.
And it's tight.
It's narrow, particularly turns four or five.
And then on for most of the rest of the lap.
So, I actually just feed the truck down through those walls
and sort of try and get an inch perfect.
It's going to be, I think, really a challenge,
especially my lack of familiarity with it.
How close is that right from fender?
How close is that to the wall?
And the problem is when you get it too close,
you're going to bounce off it and then you're going to try
and avoid the wall on the exit.
So, yeah, I think it'll be a good race.
I think it's particularly up down there in turn one.
I think you're going to see some action.
Yeah.
52 years old four-time winner of the IndyCar Championship,
three-time Indy 500 winner.
What has your, you retired at the end of,
let's see, 2013 or 14?
Yeah, 13, yeah.
And so, what have you driven in the past decade?
So, I guess you and I obviously went through a similar thing,
I think, with the concussions and the head injuries.
And so, I stopped racing everything end of 13.
The doctor said, no, no more.
And so, I would go to places like Goodwood
and I'd demonstrate these old cars
and actually some new ones too up the hill
at the festival of speed.
But I really enjoyed the act of driving something again.
2019 showed up and I decided I said,
I want to go racing again.
And so, I talked to the doctors.
I did a good sales job on the doctors,
managed to convince them that I should do that.
My wife said, yeah, yeah, whatever you want to do.
My mother wasn't quite so happy, shall we say.
But anyway, so I started racing old cars,
the 60s Ferraris, Shelby Cobras, GT40.
Jimmy and I shared a,
my brother Merino shared a GT40 at Spa.
And then I started to get into
sort of slightly more modern stuff again
the last couple of years.
So, it's been kind of a gradual thing.
I was quite happy being retired
those first couple of years.
And then, you know,
I don't know if you experienced the same thing,
but when I was competing,
it was so much about the result
and trying to get the result
and everything that went into that
and the pressure to whether that was from me
or from outside trying to make it happen
that actually the driving, the car wasn't the,
it wasn't the fun bit.
And with all this stuff I did since retirement,
I realized I love driving cars.
I love driving racing cars.
I love the act of trying to make a vehicle
go quickly around the circuit.
So, hence the fact we find ourselves here.
Yeah, I was very comfortable
and happy with my decision to quit.
And obviously probably similar to you,
the injuries and everything that I experienced
to get better and all that was fresh, right?
And you're like, all right,
yep, I'm good to put this behind me.
And as I got further away from that decision,
I started feeling more homesick to it, you know,
I missed it more and more, it didn't get easier,
it got harder.
And I was starting to look at my age
and going, man, I still got a little I could do.
Surely I could go play here, I could go play there,
but you have to be selective when you say.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, the chances of me getting in anything
on an oval or non-existent,
it's just not, it's never going to happen.
You know, I'd love to try an Indy car again,
but the physical demands of that probably,
you know, even just to go somewhat quickly,
you've got to be so fit.
And I wouldn't want to get in that
and do a half-assed job.
But, you know, for us, it's interesting.
I've been thinking a lot about this
because people are asking why are you doing this?
But for racing drivers,
we don't have a, whatever your discipline,
we don't have a seniors tour, you know, tennis, golf.
That's exactly right.
Right?
And I think those guys can go out and have some fun
and less pressure and you see them all joking around.
And we don't have that.
So we have to kind of create our own opportunities
to go and have fun.
You know, again, going back to the historic side
of things you're good with is so much fun
to do that, so much fun to race there.
And you've got guys like,
you've got guys my age, guys younger than me,
but then you've got guys like Steve Soper,
who's one of the great touring car drivers of the world.
Steve's in his mid-70s now.
He still goes out there and he's still as hard to beat.
So, as I say, you've got to make your own opportunities
to go out and drive race cars.
Yeah.
So how did you find your interest in racing?
I know your family was involved in it.
Your dad, George, was an amateur racer.
What is your first memories?
My first memories were sitting in front of the TV
watching the 1978 Formula One World Championship
that Mario Andretti won.
Sitting with my dad watching that.
Those are still my favorite Formula One cars
to this day, that era.
And then going to the track with him.
And I was actually talking to him about it yesterday.
Just going to the track and watching him do it
and getting in the car and just sitting and pretending to drive it.
And it all sort of stemmed from there.
And I had this little go-kart that actually he found again.
And him and my mum had it restored.
He restored it.
Yeah, for my 40th birthday.
So it all started there.
And I started racing when I was 10.
Actually, I raced motorbikes for a minute before that
but I really sucked at that.
That was terrible.
When I got in a go-kart, I won my first race
and it felt like home from the first moment.
What was your experience like once you got in a go-karts?
Where are you living?
Where are you competing?
We were living in Scotland.
My first races were in Scotland but pretty quickly.
I guess my dad had some sort of pretty big ambitions there
because straight away we headed south
and the more competition you had to go to England.
Every weekend we'd head off straight after school on a Friday,
sometimes before school finished.
That caused some issues.
And then we'd go down there.
Him and some of his buddies would mechanic on the cart
and I'd race over the weekend, see how the result went.
And then we'd turn around and we'd go home
and we'd park our cup whatever time in the Monday morning, early hours
and then he'd go to work and I'd go to school that next day
despite trying to find every excuse I could to get out of it.
And that was it until I was 16
and then I was going to go race cars the following season
so my dad said, right, you're going to go learn a bit about this
so I went with the team.
It was a team called David Leslie Racing
and two of the guys that were on the same journey as me,
David Colfard and Alan McNich,
they drove for the same team in earlier years.
Anyway, I went there and I would clean the car.
I'd put the wheels on it a couple of times.
I left the wheels slack.
I was not the best mechanic
but that was my way of learning
and then I went racing cars the following season which was 1991.
How did that go?
That was good.
I won the championship which thank God I did
because my parents had remortgaged the house
and it basically spent everything they had on that first season.
