Monday, September 10, 2007

Sept. 10 newsstand: Dario is the champ & more

Congrats to Dario Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar champion. The season came down to the final corner of the final lap -- giving hints of the wild 2002 finish between Sam & Helio (only both drivers had fuel in 2002). Today's newsstand has a ton of Dario stories, obviously (and some really interesting ones), but also check out some of the Silly Season rumors below, and a great IPS finish.

Chicagoland recap
Post-race press conference
Daily trackside report
Race boxscore (PDF) and HTML
Lap chart (PDF) and Leader summary (PDF)
Final points standings and driver earnings

Hail to the champ!
Indianapolis Star: Good to the last drop
The best headline by far.
Says Dario: "I'm happier than I thought I would be. I thought winning the Indy 500 was a great feeling, but this is different, I guess because it's a whole year rolled into one (day)."

AutoWeek: The way to go
Says Dario after winning Indy & the title in the same season: "I don't think if I was on this earth for five lifetimes I could ever one-up Jim Clark. He's my hero."

AP: Franchitti captures race and IRL title

Says Dario: "It's been a crazy season. There were times when we thought we were looking really good and times when things just wouldn't go right. But we got some of our mojo back from the middle of the season, so I couldn't be happier."

Joliet Herald-News: Franchitti's day just perfect
Says Dario about the race-winning pass: "We came down the backstretch and I was drafting him trying to get a slingshot. Just as I pulled out I saw him slow down and I almost hit the back of him as I was just going out. ... It was some good fuel saving and some great strategy from my boys. They are the best team in the world."

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Conservation fuels Franchitti
Says Scott Dixon about puttering to the finish: "We all had the same amount of fuel. But we didn't use it wisely."

Chicago Tribune: Franchitti drives like a million dollars
And he makes a million, too.

Chicago Sun-Times: Franchitti wins Cup
It's always great that print reporters, unlike their live TV compadres, can edit motorsports expert Ashley Judd's comments to ''I'm extremely proud. 'He really had to fight.''

Times of Northwest Indiana: Fuel control nets Franchitti win
Says Dario: "They were telling me I was close on fuel, close on fuel, but I didn't get a fuel pressure alarm until I drove the thing up onto the podium. I'd done an extra lap and a burnout and restarted the thing, so I think I was OK. We're certainly in better position than Scott was."

ESPN.com: Franchitti proves prophetic on way to first title
Says TCGR's Mike Hull: "I think Dario was in about the same position as we were, and he just worked the system a little better than we did today. We did everything we needed to do to try to win a championship, and that's just the way life is."

SpeedTV: Franchitti wins all in Chicago
Jeff Olson's race story.

IndyCar.com: 'I did my guys proud.'
"Funny thing, I was sitting there this morning thinking about what I had to do today. And the most important thing for me was that I drove a good race and I gave 100 percent, and I kind of did my guys proud. I did the job my guys would want me to do. That was more important to me than the result."

IndyCar.com: Franchitti wins it all
Queries Dario: "Was that enough excitement for you?"
Also, the best photo of Dario celebrating of the bunch.

Eurosport: Franchitti celebrates massive achievement
Says Dario: "When I came over to the IndyCar Series, the Indy 500 was a big goal. And the championships, to accomplish both those is massive."

Scotsman: Dario enters annals of racing history

Scotsman: Super Dario clinches title
An update from Dario's hometown. Says Grandmother Lina Franchitti: "I'm very, very proud of him. His mum phoned me up to tell me from America. I didn't get to sleep till four in the morning. I'm hoping to talk to him later today. ... We always thought he would do well. He was racing go-karts from a very young age. He was always very keen on anything to do with cars."

SportsTicker: Franchitti will leave IRL as champion

Sporting Life.com: Franchitti eclipses Clark with title win

Michigan City (IN) News-Dispatch: Splash of fuel decides Joliet race
Says Dario: "Most of the race I was sitting there and I couldn't do anything," said Franchitti, who lamented the fact he didn't have the help he needed to get by either of the Penske or Ganassi cars until late in the race when they pitted for fuel. ... They were running two by two and there just wasn't anywhere to go. When I saw that, I decided to just stay behind them for a bit and save fuel." Also includes a recap of the IPS race.

ESPN.com: Dixon can't believe final lap
Someone catches up with the runner-up. Says Scott: "When you look at it, we were really only a corner away from it. I think at that stage I was more worried that there wasn't any radio communication. Because when the radio is quiet there's something about to happen."

