Dario Franchitti: why ‘F1 dream’ never became reality

F1: Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dario Franchitti has had a sensational racing career in the United States, becoming a four-time IndyCar series champion and a three-time winner of the Indy500.

But earlier in his career, Dario had plenty of interest from Formula 1 and tested for a few different teams. So why didn’t he end up racing in the pinnacle of motorsport?

Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Dario talks about the three big opportunities he had to drive in F1 and why they never materialised – sharing fascinating insight into the negotiations he had and the tests he completed for different teams.

He also discusses his racing idols, how three-time F1 World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart became his mentor and what it takes to become a complete IndyCar driver.

This episode is sponsored by:

Vanta: for a limited time, listeners get $1000 off at vanta.com/grid

Shopify: sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shiopify.com/beyondthegrid

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	There are some racing drivers, champions in other categories, who I'd have loved to have seen in Formula One.
0:10.0	Dario Franckitti is one of them.
0:12.6	A four-time IndyCar series champion and a three-time winner of the Indy 500, he's a certified racing legend.
0:20.6	He came close to F1, so why didn't it happen?
0:24.2	I wanted to win an F1, and by that point I was driving race-winning equipment in IndyCar,
0:30.1	and I was maybe not prepared to be as patient or risk getting in some car that was not a front-running car straight away.
0:37.8	I wasn't prepared to go all in for my F1 dream.
0:41.2	I wasn't prepared to risk what I had in America.
0:44.2	Here on F1 Beyond the Grid with me, Tom Clarkson,
0:48.5	Dario talks about the three big chances he had in F1
0:52.2	and why he didn't take them. It's a fascinating insight into how his career could have played out very differently.
1:05.6	Dario, it is great to see you. How are you? I'm doing well, thank you. Yeah, we finally got together. We have
1:11.2	finally got together in this amazing office that you have in the UK. Now, I knew you love
1:18.0	motorsport, but I had no idea that you had so much memorabilia around here. This is the
1:25.6	tip of the iceberg. It's a bit of a problem darrow just to paint a
1:30.9	picture how many helmets have we got sitting above us i don't know 30 30 from you know everyone from
1:37.1	well you name it jensen button and mario andretti emerson fitopaldi all the way through to some
1:43.0	indycast stars and then on the far wall,
1:46.1	I'm going to keep going. There's books. You've got a wonderful picture of painting of Greg Moore,
1:51.5	your former buddy in Indycar. It's, it makes a sensational. That's to say nothing of the F40 that's
1:58.3	the other side of that wall. Yeah, that was a good use of prize money
2:03.8	buying that car back in the late 90s. No, I'd love racing. You know that. I love it. It's my,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from karenellenbevan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of karenellenbevan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.