Won the championship at the end of the season.
My dad was like, you know, that's it.
I can't do anymore
and fortunately for me, Jackie Stewart had a team
with his son, Paul, called Paul Stewart Racing
and they were racing in other formulas
over the same weekends in the bigger classes.
Jackie had seen me race
and said, well, we should probably test that kid.
And they said, where is he from?
He said, he's from Scotland.
I said, how can he be from Scotland
when his name is Dario Franckitti?
At one point, Jackie was going to change my name.
He really was.
So Jackie shows up.
Jackie said, I'll find the money.
You drive the car and I'll teach you.
And that was three years with Paul Stewart Racing
where every day was a school day with Jackie.
Every day is still a school day with Jackie.
He's just incredible and he taught me so much
and I say it a lot.
But without him, my parents absolutely.
Without Jackie as well.
I'm not sitting here today.
Definitely not.
I would say that obviously your goals and ambitions
are F1 at this point.
And I think take us through the process
of understanding how you would eventually
get steered toward the US.
Yeah, definitely.
My goal was Formula One.
I'd watched the Indy 500
and I would read the magazine in the UK
called Autosport.
And it was our internet back then.
That's how you found out what was going on in the sport.
And I would read about F1, about Indy car.
But F1 was really it.
And when I did Formula Three,
Formula Three is sort of the two steps below F1.
And I was, I did have one season
and it didn't go well.
I think I finished fourth in the championship.
But I won the first race
and then my teammate proceeded to win 14 races
or something.
I think, I mean, Oyan Magnuson.
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely blew my doors off.
So at the end of that season,
I was looking at doing another year of Formula Three
and I really didn't want to do it.
Didn't enjoy the cars.
It just wasn't great.
So I went to Mercedes,
asked me to come to test the DTM car,
which at the time,
they were F1 cars with bodies on them.
So I tested this thing
and it blew my mind.
The car blew my mind.
I just loved everything about it.
And I thought Mercedes at the time
they were supplying engines to McLaren.
I thought this might be a good way to make this happen.
So I signed the deal to go to Mercedes
and I did DTM for a couple of years.
Absolutely loved it.
Loved driving the cars.
Met some great people,
got to test the McLaren F1 car.
That would eventually lead to
an offer to become the test driver at McLaren.
But I'd already committed to do IndyCar.
So basically at the end of the two years of DTM,
the championship shut down
because they were spending so much money on it.
It was ridiculous.
And I was at the Mercedes end of year party
and I sat next to a man called Paul Morgan.
Paul was one of the partners in Ilmore
and they built the Formula One engines,
the IndyCar engines.
They built the NASCAR truck engines
and the Chevy IndyCar engines.
Anyway, Paul said, what are you going to do next year?
I said, I'd love to go to America.
The F1 thing is not looking like it's going to open up.
Jan Magnussen came over and raced a couple of races in an IndyCar.
He said, and he came back and said, you've got to do this.
It's amazing.
So I said to Paul, I'd love to do that.
He said, well, let me work on it.
And January of 97, he phoned.
He said, right, Carl Hogan is going to call you.
He's going to invite you to test the car.
If you test the car and it goes well, you're in for the season.
And it was as simple as that's how I got to the US.
Just a great man just wanted to help me out
and he put all the pieces in place for me to come to America.
Yeah, apparently Jackie Stewart was still influential
sending a letter of recommendation to Carl, supporting the idea.
What did you know about what?
Well, I guess, you know, this is one of the things I always enjoy.
When I go even today, when I, when I get a chance to get,
get into the IndyCar ecosystem, the diversity of personalities,
you know, you have drivers from all over the world
with different ideals on racing and how racing is supposed to happen.
And it's so much fun trying.
So in NASCAR, we do come from different disciplines
in terms of dirt or sprint cars and short track stock cars.
But the code of conduct on the track is relatively known
and everyone considers to follow a similar code.
In IndyCar, guys come from all over the world
and codes are different.
You know, what a block is, what defending your position is.
All those things are differently interpreted by each driver.
And I see that play out in IndyCar all the time.
What was your, you know, expectation coming over to the United States
about racing, about what life would be like, right?
I mean, because it's a massive shift to make that change.
You're basically going to the other side of the world
and completely uprooting everything that you're familiar with
and everything you know.
Absolutely right.
And I came from that cutthroat European sort of school.
I mean, it really was, it was a school.
I mean, I had a great education from Jackie,
but my teammate DTM was a man called Bern Schneider
and he was the, he was the god of DTM.
You know, he won all this stuff.
And when I went to the team, his team, he put his arm around me
and said, right, if you want to, if you want to learn,
I'll teach you.
And I was his wingman for two years and he taught me everything
and taught me how to be a good teammate,
taught me just the next stage of my education.
But the biggest thing for me was I'd never been on an oval.
So I show up at Homestead for my first spring training,
the first sort of IndyCar group test.
And I walk out to the wall and I stand at the wall
and Gilles de Ferrand's going past
and he was in the Valvaline car at the time,
Derek Walker's Valvaline car.
And I knew Gilles very well from my Paul Stewart racing days.
So this thing goes past and it was the old Homestead,
the old four corner Homestead.
It goes past, I thought, oh, okay, no big deal.
He goes past again.
I was like, ah, I've got this.
No big deal.
The next lap he goes past and he's a full pellet.
He was bedding in his brakes before that.
I didn't realize it.
When he went past, I went quiet and I thought, holy smokes.
What have I, what have I got myself into?
And that was the biggest difficulty
I think was learning ovals.
But then one of the things,
I don't know if it's the same in NASCAR,
but when kids come up, guys like Rick Mears
would say, I got an invitation to come and sit with Rick Mears
and talk about oval driving.
And he's like, anytime you need to help, you come and see me.
I mean, that didn't happen in Europe
unless you were with a team with Jackie, for instance.
