Franchitti’s Life Has Yet To Return To ‘Normal’ After Indy 500 Victory

By Bruce Martin
NSSN Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas — “Milka Mania” made its debut at Texas Motor Speedway as Venezualan Milka Duno competed in her first race since competing in her first Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago.
The driver from South America got a taste of Texas Wednesday night in Forth Worth.
“I saw many people here at Texas who made me feel welcome,” Duno said. “I was at the famous Billy Bob’s; and they taught me how to rope a bull. It was very much fun.
“They don’t have a place like Billy Bob’s in Venezuela. I enjoyed it because it was so different. I watch the cowboy movies about America and it looks very nice, but when you do it, it’s so different.”
Duno was involved in another crash in practice on Thursday, sending her crew back to work to repair the car. She also crashed once in practice at Indy and in the Indy 500.
A piece broke on the rear wing and the car lost 200 pounds of rear downforce, sending it into a spin and into the wall.
“Here, you have to recover immediately because you don’t have enough time,” Duno said. “It was my first time in Texas, and I have to prove I’m ready for the next moment. Forget what happened and go flat again.
“My engineer was thinking about race car more than a qualifying car. We did what we could do with the car we have now.”
However, she stayed out of trouble to finish a career-high 11th after starting 19th.

— Tony Kanaan pulled a “Days of Thunder” move when he threaded the needle between a flying wheel and a crashed race car during the massive six-car crash on lap 197.
“I saw a car and a tire flying,” Kanaan recalled. “I was going to aim for the middle. I didn’t want to hit the car because I didn’t want to hurt the guy if I T-boned him at 150 miles an hour. At the same time I’m looking at the tire bouncing, and if that thing hits my head, I’m done.
“I aimed for the middle of both. The tire bounced, and if the car came close to me I would still have time to react. Luckily, we were both fine.”
It was a little too close for comfort for the IndyCar star from Andretti Green Racing.
“I saw a wheel flying and a car in the wall,” Kanaan said. “I squeezed my head and shot to the middle. I had no brakes from the get-go, so I had no brakes to stop. That helped me for the first time because I didn’t lock the wheels because of it.
“It was not just going to be a crash, I wouldn’t be here talking to you guys right now.”

— Sam Hornish, Jr.’s victory gave him a “three-peat” at Texas Motor Speedway.
“This is the only track that I’ve won three times at other than Miami, so I guess it’s tied as my favorite track,” Hornish said. “I always loved coming to Texas. You look at things how they rate on what you want to do, what kind of things you want to have on your credentials list. Obviously, winning Indy is a huge deal. Texas has been very good to me.
“In 2000, I came here with PDM and started 18th in the night race and came all the way up to third at one time. Right after that I got a call from John Barnes wanting to know if I wanted to test for Panther. The year after that I celebrated my first championship in Texas with a win. The year after that I was able to beat Helio for the second championship with a win. So, I’ve had a lot of really good memories come out of this race track.”
 
— Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti was asked if life has returned to normal since his big win on Memorial Day weekend.
“No,” Franchitti said. “I spent one day at home, and Ashley (Judd, wife) and I got to head back from New York last Monday, but there was so much catching up to do it didn’t feel normal.
“Getting back to the track feels normal, but that’s about it.”
After Texas, Franchitti heads to Mid-Ohio for a PR day on Tuesday, a test on Wednesday, run the ALMS car on Thursday and then head to the United States Grand Prix Friday.
“I’m a busy boy right now,” Franchitti said.
 
— Scott Sharp pulled a surprise by knocking Sam Hornish, Jr. off the pole Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Sharp, a two-time winner at the 1.5-mile track, was the only driver to top 215 miles per hour in the evening qualifying session. That was faster than Hornish’s 214.518 mph.
“That sounds good — polesitter. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that,” Sharp said. “I never thought we would run quite that quick.”
It was Sharp’s sixth-career pole but his first since starting first at Kentucky in August 2001. It’s the 10th pole for Rahal Letterman Racing.
Sharp is also in favor of track improvements done in the first and second turns before April’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race to remove a bump.