← The Dale Jr. Download
The Dale Jr. Download
Dario Franchitti: Why He Almost Lost His Love For Racing
01:11:13
Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with one of the most accomplished open-wheel racers in history, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti. After elevating through the karting ranks of Scotland and taking on the lower formula divisions in Europe, Dario set his sights on the US racing scene, specifically the Championship Auto Racing Teams series. Once stateside, Dario explains his journey wasn’t easy, and he initially struggled until joining Barry Green’s organization. Dario would have a breakout year in 2007, winning his first Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship, but through all the success, he felt his motivation waning, and he was ready for the next challeng
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- [00:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You had this massive crash and suffered another concussion, a lot of fractures, two spinal fractures. You had to eventually hear from your doctors that you didn't need to be driving. You had that taken from you. You had someone telling you what you were gonna do for the first time in your life.
- [00:22]
Dario Franchitti
I was. I was alive, so I was okay. Honestly, I was so happy to be alive. The sky was bluer. The grass was greener.
- [00:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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- [02:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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- [02:49]
Dario Franchitti
Should I say it? It's Dale Jr. Podcast. I gotta say it.
- [02:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. And we got a great guest for you today as we are in the Arby's studio and want to mention before we get going the Arby's new meet and three box right Here it is. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. Want to thank them for being able to bring us a great guest. Dario franchise. He was supposed to be in the studio, supposed to come in here. There's a. There was a storm up north. He's in. He's in New York City and could not get here, but asked if he could do it remotely. So, hey, we've put in the effort to prepare for Dario. Excited about what he's going to do this weekend at St. Pete in the Truck series and can't wait to talk to him about how that deal come together. He's also a champion Daytona 500 winner. He actually had some unfortunate experiences with head injuries similar to mine that I'm aware of and want to dive into all of that. We're going to get into it. Let's bring him on. Dario Franchitti on the Dale Jr. Download. All right, so Dario Franchi on the Dale Jr. Download. He is coming remote because of the weather up north. Was supposed to be in the studio today, which we. We miss not having you here, Dario, but thankful that you're able to. To tune in and talk to us. How you doing?
- [04:15]
Dario Franchitti
Doing well, doing well. Thank you. What is it they say? Longtime listener, first time caller?
- [04:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, that's perfect. So, yeah, how is the weather up there?
- [04:24]
Dario Franchitti
Well, the sun is shining right now, but we had a couple interesting days and it just kept snowing and snowing and. Yeah, so that was a bit of a shock. So sorry I can't be in the studio, but it's good to chat anyway.
- [04:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It is. You're gonna race in the truck series at St. Pete. Is the weather going to affect your ability to get in there and do all the things you need to do?
- [04:48]
Dario Franchitti
No, no, we're all good. I'm going to get down there tomorrow morning just in case.
- [04:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Have you had the chance to get in a sim or how's your preparation been?
- [04:56]
Dario Franchitti
I got in the sim and you and I are similar ages. I don't Know how you get on with the sim?
- [05:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Not very good.
- [05:02]
Dario Franchitti
No, I suck. Static sim. I'm okay, but I suck. I went into the Toyota sim. I think it's Salisbury. I did two laps of Sebring where we're testing the truck later that week. I stopped, I said, okay, let's try St. Pete. I did one lap of St. Pete and I got out and went to lunch. It didn't go well.
- [05:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, it was not a good time. Tell us what St. Pete is like. I'm not very familiar. What kind of racetrack is that?
- [05:38]
Dario Franchitti
So half of it's airfield. You've got the front stretch, this big wide braking zone into turn one, and then it gets into the city streets of St. Pete. And it's tight, it's narrow, particularly turns four, five, and then on for most of the rest of the lap. So I actually just feed the truck down through those walls and sort of try and get an inch. Perfect is going to be, I think, really a challenge, especially my lack of familiarity with it. You know, how close is that, that right front fender? How close is that to the wall? And the problem is when you get it too close, you're going to bounce off it and then you've got to try and avoid the wall, the wall on the exit. So, yeah, it's. It'll be. I think it'll be a good race. I think it's particularly up down there in the turn one. I think you're going to see some action.
- [06:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. 52 years old, four time winner of the IndyCar championship. Three time Indy 500 winner. What has your. You retired at the end of,
- [06:40]
Dario Franchitti
let's
- [06:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
see, 2013 or 14.
- [06:43]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, 13.
- [06:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so what have, what have you driven in the past, you know, decade?
- [06:48]
Dario Franchitti
So I guess you and I obviously went through a similar thing, I think, with the, with the concussions and the head injuries. And so I stopped racing everything. End of 13, the doctors said no more. And so I would go to places like Goodwood and I demonstrate these old cars and actually some new ones, too, up the hill at the Festival of Speed. And I really enjoyed the act of driving something again. 2019 showed up and I decided, I said, I want to go racing again. And so I talked to the doctors, I did a good sales job on the doctors, managed to convince them that I should do that. Ellie, my wife, said, yeah, whatever you want to do. My mother wasn't quite so happy, shall we say. But anyway, so I started racing old cars, the 60s, Ferraris, Shelby Cobras, GT40. Jimmy and I shared my brother Marino shared a GT40 at Spa. And then I started to get into sort of slightly more modern stuff again, you know, the last couple of years. So it's been kind of a gradual thing. I was quite happy being retired those first couple of years and then, you know, I don't know if you experienced the same thing, but when I was competing it was so much about the result and trying to get the result and everything that went into that and the pressure to whether that was from me or from outside trying to make it happen that actually the driving the
- [08:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
car
- [08:22]
Dario Franchitti
wasn't the fun bit. And with all this stuff I did since retirement, I realized I love driving cars, I love driving racing cars. I love the act of trying to make a vehicle go quickly around a circuit. So hence the fact we find ourselves here.