So that people like him doing that for me,
that was a big, big help.
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You come over to the test,
you land the ride
running full season in
1997.
Your best finish of the year
was 9th at Servers Paradise.
It wasn't like
an automatic success story
out of the gate.
I crashed a lot.
I crashed a lot. The team
were a little disorganized shall we say.
It was just
the good thing was we were
quick. Second half of the year
we were quick. I was on Poland, Toronto
and
by mid-season
there was offers
from Rehal.
There was offers to stay at Hogan.
I guess there was a potential Penske seat
which I never got to the bottom
of if it was actually true or not.
There was actually a Penske seat but then
there was the team green seat
and I sort of met all the different
owners but at the time
the
Chip and Assy team and the target team were
smoking everybody. It was an Ardy and Vassar.
They had Honda, Reinhardt, Firestone.
That was their combination
and Barry Green had Honda, Reinhardt, Firestone.
I was shocked first of all after a pretty average
first season that these guys
wanted me to drive the car
but I got a really good feeling from Barry
the people who worked for him
and so I
signed
a deal at Laguna Seca
and
I never looked back. That was one of the best
deals I think I ever did.
It was a little awkward because as I left
his hotel room from signing the deal
I get in the elevator, it goes to the ground floor, the door is open
and Parker Johnstone
who was the guy driving the car that year
was standing there.
Hey buddy.
Oh crap.
You would get in that car
and immediately start to show success
getting a
runner up finish at the
Long Beach Race in 98
and then picking up the first series win
at Road America.
The first Scottish
champ car winner since
Jim Clark
which is pretty awesome. Jim Clark was a badass.
Yes he was.
You got wins at Vancouver, Houston, third in the season points.
You signed
an extension.
Well I imagine after
that first year you had even more interest.
Yeah, there was
definitely interest but it was
one of those situations
I liked where it was.
It was very clear.
But you had interest outside of
IndyCar. Oh yeah.
Well that was sort of, there was some F1
interest, yeah.
That came more sort of towards the
2000 season. Yeah. But a lot
between then and then they a lot went on
99 season.
I thought, was it already going off to F1
I thought, here we go.
We got this, we got a good chance
at this championship and then this guy called
on Pablo Montoya showed up.
And he really
ruined my plans.
So
99 was a great season
and you know, Monty and I
were wheel to wheel all season
and then we had a
a cracking race to the title.
But then, you know, unfortunately
the last race
Greg Moore, my great friend dies.
And you know, honestly
at that point I sort of thought
I really want to do this anymore.
My love of racing really, yeah man
it really went down.
And then the next time I got in the car
I had a huge accident at Homestead
and I broke the pelvis
my head hit actually the helmet
hit the wall
and the damage I did there
I still
have
some issues today from that
from that accident in 2000.
What type of issues?
You know, just all the sort of the
stuff that goes with the big brain injury
the stuff that maybe you.
So that was one of your first head injuries.
Oh my God.
So yeah, you know, not similar
you know when I lost my dad I was
you know trying to figure out
what I wanted to do
but my
I wanted to
I needed to be at the racetrack
because that's where all the people I knew were
and I didn't want to be alone
you know and so
I didn't experience what you did
losing a friend
and so tell me I guess about
the
tell me about the processing of emotion
you know you've fallen out of love
with racing and now you've got to figure out
whether you want to continue and how do you
get that love back that passion back
first of all I think by the way the way you
handled that
with losing your dad I was
in the US by that point and I was in awe
was absolutely in awe
of what you did
and how you did it and the pressures you were under
and it was
it was something to watch from a distance
something so impressive so
hats off to you man
so with Greg it was
the first time that had really happened
to death in the sport
and it was my
best friend and I just thought
I don't
not sure I want to do it I don't think I've got the love
for it anymore I think a telling sign
is I have one Indy car in my garage
at home and it's the car from
the race before he died
that was the last that was honestly
the last time it was just properly fun
it was absolutely just
for the love of driving right it was
it was life
was different after after he died
then
the next so Barry Green
this conversation with Barry Green went something
like Barry I don't know if I can do this
I need to go
and I need to go think about this
if I want to do it and at the time those
cars were really dangerous I mean they were
they were
you were getting hurt a lot all that sort of
stuff and so
I went away
and I went away for a few months
and Barry said just when you're ready
just come back and then we had a conversation
that looks spring training is coming here you need
to get in the car if you're going to do it
so I got in the car I had the suspension
failure
I hit the wall
broke my pelvis
smashed my head in
and
from that point
I did the race but three weeks later
with a broken pelvis which I don't recommend
my gosh
oh man when they dropped the thing off the jacks
and it hit the floor
not good yeah
yeah that hurt so
and honestly still for a long time
I lost the love of the sport
and I did it because I didn't know
anything else to do
I wonder with that injury
and everything you could have
how comfortable
would have you been to have said
let me take a step back here
let me give me
I need some time to heal
and that gives your time
maybe you're
personally taking some time off the heal but you're also giving
yourself some time to get your mental
emotions
get it figured out
really what you want to do
if you leave that seat
do you have it when you come back
that's a difficult question
and that's why drivers get in
with all bits hanging off
I drove for the broken back
in 2003 because I didn't want
I was out of the car for a few races
I didn't want somebody else taking my ride
so in hindsight
and what we know now
I drove through with
some of the head injury stuff
and how it's treated now
it's a lot different than it was 25 years ago
so I probably should have done that
