Taco pit stop turns bad for Indy 500 drivers
Indianapolis 500 pole-winner Scott Dixon, his wife and retired three-time race winner Dario Franchitti were unharmed after being robbed at gunpoint in the drive-thru lane of a Taco Bell making a late-night food run, police said Monday.
The robbery happened shortly before 10 p.m. at the fast-food restaurant less than a mile from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Dixon a few hours earlier had won the top starting position in IndyCar’s showcase race coming up Sunday. Police did not immediately disclose what was taken from the two drivers and Dixon’s wife, Emma.
Two boys, ages 15 and 14, were arrested a short time later.
Tony Kanaan, Dixon’s teammate with Chip Ganassi Racing, told reporters Dixon was making a food run for a group of drivers, including himself. Franchitti, who retired in 2013, also works for the team.
“While they were ordering with their windows down two guys approached at gunpoint,” Kannan said. “They held a gun at Dixon’s head and asked him for his wallet and his phone. You don’t expect that to happen, especially here.”
Nobody in the car was hurt. By the time practice resumed Monday, some around the 2.5-mile oval were poking fun at the incident.
“I was supposed to be with them. I’m from Brazil, so I’m a little bit more accustomed to this stuff,” Kanaan joked. “I’m glad they’re OK, and now I can make fun of them.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi wrote on Twitter: “There goes that Taco Bell sponsorship we were working on I guess.”
But mostly, the subject made people uncomfortable.
“Life’s fragile and I think we should never take that for granted,” Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull said. “I’m just glad that Dario and Scott and Emma are all right.”
Dixon declined to comment Monday. He is scheduled to be on the series’ media tour in Toronto on Tuesday, where he is likely to be peppered with questions about what happened.
In the report, detectives said surveillance cameras showed a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot before the robbery. About 30 minutes later, the report said, officers stopped the car and the passenger fled. He was apprehended by a police dog. One of the suspects was taken to Marion County Holding at Eskenazi Hospital while the other went to the local juvenile detention centre.
Police say one of the suspects was identified by one of the three robbery victims. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will review the case and make a changing decision.
“We’re all very relieved to hear that everyone is safe and that the suspects were caught,” Taco Bell Corp. spokesman Rob Poetsch said in an email.