- [08:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I was very comfortable and happy with my decision to quit and obviously probably similar to you, the injuries and everything that I experienced to get better and all that was fresh. Right. And you're like, all right, yep, I'm good to put this behind me. And as I got further away from that decision, I started feeling more homesick to it, you know, more I missed it more and more. It didn't get easier, it got harder and, and I was starting to look at my age and going man, I still got a little, I could do surely I, I could go play here, I can go play there. But you have to be selective when
- [09:19]
Dario Franchitti
you say oh absolutely, I mean the chances of me getting in anything on a, on an oval or non existent, it's just not, it's never going to happen. You know, I'd love to try an IndyCar again but the physical demands of that probably, you know, even just to go somewhat quickly, you've got to be so fit and I wouldn't want to get in that and do do a half assed job. But you know, for us it's interesting. I've been thinking a lot about this because people are asking why are you doing. But for racing drivers we don't have a, whatever your discipline, we don't have a seniors tour, you know, tennis, golf. Right. I think those guys can go out and have some fun and less pressure and you see them all joking around and we don't have that. So we have to kind of create our own opportunities to go and have fun. You know, again going back to the historic side of things. Goodwood is so much fun to do that, so much fun to race there. And you've got guys like guys my age, guys younger than me, but then You've got guys like Steve Soper, who's one of the great touring car drivers of the world. Steve's in his mid-70s now. He still goes out there and he still is hard to beat. So, as I say, you got to make your own opportunities to go out and drive race cars.
- [10:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So how did you find your interest in racing? I know your family was involved in it. Your dad, George, was an amateur racer. What is your first memories?
- [10:48]
Dario Franchitti
My first memories were sitting twofold, sitting in front of the TV watching the 1978 Formula One World Championship that Mario Andretti won. Sitting with my dad, watching that. Those are still my favorite Formula one cars to this day, that era. And then going to the track with him. I was actually talking to him about it yesterday, just going to the track and watching him do it and getting in the car and just sitting and pretending to drive it. And it all sort of stemmed from there. And I had this little go kart that actually he found again, and him and my mum had it restored. He restored it? Yeah, for my 40th birthday. So it all started there. And I started racing when I was 10 and actually I raced motorbikes for a minute before that, but I really sucked at that. That was terrible. And then I got in a go kart. I won my first race and it felt like home from the first moment.
- [11:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What was your experience like once you got in go karts? Where are you living? Where are you competing?
- [12:00]
Dario Franchitti
We were living in Scotland. My first races were in Scotland, but pretty quickly, I guess my dad had some sort of pretty big ambitions there because straight away we headed south and to get the more competition, you had to go to England. And every weekend we'd head off straight after school on a Friday, sometimes before school finished, that caused some issues. And then we'd go down there, him and some of his buddies would mechanic on the cart, and I'd race over the weekend, see how the result went. And then we'd turn around and we'd go home and I'd go. We'd park up whatever time in the Monday morning early hours, and then he'd go to work and I'd go to school that next day, despite trying to find every excuse I could to get out of it. Yeah. And that was it until I was 16. And then I was going to go race cars the following season. So my dad said, right, you're going to go learn a bit about this. So I went with the team. There's a team called David Leslie Racing, and two of the guys that were on the same journey as me. David Coulthard and Alan McNish. They drove for the same team in earlier years. Anyway, I went there and I would clean the car, I'd put the wheels on it. A couple of times, I left the wheels slack. I was not the best mechanic, but that was my way of learning. And then I went racing cars the following season, which was 1991.
- [13:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How did that go?
- [13:36]
Dario Franchitti
That was good. I won the championship, which, thank God, I did, because my parents had remortgaged the house and it basically spent everything they had on that first season. Won the championship and the end of the season, my. You know, my dad was like, you know, that's it. That. That's. I don't. I can't do any more. And fortunately for me, Jackie Stewart had a team with his son Paul called Paul Stewart Racing, and they had watched. They were racing in other formulas over the same weekends in bigger classes. Jackie had seen me race and said, well, we should probably test that kid. And they said, where is he from? He said, he's from Scotland. How could he be from Scotland when his name is Dario Franchitti? So at one point, Jackie was going to change my name anyway. Jackie. He really was. So Jackie shows up, Jackie said, I'll find the money, you drive the car and I'll teach you. And that was three. Three years with Paul Stewart Racing, where every day was a school day with Jackie, every day still a school day with Jackie. He's just incredible, and he taught me so much, and I say it a lot, but without him, my parents. Absolutely. Without Jackie as well, I'm not sitting here today. Definitely not.
- [14:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Would you say that obviously your goals and ambitions are F1 at this point, and I think. Take us through the process of sort of understanding how you would eventually get steered toward the U.S. yeah, definitely.
- [15:15]
Dario Franchitti
My goal was Formula One. I'd watched the Indy 500 and I would read the magazine in the UK called Autosport, and it was our Internet back then. That's how you found out what was going on in the sport. And I would read about F1, about IndyCar, but F1 was really it. And when I did Formula 3, Formula 3 is sort of the two steps below F1.
- [15:44]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
And
- [15:46]
Dario Franchitti
I did one season and it didn't go well. I think I finished fourth in the championship, but I won the first race, and then my teammate proceeded to win 14 races or something. I think we know Jan Magnussen.
- [15:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes.
- [15:59]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, absolutely. Blew my doors off. So at the end of that season, I was looking at doing Another year of Formula 3 and I really didn't want to do it, didn't enjoy the cars. It just wasn't great. So I went. Mercedes asked me to come to test the DTM car, which at the time, they were F1 cars with bodies on them. So I tested this thing and it blew my mind. The car blew my mind. I just loved everything about it. And I thought Mercedes at the time they were supplying engines to McLaren. I thought this might be a good way to make this happen. So I signed the deal to go to Mercedes and I did DTM for a couple of years. Absolutely loved it, loved driving the cars, met some great people, got to test the McLaren F1 car. That would eventually lead to an offer to become the test driver at McLaren. But I'd already committed to do IndyCar. So basically, at the end of the two years of DTM, the championship shut down because they were spending so much money on it. It was ridiculous. And I was at the Mercedes end of year party and I sat next to a man called Paul Morgan. And Paul was one of the partners in Ilmore. And they built the Formula One engines, the IndyCar engines, they built the NASCAR truck engines and the Chevy IndyCar engines. Anyway, Paul said, what are you going to do next year? I said, oh, I'd love to go to America. The F1 thing's not looking like it's going to open up. Jan Magnussen came over and raced a couple of races in an Indy car. He said. And he came back and said, you've got to do this. It's amazing. So I said to Paul, I'd love to do that. He said, well, let me work on it. And In January of 97, he phoned. He said, right, Carl Hogan's going to call you. He's going to invite you to test the car. If you test the car and it goes well, you're in for the season. And it was as simple as. That's how I got to the US Just a great man, just wanted to help me out and he put all the pieces in place for me to come to America.
