Dario Franchitti Forced to Walk Away from Sport He Made Me Love

I’m saddened by the recent news that my favorite IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti, one of the all-time greats of the sport, will no longer be able to race due to injuries sustained in a horrific October crash at Houston. Doctors have told Franchitti that returning to racing action had too many risks and could be detrimental to his future. So, he made the wise and right decision to step aside.

A month and a half after the frightening accident, I’m still just thrilled that Franchitti, also one of the great all-around guys in sports, is still alive. But, his abrupt retirement on Thursday, Nov. 14, did come as a shock to me as I fully expected him back in a racecar by next season. It turns out that was a little too much wishful thinking, as none of us fully knew the extent the crash injuries had taken on him. As it turns out it’s not the severely fractured ankle or the multiple fractured vertebrae that’s mostly sidelining him, but the concussion sustained in the accident, which is the third or fourth concussion in his career. Franchitti is basically being forced to quit, because he’s suffered similar head trauma as numerous football players who suffer from debilitating head injuries after their playing careers.

The thing that’s the most shocking about all of this is that as he is my favorite driver I selfishly feel like I’ve been stripped of seeing the “Dario Franchitti Farewell Tour” and hate knowing that the last time I’d ever see Franchitti in a racecar will be the image of not knowing whether or not he was alive in a terribly mangled racecar sitting on the racetrack.

But, I know that won’t be the only image in my head from the legendary racing career of Dario Franchitti – I’ll just as easily remember the four championships and three Indianapolis 500 victories – the moments and things that made Franchitti a larger than life figure in the IndyCar Series.

Dario Franchitti plays a huge role in why I’m a fan of the IndyCar Series. I had long been a NASCAR fan and it was pretty much the only form of auto racing that I watched. But, I started to watch the Indianapolis 500 in 2005, the year the late Dan Wheldon won his first Indy 500, probably because I got caught up in the Danica Patrick mania. I continued to watch the 500 every year, watching Sam Hornish Jr. narrowly beat rookie Marco Andretti in 2006 in one of the closest and most exciting finishes ever. The next year I would watch as Dario Franchitti won his first Indy 500 in a rain-shortened event, he had won his first championship the year before. Something about Franchitti’s dominance on the racetrack, his likability off the racetrack and the sheer badassness of his entire look – the hair, the Scottish accent, the Hollywood wife, etc. made me like this guy, made him stand out to me from the rest.

The next year when Franchitti decided to leave IndyCar for NASCAR it made me like him even more. His NASCAR career was short and unsuccessful though, not even getting a half of a season under his belt before fracturing his ankle in a hard crash in a Nationwide Series race at Talladega. He would go back to IndyCar the next season and I couldn’t believe the transition was so easy for him. It looked as if Franchitti hadn’t missed a step and immediately dominated the series winning three championships in a row from 2009-2011 and winning two more Indy 500s in 2010 and 2012. Franchitti is one of only 10 drivers to win the most coveted trophy in motorsports three or more times. His 31 wins (21 in IndyCar and 10 in Champ Car) are eighth most all-time in American Open Wheel Racing. All of these numbers add up to Franchitti quite possibly being one of the 10 greatest drivers ever in his field.

He’s the biggest reason why I’ve become an IndyCar fan and I’ll always appreciate him as much for that, as for the greatness I witnessed from him on the track. He’s certainly going to be missed come March when engines are fired on the 2014 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg, but there’s no doubt he’s making the right decision to walk away from racing. It’s probably the hardest decision he’s ever had to make, but he’s done so like the true champion he is.