but I didn't I just kept charging on
and it took
I took a long time
it probably took five or six years
to sort of feel somewhat like my old self
and then the success
started coming again
and the fun
of driving came a bit back
especially just the joy in life
was coming back too
it just took time
yeah I imagine
you didn't know it at the time
but I bet the
I bet the head injury
it's hard to explain
to people that have never went through this
but you mentioned it
you didn't feel like yourself
maybe that was
that's also playing
with your anxieties, emotions
unknowingly right you don't even realize
it's affecting you
I've talked to drivers
you know I've went through
we both went through head injuries
but I've also talked to other drivers that drove through
those type of injuries
and they'll be like yeah I was six months I wasn't
who I
know I am
and
having such a severe injury
in 2000 I imagine that that might have been
playing a role I guess
in your physical
or your mental state
oh massively
I said to my brother
years later
at the time you don't want to admit all this stuff
I said I
changed my personality
I became a lot more serious
and
yeah
it's just part
of the stuff you've got to deal with
but because you've not got a broken arm
a broken leg
you look normal
I know I would
I look completely fine
but I would
stand up and turn
to walk out a door
and I would have to grab the table
I felt it
any kind of a pivot or movement of the axis
of the head
I knew
that something was wrong
I would say to my friend man did you see
anything I felt this
I felt that you see me kind of lose my balance
and they're like yeah no you look normal
didn't see anything and I'm like it's so
frustrating because everybody's looking at you
and they're like you should be in the car
you look perfectly fine you should
why aren't you in the car why are you not in the car
why are you out a month
two months whatever you know come on come on man
toughen up let's go yeah
so you you know
success starts coming back
and then you want to race stock cars
how did that happen who talked you into that
what did you experience or see that made you go
I got to get into that I need to try that
that was Gnassie's fault
that was Chip's fault
so I actually at the end of
06 we nearly
did a deal for me to go there in 07
I'm glad we didn't because I won
my first 500 championship
for the Andretti Green team
as it was at the time but
Chip and I went some ways down the road
on doing that and
then Monty and Montoya came in
and did the deal
but
I'll tell you my thinking it was
so obviously every driver
they want to win the 500 so I finally win the 500
I'm up front I'm looking good
for the championship
but the 500 was such a big deal
I thought I've achieved my goals and I could feel
the motivation just starting to
just tail off a bit and I thought I need a new challenge
what is that new challenge
and then Chip started
talking again about doing
about doing stock cars about doing
NASCAR and I
I did it I signed
I'd been to one
NASCAR race I think
I went with Richard Childress to Texas
that was the only small experience
I'd never driven a NASCAR vehicle
all that stuff I did this deal
completely ignorant of
what it took I didn't really
talk to any of you guys and I should have
I should have reached out to you
to Jimmy
just test a bloody
car
you know my great friend
Scott Borschetta I didn't know him
in 2007 and he always says
I wish we'd known each other because I'd
taken you to the fairgrounds in Nashville
I'd have put you in one of my trucks
we could have got you some reps to help you
understand what you were doing
and yeah I mean I can look back and see
at the time it was crap because there was
those COT things that
they're probably the most IndyCar like thing
but
it was a culture shock
it was hard it was
everything I'd learned actually
put me further back than zero
just from a starting point
and you know it
it was quite shocking
why would you want to risk
so you had won your championship
why would you
you know I'm trying to understand
like you're risking your
your
financial stability
right you're
was that ever that never was a
motivating factor for you to like continue
on this path of financial success
that you were having
by winning a championship by being a
championship driver
I got off for a pretty good deal as well
coming to stock car racing
but again that's
that's I think the difficulty
from the position I was in
I should have gone and done
I guess it was nationwide
at the time it'd become from the bush series
to nation man I probably should have gone and done that
for a year or two
was there anything behind your health
in this decision
no a lot of people say I had
two big flips that year
actually within six days of each other
but that was
it wasn't anything to do with that I just
I
I've got to be a hundred percent
and my motivation is going to be right there
and I could feel it
tail and off tail and I just thought
I need to try something different
whether that was going to be sports cars or NASCAR
so
I wish I'd done it differently
but I'm not
I'm not upset at all in
the fact I did it or how it ended up
because
it put me in such a better place
when all the various things
came together for going back to IndyCar
well you
you made an ARCA race debut
in 07 you ran the last
four races in the nationwide series
back in 07 you signed this
multi-year contract with Genasi
for 08 beginning there
you win the 24 hours of Daytona
with Juan and Scott Pruitt
and Mimo
you ran
10th in the opener in the ARCA race
at Daytona and you replaced
David Streamy in the cup car
driving number 40 attempting
14 races
your best finish came in Martinsville
the most non-IndyCar
type race track
on the circuit
24th
22nd actually
22nd
the car
tomorrow was here
probably the most
difficult or
unfun race car that NASCAR
ever had
and you struggled
ultimately this car would shut down in July
and
you had more
nationwide series races in
2008
6th in Las Vegas 5th at Watkins Glen
and then you broke your ankle at Talladega
that was that
that was the end of the stock car story
yeah you know I'd gone
to
you know when the cup team shut down
I was sort of doing a race by race thing
in the NASCAR
and I got so much better with that car
you know qualified on pole at the Glen
in the
car Jimmy was in that race a bunch of
bunch of proper
drivers so I was proud of that but then I went
to Bristol and I think I qualified on the front row
and I ran up front all night
I was getting the hang of this
but
then it all