Silly-Season Stuff
SpeedTV.com: Looking back, looking ahead
Tomas Scheckter admits he'd like to be at AGR: “It’s one of the best teams in North America and that’s where I’d like to be next year. Says Robin Miller: "Champ Car’s Justin Wilson is also thought to be on AGR’s radar."

Also, from RM: "
Sarah Fisher is looking into starting her own IRL team in 2008, which may be the only way the first female to score an Indy-car podium finish will have a ride."

RM addresses the Steve Horne rumors, from Steve Horne: ”First off, I wasn’t at Chicago and secondly, I have no plans to get back into the racing business right now. I would dearly love to run the Indy 500 again if it made financial sense, because I think it still owes me one."

Autoweek: Dario headed to NASCAR, Cavin gives AGR possibilities
Says Curt Cavin: "AGR will continue with four cars thanks to sponsorship from an energy drink company yet to be announced. The team’s short list of Franchitti replacements includes Tomas Scheckter, Darren Manning, Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira. ... As for his IRL program, Ganassi said Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon will return to their cars next season, and there is an effort to give them a teammate. Ganassi recently tested Indy Pro Series champion Alex Lloyd, who is optimistic he will race in the IndyCar Series next season."

Indianapolis Star: AGR plans to remain a four-car team
Gene Simmons is behind AGR's new sponsor, too.

Joliet Herald-News: NASCAR next for IndyCar champ?
Says columnist Ron Kremer: "Dixon lamented the fact his gamble -- and that of the entire Ganassi team -- failed when he ran out of fuel going into Turn 3 and saw Franchitti roar past him. The gamble cost Dixon his share of the $1 million prize awarded to the Series champ. ... His Ganassi colleagues didn't shed a single tear. They got their man -- Franchitti."

Autosport: Franchitti won't decide future quite yet
Says Dario: "I'm not going to talk about next year. I won't think about the decision to be made, next week or the week after. I'm going to enjoy having won this championship. I'm going to have a good time and celebrate winning the IndyCar championship."

Autosport: Hornish set to make Nextel Cup debut

Driver/news stories/commentaries
SI.com: Sense of loss
Tim Tuttle describes how Dario became a star since Indy, and his loss will be felt by the IRL.

Indianapolis Star: Many 500 champs haven't defended title
An interesting story from Curt Cavin. Notes that Brack, JPM, de Ferran haven't come back to defend. It appears Dario might be next in the train.

Defiance (OH) Crescent-News: Hornish's frustrating season comes to an end
Says Sam: "It's been that kind of year ... we really wanted to go out on top and get win number 20 in Indy cars. I guess we'll get to work this week and see what we can do. ... I'm jumping right back into a race car tomorrow and Tuesday at Talladega and then we're going to Loudon ... Like I've said before, I'm very lucky to be in this position thanks to Roger. It's good to have options."

ESPN.com: Franchitti offers high point to messy AGR day
John Schwarb offers an analysis piece in his race notebook.

AP notebook: Judd grabs attention after "my husband's" victory
Racing Expert Ashley Judd offers her analysis. "You saw the Penskes work so well and the Target guys work so well, and my sweet little husband was just out there with the bloody sharks. They just sharked him all day. And he never gave up hope. He just hung in there and ... was in a great position. And I know that this is not very sportsmanlike, but they've got to get the 23 car (Duno) off the track. It's very dangerous. I'm tired of holding my tongue. When a car's 10 miles (an hour) off the pace, it's not appropriate for it to be racing. People's lives are at stake."
Me at the TV while this is going on: "Cut her mike, please!"

Chicago Tribune: Season went in reverse for young Andretti
Another race notebook.

Joliet Herald-News: Fans unite for race
Says one fan: "I feel like these (cars) go much faster and I like speed. It was awesome."

IndyCar.com has everything on Julianne Hough's day with Helio

IPS stuff
Times of Northwest Indiana: Crown Point teenager captures first victory
And in the closest finish in open-wheel history, too. 1.65" over teammate Alex Lloyd, with a great move in the final corner.

SpeedTV.com: Gomez beats Lloyd by .0005 of a second

IndyCar.com: Remember the name Logan Gomez

IndyCar.com: Adam Andretti has a full-season ride for 2008

And finally
The Arizona Star tells us Ashley Judd has a big mouth. Yeah, just ask Milka Duno.

Also, the Hartford Courant's racing writer discusses how NASCAR keeps trying to manufacture excitement, and the lemmings can't get enough of it, when they just need to look at the IRL.

One more really good one: A Paris, IL man builds historic racecars from scratch, including Barney Oldfield's famed 1917 Golden Submarine.

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