Point Leader Franchitti Goes Airborne In Late-Race, Seven-Car Melee

BROOKLYN, Mich. — The final IndyCar Series race at Michigan Int’l Speedway showcased everything that is right and everything that is wrong with this form of racing.
Tony Kanaan claimed his third victory of the season in Sunday’s rain-delayed Firestone Indy 400, defeating teammate Marco Andretti in a dramatic final-lap battle to score his second MIS triumph.
But a seven-car crash at the front of the field marred the outcome as Dan Wheldon and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti triggered a horrific scene. Franchitti literally became “The Flying Scot,” as his car went 35 feet in the air before landing upside-down on Scott Dixon’s car.

“For us it was just like death row waiting for somebody to kill you... Really, it was a bomb waiting to explode. Somebody just pulled the plug and then they just wait. Thank God nobody is hurt.”
— Tony Kanaan

“For us, it was just like death row waiting for somebody to kill you,” Kanaan said. “I knew it was going to happen. I knew it. I avoided two times of sending Tomas Scheckter to the grandstands. Somebody had to give up and I knew somebody in the front was going to get stubborn enough and say I’m not going to give up.
“Really, it was a bomb waiting to explode. Somebody just pulled the plug and then they just wait. Thank God nobody is hurt.”

ONE-TWO PUNCH: Tony Kanaan beats teammate Marco Andretti to the finish line Sunday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (Jim Haines/IRL IndyCar Photo)

The race restarted with 29 laps to go with Scott Sharp in front, but Andretti went three wide to take the lead and was black-flagged by race officials for jumping the restart. He had to give back the position but remained in touch with the six cars still on the track.
Both Dixon and Hornish returned to the race after their cars were repaired. At the front of the field was a trio of AGR cars lead by Kanaan, Andretti and Danica Patrick.
With 14 laps to go, the right rear tire on Patrick’s car lost air pressure, forcing her to pit. She was running third at the time.
“This is the worst nightmare of my life,” Patrick radioed to her crew when she realized her chance at victory was lost.
With 10 to go, it was a two-car battle between Kanaan and Andretti. Several times, Andretti tried to take the high side but couldn’t pull off the pass.
With six to go, Andretti nudged just ahead of Kanaan on the backstretch, trying to keep his teammate pinned to the inside line. But Kanaan was able to maintain the lead.
Kanaan defeated Andretti by 0.0595 seconds. Sharp was third, followed by Kosuke Matsuura and 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice.
It was fierce, dramatic, beautiful and frightening, making this race IndyCar’s version of Talladega, complete with “The Big One” at 220 miles per hour.
That is why the drivers were glad to make this the final IndyCar race at the big two-mile oval because the cars are so close together, there is no margin for error.
“It is a great show but there is no margin for error,” Franchitti said. “A lot of it is how brave you are going to be, how stupid you are going to be and how fast the car is. I prefer the shorter tracks and road courses. It’s difficult to get an advantage here so that is why crazy things happen.”
None of the drivers involved in the crash were injured.

TRIUMPHANT TK: Tony Kanaan celebrates his third victory of 2007 Sunday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (Jim Haines/IRL IndyCar Photo)

With little promotion by Michigan Int’l Speedway, which announced two weeks ago it would not accept the IndyCar Series proposed race date for 2008, there were only 20,000 tickets sold for the 132,000 seats available. After five hours of rain delay, the green flag waved with between 12,000 to 15,000 fans in the grandstands.
“We’ve been saying forever we don’t need to come to this place any more,” Kanaan said. “It got so competitive and the drivers are so good then you see what happened today. It’s crazy. It’s just sit and wait for a disaster.
“It’s been four years we’ve had the same cars, the same engines and the same tires. Everybody is catching up. People say only three teams are winning but you see Tomas Scheckter and Scott Sharp getting up there and then you start seeing everybody running together again.
“Then people get crazy and go three- or four-wide and start bringing the pack back together.”
There were 23 lead changes among nine drivers with Franchitti leading eight times for 101 laps and Kanaan leading three times for 30 laps.
But there were six caution flags for 63 laps, which included Vitor Meira and Helio Castroneves crashing into each other on lap 59 with the two Brazilians stressing their displeasure with each other in their native language.
Castroneves was so upset, he walked the entire distance from the crash site in turn one to the infield care center in the middle of the infield to work off his anger.
Darren Manning slammed hard into the wall on lap 114 and the left-rear wheel snapped loose and landed on top of him with the suspension pieces nearly spearing him like a kabob. Manning suffered lacerations of both knees.
Those were only preliminaries to the “Big One” on lap 144 when Franchitti and Wheldon were side-by-side refusing to give in before both cars touched. By the time Franchitti landed on Dixon’s car, Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV and Tomas Scheckter were also involved.
Amazingly, they all walked into and out of the care center.