you know it all changed I was
attested at Richmond I think and I was going to do the Richmond
race but then I went to
Detroit
to the IndyCar race and
I was going there actually to watch my brother
race in sports cars
I had no interest in going back to IndyCar
and
I really
I've done it and then I remember
standing watching Scott Dix and go through turn 1
and 2 in Detroit
and I just thought
I want to drive one of them again
I'd been lying to myself basically
and
I
completely by chance I sat down
with Mike Hull
from Gnasi next to managing director there
and we sat in the
tail lift of one of the trucks
and he said what's going on and I said
I thought I didn't want to race
IndyCar anymore but I saw the cars
I felt I really want to do it
but all the good stuff's gone Mike
and I don't want to drive at the back of the field
I'm not going to get in a bad car
and he said well not so fast
Dan Weldens just told us this morning
that he's leaving
so we've got an open seat
let me go talk to Chip
so Chip and I negotiated
my contract standing behind
Dixon's timing stand
in Pitlane
and
6 o'clock next morning
we had a signed deal
and that was it
so
you've got this opportunity to return
and
you're racing for Chip the same guy
that you've been messing with the stock cars for
tell us what kind of guy he is
I've absolutely
enjoyed every moment I've ever spent
around Chip Ganassi
fun dude
good
at the heart, at his heart
he's a racer understands
what it takes to go fast
but I would be curious
just to your opinion and
your experiences
to me Chip
and that's CartiMona was different than Chip
he
in NASCAR
he was trying to build the organization
in IndyCar he was the organization
to beat him and Roger
and have had for decades
this competition
but Chip to me
as
this talk team owner first of all
he
puts the right people in position
to do the job
he gives you the tools to do the job
whether that's the financial tools
whether that's the technical stuff
whether that's the people
and then he expects you to go do it
and he wants results
but he's very loyal
you've seen a lot of people
in the team
have been there for 25 plus years
and I still
I work with the team as an advisor
on the IndyCar side
and he
as you said he's a racer
he wants to win
he always says at the start of every season
in every race what sorts of two goals
with Indy 500 win the championship
he's there to
win
but he doesn't suffer fools gladly
he's got no time
for BS
but as a person
as a human
if you're in trouble
ships the guy
you want on your side
for his drivers, for anybody in his organization
for his friends
he kind of half knows in the paddock
he's that guy
who'll get stuff done if you're in trouble
in whatever that may look like
in medical trouble whatever he's
he's a
there's a soft center to that hard shell
yeah for sure
yeah I've always enjoyed
I hate that I never got the chance to like
I don't know race
with him but I
in the NASCAR
ecosystem
you know you got back in the car
and you got back to your winning ways
2011 you had
four wins
you'd win the championship
and
but
that was a
that was a difficult moment as well for the series
and for motorsports in general
at Las Vegas when
we lost Dan Weldon
and I know Dan a little bit through the nationwide
or the National Guard
relationship we both were sponsored by them
at one point and I got to spend some time
with him a little bit at Indy
and
that was just a terrifying
experience I think for everybody
in such a horrible horrible crash
how you know how was that
how did that affect
that's you know we're getting toward
you know just a few years later
when you would decide yourself to step out of the car
motorsports is inherently dangerous
and there's no way to
entirely eradicate that
from from no matter what
what discipline it is
there's always going to be some dangers
how did that crash
and Dan
losing his life there affect you personally
yeah that you know that had been this
this since we had those conversations
in Detroit had been this great period
of success the three
championships on the bounds
with Chip
and
you know it had
I'd gone into that
that situation
as Scott Dixon's teammate thinking
I just don't want to embarrass myself because
Scott was at the top of his game man
yeah
he'd won the 08 championship
I like to tell him he'd won that because I was in NASCAR at the time but
I'm not going to tell you what he says
but he
so I
the fact I was able to win those three championships
with him in the same
equipment and we came close
trust me it could have been either of us but I was able to
get the job done it was
it was one of those wonderful periods
in life and we would say
and Chip would say
enjoy it because these things don't last forever
and you know we went
into that
2011 final in Vegas we should never
have been racing there which
was a conversation we'd had before we showed up
you know with Indy cars
they're not suited to that
track
but I was
I was a lot more
what's the word
mature
world weary
I'd seen a lot more in life
when Dan
had his accident
you know I'd known Dan
since he was six years old
and you know we were
we were very close at one point
we had a couple of
what's the words couple of
discussions
when we kind of fell out for a minute a few years
before but we were in a really good
place
we were back to being friends which I loved
and
the
you know that's a funny feeling here it was just
that
whole situation was so unnecessary
and
interestingly I didn't think
of stepping out of the car though
again I was in a much different place in my life
and I was a lot maybe
mentally tougher
and Greg died
and
I was able to just
get back
and get on with it
and put it out of my mind
but it's
that was
shocking and
we all felt that one
losing a tire
running out of gas
wrecking a teammate
you never know what's going to happen
your race day story even more epic
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as a casual fan of any car
I don't understand all the intricacies
and don't get into the weeds
of
of the series
enough to know as much as you
about where the car should and shouldn't race
there's
there was debate
there's that opinion that you shared
about Vegas that a lot of people have
there was
again
some tough moments at Pocono
another equally
dangerous place for
any cars to be racing
there's some
great memories of
any car racing at places like Texas
World Speedway in Michigan
where is the
where is the line is it
is there a line is it is it a
absolute
definitive sort of
break between
where you can take these cars and where you can't
