IRL News - Franchitti Praises Dallara
08/08/2007
IndyCar Series points leader Dario Franchitti has thanked Dallara for the strength of their cars after he survived a huge crash at Michigan on Sunday.
The championship leader's car was flipped into the air after he made contact with Dan Wheldon while battling for the lead, but Franchitti was amazingly able to walk away from the accident, which involved five other cars.
"We touched and the next thing I knew I was upside down going backward," said Franchitti, who was dazed but uninjured. "I thought, 'This isn't good.' I'm glad everyone is OK.”
"I guess I owe that car a lot," said Franchitti. "The car absorbed all the impact. I have to say that it did its job, it really saved me.
“I had a lot of time to think about what might happen when I was 30ft in the air, and it didn’t look good,” he added.
Also involved in the accident was Franchitti’s chief championship rival, Scott Dixon, and the gap between the pair remains at 24pts. But the Kiwi was a lucky guy.
“I said to Scott, 'We have to stop meeting like that.'”, said Franchitti. “We've been running side-by-side in so many races recently. When I stopped and realized I was in one piece, I couldn't believe it. I'm a lucky guy."
His came to rest upside down after the accident, and despite making contact with Scott Dixon's car while upside down, the roll hoop of the car remained intact.
"Mr Dallara is a personal friend of mine, and I've always been a fan of his," the Andretti Green driver added. "He has given us fast car that are very strong one as well.
"It is because of that car that I'm sitting here with just a bruise on my nose. It's incredible."
Franchitti remains in the lead of the IndyCar Series despite his retirement last weekend, as Dixon could only recover to finish 10th.