Franchitti’s Race of Remembrance
Four-time Indycar champion Dario Franchitti explains why he leapt at the chance to take part in the Race of Remembrance weekend
“Idon’t even know how it came up in conversation,” admits Dario Franchitti. “We were talking during the Goodwood Revival about what would be fun to do next.
“I think it was [journalist] Nick Trott who said, ‘What about Race of Remembrance?’ Marino [Franchitti] had been here before and said it’s a fantastic event.”
Like a lot of things that come up by chance, it turned out to be a very good idea. Franchitti was on the grid for this year’s edition of the unique race last weekend. The Scot notes his knowledge of Race of Remembrance wasn’t absolute in advance but the four-time Indycar champion and triple Indianapolis 500 winner was charmed immediately by the endurance event run by military personnel charity Mission Motorsport.
“It was absolutely fabulous,” Franchitti says of his experience at Anglesey. “On track it’s been fantastic, it’s been great battles, action every lap, but just massive respect between the different drivers on track at any time. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s just a wonderful event, I’m so delighted to be here.”
He took part in a five-driver team, including his sportscar racer brother Marino, journalist Dickie Meaden and newly crowned Ferrari Challenge UK champion Jamie Clarke, whom Marino mentored this year. They competed in a Mazda MX-5 run by a team from the charity.
There are no other UK events quite like the Race of Remembrance – it’s described as a Remembrance Service with a race attached.
Come Sunday morning Franchitti could see what they meant. “This morning with the Remembrance Service, that’s really what it’s about,” he continues. “I now understand having gone through that and participated it’s like, OK, there’s a race either side of it but that’s the main focus. And it’s a great concept, absolutely fantastic.
“The first couple of laps afterwards it was definitely in my mind, the service. I was thinking about what an incredible thing
I’d just seen.”
Further underlining Race of Remembrance’s distinction, Franchitti’s co-driver complement also included Mission Motorsport beneficiary Sophie Burt. Burt fulfilled various military roles and was promoted to corporal in 2013 aged just 23, but was signed off with health problems in 2016. She approached Mission Motorsport early the following year and has been involved in every race since, including as a pitcrew member in 2017.
“Bottom line is that it saved my life,” Burt says of Mission
Motorsport. “Without them I wouldn’t be here today, they’ve been such a supportive role to me.” As for having star team-mates? “They’re only human just like me! It’s amazing, when I got told, I was just like, ‘Wow’.”
Burt only received her racing licence on the morning of qualifying, after it had to be posted direct to the track rather than her home. And come her racing bow she, almost literally, was thrown in the deep end.
“She jumped in the car last night, it was dark, it was raining,”
“THE FIRST COUPLE OF LAPS AFTER THE SERVICE, I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHAT AN INCREDIBLE THING I’D SEEN”
Franchitti explains. “That requires full focus because of all the different reasons, the lack of visibility, all that. She was a bit nervous getting in and she did brilliantly. She had a spin, it didn’t faze her, she’s quite something! I’m very impressed with what she’s done.”
Competing in an MX-5 was a personal bonus for Franchitti. “The little MX-5, they’re so much fun,” he smiles. “I’ve watched them for years racing – they race in America alongside the Indycars on some races, and there’s 50, 60 of them on a grid, so you know that they put on good racing. It’s as much fun to drive as you would think watching them from the outside.”
In the end, the crew finished 21st overall and sixth in their class. But the outing had more specific significance for Franchitti, as it was only the third race of his comeback after a near six-year retirement following injuries in an Indycar accident at Houston. His first race back was in a Ferrari 250 GT SWB/C he shared with Hans Hugenholtz in the Kinrara Trophy at September’s Goodwood Revival, swiftly followed by a sixth place in Gregor Fisken’s AC Cobra in the RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration at the same meeting.
“[The Revival was] so much fun – I love Goodwood,” Franchitti says. “I demonstrated a lot of cars when I wasn’t allowed to race.
But to actually get back in and race something, with no pressure and just do it for the pure joy, was fantastic. I didn’t realise how much I missed it until I got to do that.
“I love driving old cars; it’s lovely to drive cars that you dream about. I got to drive a [Ferrari] 250 short wheelbase and an AC Cobra. And the Revival to me is the best event in the world, it’s just the best historic event, one of, if not the best, motor races in the world.
“[I] probably actually enjoyed it more because I could just enjoy it and I wasn’t so focused and so intense, so it was just driving for the pure love of driving a car. So I’m feeling quite fortunate at the moment I get to go back and do some fun racing with friends and drive great cars.”
Franchitti got his green light with doctors and insurance before the Revival and racing for fun was crucial to this. “It’s pure enjoyment so I don’t push it maybe as hard as I would have in years past,” he adds. “I went and did my medical, got my licence and off to Goodwood we went.”
He’s now keen to do more racing in 2020, between his other commitments – which include Formula E TV commentary and coaching the Ganassi Indycar drivers – and his focus again is on historics. “We’ll see what the future holds and what other things I can get behind the wheel of,” he adds.
Franchitti is also not ruling out modern cars, and particularly not – given what he experienced – a Race of Remembrance return.
“It’s been a fantastic event and I’ll be back,” Franchitti concludes. “All my friends, I’ll be saying get a car, get a team together, come on over next year, the more the merrier because it’s brilliant!”