how would you maybe explain that
to somebody like me
of like what's where
where's the threshold of I we don't need to
this is the type of track we shouldn't be at
our cars aren't designed to be
racing here
and
what tracks are you know because fans
when I ever you know
having dipped my toe in
the Indy car world a little bit through the work with
NBC and so forth
I would ever mention Michigan
and they would go oh gosh yes let's go back
to Michigan all the fans really miss
you know the 80s and 90s
in Michigan but the cars
are different these days and
you know so where's your take on all that
I think it's the
cars but also the
regulations you know that the
the horsepower against the drag
is I think is a
that's the kind of the part of the
equation two and the tires
and the way that all works
but the problem
of Vegas for me is you could just run around
wide open I remember
putting 400 pounds
of cross weight on the left front of the car
to try and free
it up and it made no
difference the
car and at that point there was a sort of a mandated
minimum amount of downforce
it was all wrong but Pocono
for me
Pocono I wish we could race there
it was
it was terrifying I mean it was
scary but wow
it was something special turn one was
was wide open oh I can't
imagine I mean it doesn't sound like
something I would want any part
of you
you'd come down there and you'd kind of position
yourself in the car
to sort of take these g-forces and the
problem was it's so long to think about it
down that front straight yeah here we go
here we go
you know but then you know not to make light
of it but then we lost Justin Wilson
at Pocono that accident could have
happened anywhere that's not a
you know just with the time it was just such
dreadful timing but then
Robert Wickens
that was that was shocking but I
I believe I was thinking about this
the other night I believe that Robert
Wickens would have been a
would have been an IndyCar champion
and a 500 winner that guy was
special when he rocked up an IndyCar
I knew him from DTM but
man he's his talent
is something special and even
now he's in there with hand controls and stuff
and he's still going
yeah but up there
the brain is
just he's so tough he reminds me he's an
already in that way and just that he
doesn't know when he's beaten he's just a machine
yeah and I wish I'd
got to see him fulfill
his his potential yeah so
I mean it in if you
if you were
you know if IndyCar
were to go back to Michigan
it could work with the right
package
because I think fans
are curious
your opinion on that
you know we talked about it earlier in the show
you
your eventual decision to retire
there was a new car
that came into the series
the DeLar
DW12 in 2012
was that a car that you struggled with didn't
enjoy why
I would say you know I had
I didn't like COT didn't like it never
never felt good in it didn't think it
suited my skills that was a period in the
sport where I just didn't feel like I feel like
I was racing with a hand tie behind my back
that's two of us
so the DW12
I struggled with
a little bit the weight distribution was very
odd I remember the first test we did Tony
Kanan and I did it
and this was shortly after Dan died
and we went to Indy
and ran it and we
we went into the
the trailer together to debrief
you know he was doing it for Chevy I was doing it for Honda
and we were both white
it was just
it was so bad the weight distribution
the aero it was all a bit
it was all a bit wrong
but they made it very quickly
they made that car a good car to race
it was certainly a lot safer
than the old car so that was good
but it raced well
didn't look very nice to start
with all those pods and stuff
I've got a good memory
from that from winning the
2012 500 in the
DW12 but
the biggest
problem I had was I was
a right foot breaker on
road courses and this thing had two
big pedals and a hand clutch
and Indy car
wouldn't allow us to modify the pedals
so I could right foot brake
most bizarre decision it was Indy car
the officials at the time so
I destroyed two cars trying to learn to left
foot brake and
eventually Chip had to go to Indy car
and say you're going to have to do something here
because it's costing me a lot of money
so they'd let me right foot brake
but I struggled a little bit with that car
with the Honda at the time had a single turbo
as well so the turbo lag and all that stuff
I could qualify it like mad
qualifying things were good
but
I struggled
sometimes in the races to
to be
competitive through the whole tire run
as the balance of the car shifted so
and that was
again that was sort of that 2013
season I could feel
that motivation going away
that competitiveness
yeah that just wasn't feeling as competitive
and I looked around
the Ganassi group and a lot of the same
people I look at today when I'm in the
I'm in the trucks and I looked at them
and I thought I don't want to be the weak link in this chain
I don't want to do that I'm not going to
hang on past when I
when I can be competitive
2013 I was
40 I just turned 40
I was looking for other things
I want to see Porsche about driving
at Le Mans I done a handshake
deal with them to drive for them in the future
Le Mans so
I was already sort of looking
to
step back a bit from Indy car because
again I just didn't feel
I was as good as I had been two years
before and that was a worry
you had this massive crash and suffered
and cushion a lot of fractures to spinal fractures
you know I can imagine what the process
was like trying to rehab from all of that
but
you
you had to eventually
hear from your doctors that you didn't need to be driving
at least for the foreseeable
future how difficult
I'm you said
earlier that you know you're okay with that
decision for a while a couple years but I imagine
initially
you know having not being able to make
that choice yourself
you had these other plans I want to go run
24
hours and do other things
you had that taken from you you had
someone telling you what you were going to do for the first time in your life
I was
I was alive
so I was okay honestly
I was so happy
to be alive I don't
mean to be all sort of
but the sky was
blue or the grass was greener
you know
I limped about for
my right leg was shortened up
two inches so I had to put a bunch
of metal in my right ankle to get
it fixed all that dealt with the back injury
the brain
was the hardest bit though and
again that took a long time
but I was
okay I remember the conversation
I remember early on because it was Dr.
Trammel and Dr.