- [18:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Apparently, Jackie Stewart was still influential, sending a letter of recommendation to Carl supporting the idea. What did you know about. Well, I guess, you know, this is one of the things I always enjoy when I go, even today, when I. When I get a chance to get. Get into the IndyCar ecosystem, the diversity of personalities. You know, you have drivers from all over the world with different ideals on racing and how racing is supposed to happen, and it's so much fun. Trying. So in nascar, we do come from different disciplines in terms of dirt or sprint cars and short track stock cars. But the code of conduct on the track is relatively known, and everyone considers to follow a similar code in IndyCar. Guys come from all over the world and codes are different. You know, what a block is, what defending your position is. All those things are differently interpreted by each driver. And I see that play out in IndyCar all the time. What was your, you know, expectation coming over to United States about racing, about what life would be like? Right. I mean, because it's a massive shift to make that change. You're basically going to the other side of the world and completely uprooting everything that you're familiar with and everything you know.
- [19:32]
Dario Franchitti
Absolutely right. And I came from that cutthroat European sort of school. I mean, it really was. It was a school. I mean, I had a great education from Jackie, but my teammate, dtm was a man called Bernd Schneider, and he was the God of dtm. You know, he won all this stuff. And when I went to the team, his team, he put his arm around me, he said, right, if you want to learn, I'll teach you. And I was his wingman for two years, and he taught me everything. He taught me how to be a good teammate, taught me just the next stage of my education. But the biggest thing for me was I'd never been on an oval. So I show up at Homestead for my first spring training, the first sort of IndyCar group test, and I walk out to the wall and I stand at the wall, and Gilles Deferen's going past, and he was in the Valvoline car at the time, Derek Walker's Valvoline car. And I knew Gilles very well from my post jet racing days. So this thing goes past, and that was the old Homestead, the old four corner. Homestead goes past. I thought, okay, no big deal. He goes past again. I was like, ah, I've got this. That's no big deal. The next lap, he goes past and he. Full pelt. He was bedding in his brakes before that. I didn't realize it when he went past. I went white. And I thought, holy smokes, what have I. What have I got myself into? And that was the biggest difficulty, I think, was learning ovals. But then one of the things, I don't know if it's the same in nascar, but when kids come up, guys like Rick Mears would, would say, I got an invitation to come and sit with Rick Mears and talk about oval driving. And he's like anytime you need help, you come and see me. I mean, that didn't happen in Europe unless you were with, you know, with a team. With Jackie, for instance, so that people like him doing that. For me, that was a big, big help.
- [21:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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- [22:31]
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- [25:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
so you get you, you come over, do the test, you land the ride. Running full season in 1997, your best finish of the year was ninth at Surfer's Paradise. So I mean it was, it wasn't a, it wasn't like an automatic success Story out of the gate.
- [26:03]
Dario Franchitti
I crashed a lot. I crashed a lot. The team were a little disorganized, shall we say. It was just. Yeah, the good thing was we were quick. Second half of the year, we were quick. I was on Poland, Toronto. And by mid season, there was offers from. From Raal, there was offers to stay at Hogan. There was, I guess there was a potential Penske seat, which I never got to the bottom of if it was actually true or not. There was actually a Penske seat, but then there was the team Green seat. And I sort of met all the different owners. But at the time, the Chip Ganassi team, the Target team, were smoking everybody. It was Zanardi and Vassar. They had Honda, Reynard, Firestone. That was their combination. And Barry Green had Honda, Reynard, Firestone. And I was shocked, first of all, after a pretty average first season that these guys wanted me to drive the car. But I got a really good feeling from Barry, the people who worked for him. And so I signed the deal at Laguna Seca and never looked back. That was one of the best deals I think I ever did. It was a little awkward because, as I said, left his hotel room from signing the deal. I get in the elevator, it goes to the ground floor, the doors open, and Parker Johnstone, who was the guy driving the car that year, was standing there.
- [27:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [27:30]
Dario Franchitti
Hey, buddy.
- [27:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, crap.
- [27:32]
Dario Franchitti
Yep.
- [27:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You would get in that car and immediately start to show success. Getting a runner up finish at the Long beach race in 98 and then picking up the first series win at Road America. The first Scottish champ. Champ car winner since Jim Clark, which is pretty awesome. Jim Clark was a badass.
- [27:56]
Dario Franchitti
Yes, he was.
- [27:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You got wins at Vancouver, Houston, third in the season, points. You signed an extension. Well, I imagine if after, after that first year you had even more interest.
- [28:08]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, there was, there was definitely interest. But it was, it was one of those situations. I liked where I was. It was very clear.
- [28:17]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But you had an interest outside of IndyCar.
- [28:20]
Dario Franchitti
Ah, yeah, well, that was sort of. There was some F1 interest. Yeah. And that came more sort of towards the 2000 season. But a lot between then and then, Dale, a lot went on. 99 season, you know, I thought Zanardi going off to F1, I thought, here we go, we got this. You know, they've got a good chance at this championship. And then this guy called Juan Pablo Montoya showed up and he really ruined my plans. So, you know, 99 was a great season and, you know, Monty and I were wheel to wheel all season and we Had a cracking race to the title. But then, you know, unfortunately, the last race, Greg Moore, my great friend, dies. And honestly, at that point, I sort of thought, I don't really want to do this anymore. My love of racing, really? Yeah, man, it really went down.
- [29:16]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
And.
- [29:16]
Dario Franchitti
And then the next time I got in the car, I had a huge accident at Homestead and I broke the pelvis. My head hit. Actually the helmet hit the wall. And the damage I did there, I. I still have. Have. You know, still have issues today from that. From that accident in 2000. So.
- [29:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What type of issues?
- [29:38]
Dario Franchitti
You know, just all the sort of the. The stuff that goes with a big brain injury. The stuff that maybe you.
