DARIO Must Retire: Doctors Advise

DF announced today, he is retiring from racing on the advise of his doctors. The Houston accident left him with weaknesses that if irritated by another accident could seriously affect his health.

Too bad, he was a class act in the IRL.

 

I don't think this will come as a surprise to most. I figured he was done after that. I probably would be too.

 

+1

who is his replacement going to be?

Hinchcliffe? Newgarden? or.....?

 

Here is the link for the full story.

Dario Franchitti unable to continue auto racing career | News | Motorsport.com

Hope to be well soon.

 

Well that's the right choice. I wish him well.

 

Sad news indeed and I agree with you that he has always been a class act. He will make a great addition to the commentators booth or as a grid reporter which will keep him close with his amigo's.

 

Tagliani
Keep in mind that Target just entered the Canadian market.
Hinch already signed with Andretti.

 

Alonso.

 

Sorry, wrong thread.

 

I've not been one of his fans, but his enthusiasm for the sport cannot be denied. I'm very sorry that his career ended this way, and hope that he will have no future health problems due to his injury.

 

Tags is too old.

I bet Hinch would bolt Andretti for Ganassi in a heartbeat. he'd be perfect for Target too.

 

Agreed but he did such a great job for Go Daddy,too much of a good job that it would be strange to watch him advertising Target stores.Besides I undertstand GD will still partly sponsor his car in 2014 to keep him on board as far advertising goes.
Ganassi will hire an experience driver wich can bring sponsorship.
Keep in mind Dixon is Tags best buddy.Why do you think He subded for Dario in Fontana?
Chip will have a tough choice to make.

 

Briscoe? he started his IndyCar career with Chip....would be nice to steal him away from Penske after Penske stole Montoya...

 

I am just hoping for a speedy recovery for Dario and happy we are not having to endure the loss of another great racer.

 

It's the right decision made all the easier after the loss of Dan Wheldon no doubt.

Dario is a great talent, I first met him working a test session he did in his rookie year
in CART for the Carl Hogan team at Sebring. He had just received high accolades from
Autosport and joined the Hogan team which came to Sebring with a car fresh from Reynard.

Once the team sorted out a bunch of technical issues, Dario got down to business, he was
quickly on pace with other rookies such as Patrick Carpentier.

He lost out on the 1997 ROY to Carpentier but only really though some very bad luck as his
driving skills were very evident but was let down by the car several times during the season.

BHW

 

Hogan had Dario and HCN in consecutive years, great driver lineup!


IIRC Dario was at the time a Mercedes factory or junior factory driver, and had come over from DTM of all places....he was immediately fast in CART at the height of that series. I'm going to miss him.

 

It was neat seeing both Dario and Marino with the L5 P2 Petit in '12; they finished 3rd overall/ 2nd in class. I have a great pic of both of them with the car somewhere. He was very pleasant to talk to throughout the weekend and didn't rush conversation.
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That's right and then Helio ended up with Alumax/Bettenhausen in 1998 and Dario
moved over to Andretti-Green (or was it just Green?).

BHW

 

I think it was Team Cool Green and Andretti didn't merge with Green until 2003. But the team name didn't actually change to Andretti Green until 2005-ish- when Michael became primary owner.

 

That's right as Mikey was still actively racing.

The KOOL team had the best media hospitality in the paddock. Very nice team.

BHW

 

actually, I misspoke (mistyped?) ...Hogan had Dario in 97 and HCN in 99 (with that amazing Lola, probably my favorite car from CART...just beautiful). in 98 Hogan had JJ Lehto, which IIRC ended in litigation

 

Shame. He is a cool dude...

Several years ago he came to our local Cars and Coffee (he's been a regular since, when he's in town) on a cold winter day and chilled in Starbucks for a few hours with the other five of us who showed up. I didn't really know his status back then, but remember him being very down to earth.

Wish him the best. Hope he keeps writing for EVO...

 

Awesome! Did he bring his red 911?

 

Dario had broken his back about ten years ago in a motorcycle crash, I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

 

He's been in some other serious shunts too, recalling at the end of the 2007 IRL race
at Kentucky that he'd just won he drove straight up the back of another car on the
cool down lap and ended up ass-over-head and into the barrier.

Incidents like this and the loss of Dan Wheldon probably made the decision easier.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnslpiaEAVA]Dario Franchitti - Huge Crash at Kentucky IRL - YouTube[/ame]

BHW