Ovi Trammel for the bones
Ovi for the brain that was you know these guys
same guys my whole
career we whenever I busted
myself up we're always there and the conversation
always went like right this is what's
wrong and there was a race
to get me back into the cars
quickly as possible how could we do it how could
I beat the timeline that they'd given me
and they were always on board with
you know helping me to push myself
as hard as I wanted
and then I don't remember
much about that period of time just because
there was so much damage but
I remember
the tone of
their voice the look in their eye
and it was I knew something
was different and then sure enough I went to Miami
and did the
I did some scans and I did remember
the impact test yeah
and I scored something like 2%
on the reaction test oh man
and they were like
and that was it
and so
there was no I didn't
have any honestly I was fine
I was quite
okay with all the decisions that
had to be made I struggled telling
Chip
I vaguely remember a conversation
I was in Scotland by then
and I remember calling him
and I think he was
struggling more than I was
but
I think it was on that conversation
we agreed
that I was going to come and be
an advisor for the team
on that day and
here I am 18 years
later
you know still
18 years I've been working with Chip
13 years since I stopped
still doing that
so
you I bet
everybody's
experience with those type of injuries is different
but we both
make a decision not to drive anymore
we both make a decision hey I'm at this point in my life
our age and all those things it's just a good time
to sort of pivot
and think about
prioritizing other things and we both did that
and then we both
started dabbling playing piddling
race here race there
scratching the itch yeah
and I don't know about you but
I went and ran a couple of Xenity races
I do one a year
and I would get about halfway through those races
I would perform way better than I expected to
but I would get about halfway through the race
and go all right I'm good
that's I've
I've learned that I'll still love this
and I've also learned that
yeah I don't need to do it every week
you know I'm all I just needed to reassert
assurance that
I was in it I was I had made the
right decision
and then I'd go six months and go
damn I want to do it again I need to do it
and then I'd get back in
halfway through the race I'd go yeah I'm good
I'm all right you know is that the experience
you had yourself
yeah I couldn't agree more
I don't need to do it every week
I don't need to be in it
you probably went through the same
is this a comeback this is not a comeback
this is just getting the opportunity
you know
having this this idea
and then our crazy friend
Jimmy
helping me make it all happen
but it's just about
yeah it's just about doing it from me
it's just about
going out and having fun
and as you say scratching that edge
getting involved and I've loved
the conversations with Jeremy
my crew chief just getting involved
in the
setting up for the weekend all those things
I'm
I'm okay
that I'm not doing it the week after
oh I bet so tell me
I guess how this did come about
so was it as simple as a little
conversation with Jimmy had you been telling Jimmy
you know hey man
car owner now
you know Jimmy as well as I do
so
I had seen
that they announced that
trucks are going to race at St Pete
and Dixon and I have always
talked about the MX5 race
at St Pete
we should do the MX5 race
that would be so much fun
and now he's talking about
he wants to do it at Daytona but he's
slightly insane
but I was like okay I want to do
something I'd see Pete
track a love
that would be fun
that would be fun to do that
so Jimmy and I
at the time
Jimmy and Shani and the girls were in London
and
we have a lot
and we were sitting having a glass of red
and
I said to him
did you see the truck thing that looks fun
I wonder if we should
look at trying to do that
and Jimmy's like we had a bit of a conversation
back and forwards and
I literally think it was the next morning
Jimmy calls and says
hey man I found your truck
what
I said I found your truck
I said oh is it a good truck
he said well it's
a team called Tricon
and I'm like well Tricon
won the championship
and just you know on the
Charlotte Roval smashed everybody's doors in
and yeah them
oh okay so it's a good truck
it's like yeah it's a good truck
and I'm going to drive it in San Diego
we need to get a sponsor
he's like yeah well we'll work on that
you know with Legacy
and the Legacy Motor Club and all that
he said well we'll work on it you work on it I'll work on it
so the next thing he calls me
he says hey Dollar Tree are on board
sweet
he's like yeah they love the idea he said I'm going to come
on the box and I'm going to advise you
from the box like you used to do with me
and IndyCar I'm like oh here we go
so
Dollar Tree came on Pie Barker came on
Scott Borchetta with Borchetta Bourbon
came on board so all this thing happened
and then yeah
I mean honestly Jimmy has been
the driving force behind it
he's getting
such a kick out of
me getting back in
the car you know we were
we raced at Goodwood together we won
in Aston Martin
DB4 GT which Jimmy put a rather
sizeable dent in it
but
then we went to
Spa in the
six hours of Spa in a 4 GT40
which
you know so we've done some great racing
together recently and he could see that I wanted
to do something
and he's
he's helped me make it happen so
I think I have to
thank him we'll see you after Saturday
yeah I would you know that's Jimmy
he got me
in the road biking he got me on
snow skis
like he's that kind of guy that's like
oh you've never tried this well you gotta try this
and I've got a guy I'll fix it up don't worry
it's all here he
just puts it all out in front of you like
here you go you're on you know first class
operation every time
let's go but
you've experienced what I've experienced
I think I think fans think of Jimmy as this
very buttoned up very
you know he's so
sort of
ruptured and polished
you and I know different we know
the
they are when he gets this twitch
in his eye and that
can mean you're about to get in a competitive
situation with him and you're going to finish second
or you're
going to go skiing with him or something and he
skis like a lunatic he's
you know and
he's you know I think
he's one of those we're so lucky to have him as a friend
he's
he's not he
invited me
and some other great friends on a trip
and to
Europe and we actually ended up
at dinner with your wife which was incredible
and I swear
I I've never been to
London or never been to Europe
been to German Germany but I'm never
really spending much time there and I mean
we were in the
top in
places it was just like a hotel
everywhere we went to eat
first class out of
the out of the park
and I felt like I was on another
planet like a really cool planet but
it was so insane
my Amy told me
to tell Ellie I guess that
to tell her hello
right right back
out yeah Ellie had fun
she told me all about it yeah I was so I was
so jealous I was the fish out of water
I was I was so out of my element
but you just when you're in those moments
with Jimmy you just trust
he knows where he's going he knows what
he's not going to put you in a bad
a bad spot but I was like
man I don't I have no idea
where I'm at and you went to Scotland
we did we did go to Scotland which was
that was a little more
that was a little more my speed
like we were out in the wilderness
yes drinking beer and riding
you know out in the woods
and these bikes down down this
own creek and out in the middle of nowhere
it was so awesome
and the old place old in where we
stayed the hotel we stayed in was just
very vintage and
like I've been there for 500 years or more
it probably had
right and so we and we went into
this town we stayed at and you know this
but I'm saying it's for the listeners we
stayed in this little town maybe
maybe 300 people live there
and we went to the local tavern and hung out
and I mean that right there
is right in my wheelhouse
I want to do that kind of stuff right there
you and me both
when we went to London
I mean it is like being in New York City
but in Europe it was
wide open people everywhere and
fancy fancy fancy dinners and all this stuff
but it was still cool to do it
yeah
so I have a question for you
you mentioned Amy
what's going on with Daytona
what?