- [29:43]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So that was a. That was one of your first head injuries? Oh, my God. So, yeah, yeah, you know, not similar, but I. You know, when I lost my dad, I was, you know, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but my. I wanted to. I needed to be at the racetrack because that's where all the people I knew were.
- [30:04]
Dario Franchitti
And.
- [30:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And I didn't want to be alone, you know, and so I didn't experience what you did. Losing a friend. And so tell me, I guess, about the. The. Tell me about the processing of emotion. You, you know, you fallen out of love with racing, and now you've got to figure out whether you want to continue. And how do you get that love back, that passion back?
- [30:29]
Dario Franchitti
First of all, I think by the way, the way you handled that with losing your dad, I was. I was in the U.S. by that point, and I was in awe. I was absolutely in awe of what you did and how you did it and the pressures you were under. And it was. It was something to watch from a distance, something so impressive. So hats off to you, man.
- [30:50]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Appreciate it.
- [30:51]
Dario Franchitti
So with Greg, it was, Yeah, I just, you know, the first time that had really happened, you know, to death in the sport, and it was my best friend. And I just thought, I'm not sure I want to do it. I don't think I've got the love for it anymore. I think a telling sign is I have one IndyCar in my garage at home, and it's the car from the race before he died. That was honestly the last time. It was just properly fun. It was absolutely. Just for the love of driving. It was. Life was different after. After he died, then the next. So Barry Green, this conversation with Barry Green went something like, barry, I don't know if I can do this. I need to go, and I need to go. Think about this. If I want to do It. And at the time, those cars were really dangerous. I mean, they were. They were. You were getting hurt a lot, all that sort of stuff. And so I went away. And I went away for a few months, and Barry said, just when you're ready, just come back. And then we had a conversation. He's like, look, spring training's coming here. You need to get in the car if you're going to do it. So I got in the car, I had the suspension failure. Literally, the next time I got in the car, suspension failure, hit the wall, broke my pelvis, smashed my head in. And from that point, I did the race about three weeks later with a broken pelvis, which I don't recommend.
- [32:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, my gosh.
- [32:27]
Dario Franchitti
Oh, man. When they dropped the thing off the jacks and it hit the floor. Not good. Yeah, that hurt. So. And honestly, Dale, for a long time, I lost the love of the sport, and I did it because I didn't know anything else to do.
- [32:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I wonder with that injury and everything, you could have. You could have. How comfortable would have you been to have said, let me. Let me take a step back here. Let me. Give me. I need some time, you know, to heal, you know, and that gives your time. Maybe you're, you know, personally taking some time off to heal, but you're also giving yourself some time to get your mental, you know, emotions. Get it. Get it figured out really what you want to do. I mean, how were you. If you leave that seat, do you have it when you come back?
- [33:18]
Dario Franchitti
That's a difficult question. Right. And that's why drivers get in with all bits hanging off. I drove for the broken back in 2003 because I didn't want. I was out of the car for a few races. I didn't want somebody else taking my ride. So in hindsight, and what we know now and what we've gone through with some of the head injury stuff and how it's treated now, it's a lot different than it was 25 years ago. So I probably should have done that, but I didn't. I just kept charging on, and it took. It took a long time. It probably took five or six years to sort of feel somewhat like my old self. And then the sort of. The success started coming again, and the fun of driving came a bit back, and actually just the joy in life was coming back, too. So that was kind of. It just took time.
- [34:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. I imagine you didn't know it at the time, but I bet the. I bet the head injury, you know, that it's hard to explain to people that have never went through this, but you mentioned it, you know, you didn't feel like yourself, you know, and maybe that was. That was. That's also playing with your anxieties, emotions, and all those things unknowingly. Right. You don't even realize it's affecting you. I've talked to drivers, you know, I've went through. We both went through head injuries, but I've also talked to other drivers that drove through those type of injuries, and they'll be like, yeah, six. I was six months. I wasn't who I know I am, you know, and, you know, having such a severe injury in 2000, I imagine that that might have been playing a role, I guess, in your physical or your mental state.
- [35:03]
Dario Franchitti
Oh, massively, massively. And I said to my brother, so years later, because at the time, you don't want to sort of admit all this stuff. I said to myself, I said, it changed my personality. I became a lot more serious. And, yeah, it's just part of sort of the stuff you've got to deal with, but because you've not got a broken arm or a broken leg or looked at those. He looked normal.
- [35:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know. I would. I would tell. So I would. I look completely fine, but I would stand up and turn and. And to walk out a door and. And I would have to grab the table or I'd. I feel. I felt it, right. Any kind of a pivot or a movement of the axis of the head. I felt. I knew that something was wrong. And I would say to my friend, man, did you see anything? I felt this. I felt it. Did you see me kind of lose my balance? And they're like, yeah, no, you look normal. Didn't see anything. And I'm like, it's so frustrating because everybody's looking at you and they're like, you should be in the car. You look perfectly fine. You should. Why aren't you in the car? Why are you not in the car? Why are you out a month, two months, whatever, you know?
- [36:15]
Dario Franchitti
Come on. Come on, man. Toughen up. Let's go.
- [36:17]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So you, you know, success starts coming back, and then you want to race stock cars. How did that happen? Who talked you into that? What did you experience or see that made you go, I got to get into that. I need to try that.
- [36:35]
Dario Franchitti
That was Ganassi's fault. That was Chip's fault. So I actually, at the end of 06, we nearly did a deal for me to go there in 07. I'm glad we didn't because I won my first 500 championship for the Andretti Green team as it was at the time. But Chip and I went some ways down the road on doing that. And then Monty Montoya came in and did the deal. But I'll tell you my thinking, it was so. I mean, obviously, every driver, they want to win the 500. So I finally win the 500. I'm up front. I'm looking good for the championship. But the 500 was such a big deal. I thought, I've achieved my goals, and I could feel my motivation just starting to just tail off a bit. And I thought, I need a new challenge. What is that new challenge? And then Chip started talking again about doing stock cars, about doing nascar. And I did it. I signed. I'd been to one NASCAR race. I think I went with Richard Childress to Texas. That was the only small experience. I'd never driven a NASCAR vehicle. All that stuff. I did this deal completely ignorant of what it took. I didn't really talk to any of you guys, and I should have reached out to you. To Jimmy.
