Following a wreck in the final race of the season, Dario Franchitti injured his back. He has been told that he will fully recover from the injuries, however has been told that he will not be able to race again due to concerns of sustaining a worst injury if he wrecks once again.
“It’s obviously around his head, concussions, things like that, has to do with a repeat of that type of concussion could be serious,” Ganassi explained. “I had a similar incident way back in 1984. That’s when those type of injuries were in their infant stage, and I think to some extent still are.
“I have to be very careful about what I say because I’m obviously not a doctor. I think we’ve all seen and understood the impact that those kinds of injuries can have long term if they’re not diagnosed properly. So I think this is connected to that in a way.”
Ganassi said that it came about following some testing in Miami. Following the tests with doctors, Franchitti flew to his home country of Scotland to spend time with family and while on that vacation, call Ganassi to tell him the news.
“I can tell you that I’ve only ever received one call from Scotland before this,” Ganassi said. “Usually when he goes away, he likes to be away and get away from things. I think that’s really the reason he goes back home like that in the offseason for maybe a month at a time. This was obviously something planned a long time ago and something he does on a regular basis at the end of the season. I try to stay out of those guys’ hair.”
Ganassi said he could tell something about the call was different from the start and beliefs were confirmed when Franchitti began to explain everything. Based on the phone call, Ganassi says he could tell that he was heartbroken by the news.
“I would say at the same time he probably thought about it for 24 hours or so before he called me,” the car owner added. “I think it’s also safe to say he’s a bit of a realist about it, too. I mean, I went through all the obvious questions. He said, Look, I don’t want to go forward. I’d never want to go forward and risk hurting somebody else or risk further injury. He said, further injury, much less hurt somebody else. That’s the great thing about Dario.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi says it’s an unfortunate situation that Franchitti is in with having to stop driving before he probably wanted to.
“They like to leave any sport or any avocation on their own terms,” Ganassi explained. “To be told that you can’t continue is pretty disheartening, to say the least. I think we’re all dealing with that initially. I don’t think there’s any reason to read anything more into that.”
Though with that said, a positive perspective is being held by Franchitti and those around him as the ability to simply open a new chapter in his career.
“I think he’ll make a great ambassador to the sport,” Ganassi commented. “I can’t think of anybody who would be better, as somebody that has worldwide recognition and a true interest in the sport of Indy car racing. We want to help him with that. We have a common interest in the sport, in furthering the sport, and we’ll do it together I’m sure.”
Ganassi sees Franchitti staying involved in the sport to some capacity due to love for it. Ganassi would like to keep Franchitti involved within the Target-Ganassi team.
Beyond that, it has been stated that Franchitti will go down as one of the all-time greats, being the only driver to win three titles consecutively and having 31 wins to his name. He also was able to win the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Indianapolis 500 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in a single year.
“Those are no small feats,” Ganassi said of Franchitti’s statistics. “We kind of take them for granted sometimes in our team because we’re so focused on next week’s race, you never really turn around and look back at things.”