well yeah
we were just sitting in the bed after the 500
and we were just going over the weekend
and talking about just there's
not so much the result that we had that day
but more the emotions of being there and how heavy it is
and it's good we have fun
but it's super emotional to just
not only my connection to the racetrack
but to trying to run the Daytona 500
doing this once a year
we were just in our feelings and
she was like you should just do it
and I was like the hell
like I
I thought she was
I've been racing a late model
stock car which is local, regional
short track
it's where I started
so I kind of made this big arc
to get the cup and I went out the same
way I came in and I'm all the way
back to square one and I love going
and playing and doing that
and I get my ass kicked but I still
it's fun
but she was like you should just drive
the cup car next year I'm like you have no idea
how hard that is and to your point
like getting in shape
and being in the mental shape and knowing where the corners
of the car is
and I don't drive those cars and I don't
they got sequential shifters now
they got all these whole interiors
completely foreign to me
and so
but she was just wishful thinking
but I know better than to get into
that mess but Jimmy's done it
you know Jimmy's had fun doing it but
I don't know
we went down there to watch him
Scott Dixon and I went down
LA and the girls came down we were all there
supporting Jimmy he had a great strategy
to get in the front for the last stage
but he spun coming on pit road
and that messed the strategy
that would be me I would be spinning
on the pit road I would be
you wouldn't be able to give me a strategy
because I'd screw it all up but
I try to tell
people like
you know it's
so whimsical to think
yeah go run one more race
at the top level of the motorsport
discipline that you know
it ain't that easy these guys are elite
they're that 5%
that they have that none of us have anymore
that's you can't race without it
you know and expect to do well
to your point like I could go do it
I could stay out of trouble I could
disappear into the pack and probably get
lost the finish line but that's not what we
want to do that's not the experience that we
want to have and so
we want to get out there and do it well and if we
can't do it well it's not as easy
to go through the commitment of it and all
the extra stuff you have to do as well so
I gotta tell you man
I learned about you racing this truck
I'm excited for you we've had
some very brief kind of exchanges
over the years
about our you know our own
experiences and
I am thrilled for you to
be able to get back
behind the wheel I know you've had some
experiences behind the wheel racing over the years
but this is a real deal
this is a legit
top 3 NASCAR
you are back to 2007
back to square one
but you're at least at a place you're familiar with
I think you'll have an advantage over a lot
of the competition in terms of your experience
on the racetrack and your great
expertise as a road course racer so I'm
looking forward
to seeing you just like this
at the end of the day all smiles
proud that you did this
arm in arm with Jimmy
thankful for this opportunity
can't wait to see it happen this weekend buddy
thanks junior appreciate it
alright man thanks for
thanks for giving us some time today I know you're a busy man
trying to figure out how you're gonna get over to St. Pete
get ready for this weekend but good luck
and enjoy it
thank you
now let's download
alright so man that was a great conversation
I wanted to say this
to him before he got off the air
I wanted to add this into the back end of the conversation
but
Dario thank you for being
transparent and open
about some of the toughest moments in your
career and some of the
heartbreak and loss that you experienced
this guy
is prepping himself
for the race this weekend
and in a racer's
mind you want to like put the blinders
on and just forward focus on
trying to do the best job you can
with this singular opportunity
so asking him to like
kind of open up the chest
and dive into some of those
those old memories some that
some that probably still are difficult
to discuss that was a big
task in a tall
order I think for Dario
so thank you Dario for doing that
for our listeners for the show
not always
assumed and expected
but just a great conversation
I
so he I didn't never really
I didn't know know him at all I obviously
was a fan or had watched him race
and then when he retired
we had some
brief interactions
you know in the
direct message and so forth
on social media
about his injury and about his
experience and so forth
and I'm very grateful for that
I mean he I think he's the one that instigated
the the conversation
but it made me
it made me really care about his
his health his well-being his
experience in life beyond
racing and
so
yeah I
I'm glad to know that he got back behind
the wheel that he got to enjoy some great moments
that he mentioned with Jimmy and so forth
at Goodwood and now this
truck opportunity we should all
you know knowing what he's
experienced everything that he's done everything he's
accomplished we should all be wanting him to be
able to go to st. Pete and just have
a blast
the performance where
what the end result is matters
none matters very very little
you know the competitor in him
is certainly going to want to go out there
and run well right
put up a good effort but honestly
that matters very little
it's about the laps
the smells the sounds the
feeling the rush
you know
and I'm sure he's gonna he's gonna
capture all of that perfectly
just thankful for him he couldn't make the
flight to get here he's supposed to be in the studio
and he's like I could still do remote
and we as a team
got together had a conversation and I'm glad
we were able to do it today
and that was a lot of fun yeah so
excited about this weekend I think
I'll be tuned into the truck race
anticipating
how he may do
and
thanks for joining us here in the Arby's studio
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About this episode
Dario Franchitti opens up about his journey from a near-career-ending crash and multiple concussions to rediscovering his passion for racing. He discusses the challenges of returning to competitive driving after retirement, including adapting to new series like the NASCAR Truck Series and the physical demands of racing at his age. Dario also reflects on his early racing days, family influence, and the joy he finds in driving historic cars. The conversation highlights the emotional and physical hurdles racers face when stepping away and then back into the sport.
Original notes
Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with one of the most accomplished open-wheel racers in history, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti. After elevating through the karting ranks of Scotland and taking on the lower formula divisions in Europe, Dario set his sights on the US racing scene, specifically the Championship Auto Racing Teams series. Once stateside, Dario explains his journey wasn’t easy, and he initially struggled until joining Barry Green’s organization. Dario would have a breakout year in 2007, winning his first Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship, but through all the success, he felt his motivation waning, and he was ready for the next challenge.
The next challenge came in an unlikely form: NASCAR. Through a deal with Chip Ganassi, Dario would plunge into the world of stock car racing with both feet, taking on the Cup grid in 2008 full-time. The endeavor would be ill-fated, and before long, Dario was back behind the wheel of an IndyCar, where he began a dynasty championship run. This incredible in-depth interview dives deep into the heartbreak of losing loved ones in motorsports, the severity of head injuries, and the difficulty of walking away from competitive racing.
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Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM
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