- [38:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
To Jimmy. Yeah. Yeah.
- [38:02]
Dario Franchitti
Just test a bloody car. My great friend Scott Borchetta, I didn't know him in 2007. And he always says, I wish we'd known each other, because I'd have taken you to the fairgrounds in Nashville. I'd have put you in one of my trucks. We could got you some reps to help you understand what you were doing. And, yeah, I mean, I can look back and see the timing was crap because there was those cot things that. Probably the most IndyCar like thing. But it was a culture shock. It was hard. It was, you know, everything I'd learned actually put me further back than zero just for a starting point, and, you know, was quite shocking.
- [38:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Why would you want to risk. So you. You had won your championship. Why would you. You know, I'm trying to understand, like, you're risking your. Your financial stability. Right. You're. Was that ever. That never was a motivating factor for you to, like, continue on this path of financial success that you were having by winning a championship, by being a championship driver.
- [39:14]
Dario Franchitti
I got offered a pretty good deal as well.
- [39:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh.
- [39:18]
Dario Franchitti
Coming to stock car racing. But again, that's. I think, the difficulty from the position I was in. I should have gone and done. I guess it was Nationwide at the time. It become from the Bush series to Nationwide. I probably should have gone and done that for a year or two.
- [39:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Was there anything behind your health in this decision?
- [39:41]
Dario Franchitti
No. A lot of people say I had two big flips that year, actually within six days of each other. But it wasn't anything to do with that. I've got to be 100% in. My motivation's got to be right there and I could feel it tailing off tail. And I just thought I need to try something different, whether that was going to be sports cars or nascar. So I wish I'd done it differently. But I'm not upset at all in the fact I did it or how it ended up because it put me in such a better place when all the various things came together for going back to IndyCar.
- [40:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, you, you made an ARCA race debut in 07. You ran the last four races in the Nationwide Series. Back in 07, you signed this multi year contract with Ganassi for 08. Beginning there, you win the 24 Hours of Daytona with Juan and Scott Pruitt. And mimo, you ran 10th in the opener in the ARCA race at Daytona and you replaced Davis Dreamy at the cupboard in the cup car driving number 40, attempting 14 races. Your best finish came in Martinsville, the most non IndyCar type racetrack on the circuit.
- [41:04]
Dario Franchitti
24th.
- [41:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, 22nd actually of 22nd. But you know, you're the, the car tomorrow was here, probably the most difficult or unfun race car that NASCAR's ever had. And you struggled. Ultimately this car would shut down in July. And you had more Nationwide series races in 2008, sixth in Las Vegas, fifth at Watkins Glen, and then you broke your ankle at Talladega. That was that. That was the end of the stock car story.
- [41:41]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, you know, I'd gone to, you know, when the cup team shut down, I was sort of doing a race by race thing in the Nationwide car and I got on so much better with that car. I qualified on pole at the Glen in the Nationwide car. Jimmy was in that race. A bunch of proper drivers. So I was proud of that. But then I went to Bristol and I think I qualified on the front row and I ran up front all night. I was like, I'm getting the hang of this there. But then it all changed. I tested at Richmond, I think, and I was going to do the Richmond race, but then I went to Detroit to the IndyCar race and I was going there to actually to watch my brother racing sports cars.
- [42:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yep.
- [42:27]
Dario Franchitti
I had no interest in going back to IndyCar and none. I really, I was like, I've done it. And then I remember standing, watching Scott Dixon go through turn one and two in Detroit and I just thought, oh, Oh, I want to drive one of them again. Yeah, I'd be. So I'd been lying to myself basically and I, yeah, so I completely by chance, I sat down with Mike Hull from, from Ganassi, next to managing director there and we sat on the taillift of one of the, one of the trucks. He said, what's going on? And I said, you know, I thought I didn't want to race IndyCar anymore, but I saw the cars, I felt, oh, I really want to do it, but all the good stuff's gone, Mike. And I don't want to drive at the back of the field. I'm not going to get in a bad car. And he said, well, not so fast. Dan Weldon's just told us this morning that he's leaving, so we've got an open seat.
- [43:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, wow.
- [43:22]
Dario Franchitti
Let me go talk to Chip. So Chip and I negotiated my contract standing behind Dixon's timing stand in pit Lane and 6 o' clock the next morning we had a signed deal.
- [43:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Wow.
- [43:36]
Dario Franchitti
And that was it.
- [43:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So, you know, you've, you've got this opportunity to return and, and race. You know, you're racing for Chip. Same guy that you'd been messing with the stock cars for. Tell us what kind of guy he is. I mean, I think I, I've absolutely enjoyed every moment I've ever spent around Chip Ganassi. Fun dude, good, you know, hard at the heart, at his heart. He's a racer, understands what it takes to go fast. But I would be curious as to your opinion and your experiences.
- [44:13]
Dario Franchitti
To me, Chip, NASCAR team owner was different than chip IndyCar Timona in NASCAR he was trying to build the organization. In IndyCar he was the organization to beat him. And Roger had this sort of, and have had for decades this, this competition. But Chip, to me, as this top team owner, first of all, he puts the right people in position to do the job. He gives you the tools to do the job, whether that's the financial tools, whether that's the technical stuff, whether that's the people. And then he expects you to go do it. And he wants results, but he's very loyal. You've seen a lot of people in the team. I've been there for 25 plus years and I work with the team as an Advisor on the IndyCar side. And as you said, he's a racer. He wants to win. He always says start of every season, in every race, what sorts are two goals. Win the Indy 500, win the championship. He's there to, to win, but he doesn't suffer fools gladly. He's got no time for bs but as a person, as a human, if you're in trouble, Chip's the guy you want on your side. And that's for his drivers, for anybody in his organization, for his friends, for people. He kind of half nose in the paddock. He's. He's that guy who'll get stuff done if you're, if you're in trouble and whatever that may look like in medical trouble, whatever. He's. He's. There's a soft, There's a soft center to that hard shell.
- [46:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I've always enjoyed. I hate that I never got the chance to, like, I don't know, race with him, but I. We miss him in, in the NASCAR ecosystem, we. You know, you got back in the car and you got back to your winning ways. 2011, you had four wins. You'd win the championship and. But that was a, that was a difficult moment as well for the series and for, for motorsports in general. At Las Vegas, when we lost Dan Weldon. I had gotten to know Dan a little bit through the Nationwide or the National Guard relationship. We both were sponsored by them at one point, and I got to spend some time with him a little bit at Indy.
- [46:46]
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- [46:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
that was just a terrifying experience, I think, for everybody. In such a horrible, horrible crash. How, you know, how was that? How did that affect. That's, you know, we're getting toward, you know, just a few years later when you would decide yourself to step out of the car. Motorsports is inherently dangerous, and there's no way to entirely eradicate that from. No matter what discipline it is, there's always going to be some dangers. How did that crash and Dan losing his life there affect you personally?
- [47:28]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, that had been. Since we had those conversations in Detroit. There'd been this great period of success. The three championships on the bones with, with Chip and, you know, it had. I'd gone into that, that, that situation as Scott Dixon's teammate, thinking, I just don't want to embarrass myself because I knew Scott. Scott was at the top of his game, man. Yeah, he'd won the championship. I like to tell him he'd won that because I was in NASCAR at the time. But I'm not going to tell you what he says, but he. So I. The fact I was able to win those three championships with, with him and in the same equipment, and we came close, trust me, it could have been either of us, but I was able to get the job done. It was A it, it was one of those wonderful periods in life and we would say, and Chip would say these, enjoy it because these things don't last forever. And you know, we went into that, that 2011 final in Vegas. We should never have been racing there. Which was a conversation we'd had before we showed up. You know, with Indy, cars are just, they're not suited to that track. But I was, I was a lot more. What's the word? Mature, world weary. I'd seen a lot more in life when Dan had his accident. I'd known Dan since he was six years old and we were very close. At one point we had a couple of. What's the words? A couple of discussions when we kind of fell out for a minute a few years before. But we were in a really good place. We were back to being friends, which I loved. And the, you know, I've got this funny feeling here. It's just the, that that whole situation was so unnecessary and. Yeah, interestingly, I didn't think of stepping out of the car though. Again, I was in a much different place in my life and I was a lot, maybe mentally tougher than I had been when Greg died. And I was able to just get back and get on with it and put it out of my mind. But it's. Yeah, that was shocking and we all felt that one.
- [50:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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- [52:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
As a casual fan of IndyCar, I don't understand all the intricacies and, and don't get into the weeds of, of, of the series and enough to know as much as you but about where the cars should and shouldn't race. There's, you know, there's, there was debate, there was the, there's that opinion that you, you shared about Vegas. That's that a lot of people have. There was again, some, some tough moments at Pocono, another, you know, equally dangerous place for Indy cars to be racing. There's some great memories of, of IndyCar racing at places like Texas World Speedway in Michigan. You know, where is the, where is the line? Is it a, is there a line? Is a, is it a absolute definitive sort of break between where you can take these cars and where you can't. How would you maybe explain that to somebody like me? Of like what's where, where's the threshold of all right. We don't need to. This is the type of track we shouldn't be at. Our cars aren't designed to be racing here and what tracks are, you know, because fans, when I ever met, you know, having dipped my toe in the IndyCar world a little bit through the work with NBC and so forth, I would ever mention Michigan and they would go, oh gosh, yes, let's go back to Michigan. All the fans really miss, you know, the 80s and 90s in Michigan, but the cars are different these days. And you know, so where, where's your take on all that?
- [53:45]
Dario Franchitti
I think it's the, the cars, but also the, the regulations. You know, the, the, the horsepower against the drag, I think is that's kind of the part of the equation too. And the tires and the way that all works. The problem with Vegas for me is you could just run around wide open. I remember putting 400 pounds of crossweight on the left front of the car to try and free it up, and it made no difference, the car. And at that point, there was a sort of a mandated minimum amount of downforce. It was all. It was all wrong. But Pocono, for me, Pocono. I wish we could race there. It was terrifying. I mean, it was scary, but wow. It was something special. Turn one was wide open.
- [54:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, I can't imagine. I mean, it doesn't sound like something I would want any part of.
- [54:43]
Dario Franchitti
You'd come down there and you kind of position yourself in the car to sort of take these G forces. And the problem was you had so long to think about it. Down that front straight. Here we go. Here we go. But then, not to make light of it, but then we lost Justin Wilson at pokerland. That accident could have happened anywhere. That's not a. Just with the timing. It was just such dreadful timing. But then Robert Wickens, that was shocking. But I believe I was thinking about this the other night. I believe that Robert Wickens would have been a. Would have been an IndyCar champion and a 500 winner. That guy was special when he rocked up an IndyCar. I knew him from DTM, but, man, his talent is something special. And even though he's in there with hand controls and stuff and he's still going. Yeah, but up there, man, the brain is just. He's so tough. He reminds me in Zanardi in that way. And just that he doesn't. Doesn't know when he's beaten. He's just a machine. And I wish I got to see him fulfill his. His potential.
- [55:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So, I mean, if in, if you, if you were, you know, if IndyCar were to go back to, to Michigan, it could work with the right package. The. Yeah. Because I think fans are curious your opinion on that. You know, we talked about it earlier in the show. You, you know, your, your eventual decision to retire. There was a new car that came into the series, the Dallar DW12 in 2012. Was that a car that you struggled with, didn't enjoy? Why? I would say, you know, I had, I didn't like cot. Didn't like it. Never Never felt good in it. Didn't think it suited my skills. That was a period in the sport where I just didn't feel like. I felt like I was racing with a hand tie behind my back, driving the car.
- [56:37]
Dario Franchitti
That's two of us. So the DW12 I struggled with a little bit. The weight distribution was very odd. I remember the first test we did. Tony Kanan and I did it and this was shortly after Dan died and we went to Indy and ran it and we went into the trailer together to debrief. He was doing it for Chevy, I was doing it for Honda and we were both white. It was so bad. The weight distribution, the aero, it's all a bit wrong. But they made it very quickly. They made that car a good car to race. It was certainly a lot safer than the old car, so that was good. But it raced well. Didn't look very nice to start with with all those pods and stuff, but I've got a good memory from that, from winning the 2012500 in the. In the DW12. But the biggest problem I had was I was a right foot breaker on road courses. And this thing had two big pedals and a hand clutch. An IndyCar wouldn't allow us to modify the pedals so I could right foot brake. Most bizarre decision. It was IndyCar, the officials at the time. So I destroyed two cars trying to learn to left foot brake.
- [57:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Goodness.
- [57:58]
Dario Franchitti
And eventually Chip had to go to IndyCar and say, you're gonna have to do something here because it's costing me a lot of money. So they'd let me right foot brake. But I struggled a little bit with that car. With the Honda at the time had a single turbo as well. So the turbo lag and all that stuff, I could qualify it like mad. I qualifying things were good, but I struggled sometimes in the races to be competitive through the whole tyre run as the balance of the car shifted. And that was again, that was sort of that 2013 season. I could feel that motivation going away. That competitiveness. Yeah, that just wasn't feeling as competitive. And I looked around the Ganassi group and a lot of it's the same people I look at today when I'm in the. I'm in the trucks and I looked at them and I thought, I don't want to be the weak link in this chain. I don't want to do that. I'm not going to hang on past when I. When I can.
- [58:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How old are you? 2013.
- [58:58]
Dario Franchitti
I was 40. I just turned 40.
- [59:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Damn. Yeah.
- [59:01]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, I was looking for other things, Dale. I. I gone to see Porsche about driving at Le Mans. I done a handshake deal with them to drive for them in the future at Le Mans. So I was already sort of looking to step back a bit from IndyCar because, again, I just didn't feel I was as good as I had been two years before, and that was a worry.
- [59:22]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You had this massive crash and suffered another concussion, a lot of fractures, two spinal fractures. I can imagine what the process was like, trying to rehab from all of that. But you had to eventually hear from your doctors that you didn't need to be driving at least for the foreseeable future. How difficult. You said earlier that, you know, you were okay with that decision for a while, a couple years. But I imagine initially, you know, having not being able to make that choice yourself, you know, you had these other plans, want to go run 24 hours and do other things. You had that taken from you. You had you. Someone telling you what you were going to do for the first time in your life.
- [60:09]
Dario Franchitti
I was. I was alive, so I was okay. Honestly, I was so happy to be alive.
- [60:17]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [60:18]
Dario Franchitti
I don't. I don't mean to be all sort of.
- [60:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, I get it.
- [60:21]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah. But. But the. The sky was bluer, the grass was greener. You know, I limped about for. You know, I had a. My right leg was shortened up 2 inches, so the. Had to put a bunch of metal in my right ank to fix all that. Dealt with the back injury. The brain was the hardest bit, though. And again, that took a long time, but I was okay. I remember the conversation. I remember early on because it was Dr. Trammel and Dr. Ovi. Trammel for the bones, Ovi for the brain. These guys. Same guys my whole career, whenever I busted myself up, we're always there. And the conversation always went like, right, this is what's wrong. And there was a race to get me back into the car as quickly as possible. How could we do it? How could I beat the timeline that they'd given me? And they were always on board with helping me to push myself as hard as I wanted. Then I don't remember much about that period of time just because there was so much damage. But I remember the tone of their voice, the look in their eye, and I knew something was different. And then, sure enough, I went to Miami and I did some scans, and I did remember the impact test.
- [61:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [61:40]
Dario Franchitti
And I scored something like 2% on the reaction test.
- [61:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, man. Yeah.
- [61:45]
Dario Franchitti
And they were like. And that Was it? And so there was no. I didn't have any. Honestly, I. I was fine. I was quite okay with. With all the decisions that had to be made. I. I struggled telling Chip. I vaguely remember a conversation. I was in Scotland by then, and I remember calling him, and I think he was. He was struggling more than I was. But literally on that. I think it was on that conversation we agreed that I was going to come and be an advisor for the team on that day. And here I am, 18 years later. 18 years I've been working with Chip, should I say, but 13 years since I stopped still doing that.
- [62:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So I bet everybody's experience with those type of injuries is different. But we both make a decision not to drive anymore. We both make a decision, hey, I'm at this point in my life, our age and all those things, it's just a good time to sort of pivot and think about prioritizing other things. And we both did that, and then we both started dabbling, playing piddling. Race here, race there, you know, scratching the itch. Yeah. And I don't know about you, but I went and ran a couple of xinnity races. I do one a year, and I would get about halfway through those races. I would perform way better than I expected to, but I would get about halfway through the race and go, all right, I'm good. As I've. I've learned that I still love this. And I've also learned that, yeah, I don't need to do it every week, you know, I'm. I just needed the reassurance that I was in. I was. I had made the right decision, you know, and then I'd go, six months ago, damn, I want to do it again. I need to do it. And then I'd get back in. Halfway through the race, I'd go, yeah, I'm good. I'm all right. You know, Is that the experience you. You had yourself?
- [63:50]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I don't need to do it every week. I don't need to be in it. You know, it's. It's that thing. You probably went through the same. You know, is this a comeback? This is not a comeback. This is just getting the opportunity, you know, my having this. This idea. And then our crazy friend Jimmy helping me make it all. All happen. But it's just about. Yeah, it's just about doing it for me. It's just about going out and. And having fun and, as you say, scratching that itch, getting involved in it. I've loved the The. The conversations with Jeremy, my crew chief, just getting involved in. In the setting up for the weekend, all those things. But I'm okay that I'm not doing it the week after.
- [64:37]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Right?
- [64:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Oh, I bet. So tell me, I guess, how this did come about. So was it as simple as a little conversation with Jimmy? Had you been telling Jimmy, you know, hey, man, you know your car owner
- [64:49]
Dario Franchitti
now you know, you know Jimmy as well as I do.
- [64:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [64:53]
Dario Franchitti
So I had seen that they announced that trucks are going to race at St. Pete on Saturday. And Dixon and I have always talked about the MX5 race at St. Pete. We're like, we should do the MX5 race. That'd be so much fun. And now he's talking about he wants to do it at Daytona, but he's slightly insane. Yeah, that's crazy, right? But okay, I want to do something St. Pete's a track I love. Can I. That would be fun. That would be fun to do that. And so Jimmy and I, at the time, Jimmy and Shani and the girls were in London and we would meet up a lot and we were sitting having a glass of red, and I said to him, did you see the truck thing? That looks fun. I wonder if I should look at trying to do that. And Jimmy's. We had a bit of a conversation back and forwards, and I literally think it was the next morning, Jimmy calls and says, hey, man, I found your truck. What? He said, I found your truck. I said, well, is it a good truck? He said, well, it's a team called Tricon. And I'm like, well, Tricon that won the championship and just on the Charlotte Rovals smashed in Bree's doors in. Yeah, them. Oh, okay. So it's a good truck. He's like, yes, good truck. And I'm going to drive it in San Diego. I said, okay, well, we need to get a sponsor. He's like, yeah, we'll work on that with Legacy and Legacy Motor Club and all that. He said, well, we'll work on it. You work on it. I'll work on it. So the next thing he calls me, he says, hey, Dollar Tree are on board. Sweet. He's like, yeah, they love the idea. He said, I'm going to come on the box and I'm going to advise you from the box like you used to do with me and IndyCar. I'm like, oh, here we. So Dollar Tree came on Pye Barker came on board and Scott Borchetta, Borchetta Bourbon came on board. So all this thing happened and Then, yeah, I mean, honestly, Jimmy has been the driving force behind it. He's getting such a kick out of me getting back in the car. We raced at Goodwood together. We won in Aston Martin DB4 GT, which Jimmy put a rather sizable dent in it.
- [67:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But.
- [67:20]
Dario Franchitti
And then he, then we went to SPA and the six hours of Spa, Ford GT40, which, you know, so we've, we've done some great racing together recently and he could see that I wanted to, wanted to do something and he's, he's helped me make it happen. So I think, I think I have to thank him. We'll see after Saturday.
- [67:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, I would. You know, that's Jimmy. He, he got me into road biking. He got me on snow skis. Like he's that kind of guy that's like, oh, you've never tried this? Well, you got to try this. And I've got a guy. I'll fix it up. Don't worry. It's all here. Here he hand, he just puts it all out in front of you like, here you go. You're on, you know, first class operation every time.
- [68:05]
Dario Franchitti
Let's go.
- [68:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes.
- [68:06]
Dario Franchitti
But you've, you've experienced what I've experienced. I think, I think fans think of Jimmy as this very buttoned up, very, you know, he's so sort of structured and polished. You and I know different. We know that they are when he gets, he gets this twitch in his eye and, and that can mean you're about to get in a competitive situation with him and you're going to finish second or you're going to go skiing with him or something. And he skis like a lunatic. He's, you know, and he's, you know, I think he's one of those. We're so lucky to have him as a friend. He's. He's nuts.
- [68:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
He invited me and some other great friends on a trip and to, to Europe and we actually ended up at dinner with your wife, which was incredible. And I swear I, I've never been to London or never been to Europe. Been to German, Germany, but I've never really spent much time there. And I mean we were in the top end places. It was just like a hotel everywhere. We went to eat first class out of the, out of the park. And I felt like I was on another planet. Like a really cool planet, but it was so insane. My, my Amy told me to, to tell Ellie, I guess to tell her
- [69:32]
Dario Franchitti
hello, but we right back out. Yeah, Ellie had fun. She told me all about it. Yeah, I was so. I Was so jealous.
- [69:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I was a fish out of water, man. I was. I was so out of my element. But you just. When you're in those moments with Jimmy, you just trust, like, he knows where he's going, he knows what's. What you're. He's not going to put you in a bad spot. But I was like, man, I don't. I have no idea where I'm at.
- [69:55]
Dario Franchitti
And you went to Scotland, didn't you?
- [69:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We did. We did go to Scotland, which was. That was a little more. That was a little more my speed. Like we were out in the wilderness.
- [70:04]
Dario Franchitti
Yes.
- [70:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Drinking beer and riding, you know, out in the woods, riding these bikes down, down this long creek and out in the middle of nowhere. It was so awesome. And the old place, old inn where we stayed, the hotel we stayed in was just very vintage and like it'd been there for 500 years or more.
- [70:23]
Dario Franchitti
It probably has.
- [70:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Right. And so we. And we went into this town, we stayed at and you know this, but I'm saying it's for the listeners. We stayed in this little town, maybe, maybe 300 people live there. And we went to the local tavern and hung out with all the locals. And I mean, that right there is right in my wheelhouse. I want to do that kind of stuff right there. When we.
- [70:43]
Dario Franchitti
You and me both.
- [70:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. When we went to. When we went to London, I mean, it's like being in New York City, but in Europe. It was wide open, people everywhere and fancy, fancy, fancy dinners and all this stuff. But it was still cool to. To do it.
- [70:57]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah.
- [70:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But, yeah.
- [70:59]
Dario Franchitti
So I. I have a question for you. You mentioned, Amy, what's going on with Daytona? I heard it the other day.
- [71:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What? Well, yeah, we were just sitting in the bed after the 500 and we're just going over the weekend and talking about just. There's not so much the result that we had that day, but more the emotions of being there and how heavy it is. And it's good, we have fun, but it's super emotional to, to just not only my connection to the racetrack, but to trying to run the Daytona 500. Doing this once a year. We were just in our feelings. And she was like, you should just do it next year. And I was like, the hell. Like, I, you know, I didn't. I thought she was. I thought, you know, I've been racing a late model stock car, which is local regional short track. It's where I started. So I kind of made this big arc to get the cup and I went out the Same way I came in, and I'm all the way back to square one. And I love going and playing and doing that, and I get my ass kicked, but I still. It's fun. And. But she was like, you should just drive the cup car next year. I'm like, you have no idea how hard that is. And to your point, like, getting in shape and being in the mental shape and knowing where the corners of the car, you know, is, and I don't. I don't drive those cars, and I don't. They got sequential shifters now. They got all these whole interiors completely foreign to me. And so. But she was wishful thinking. But I know better than to get into that mess. But Jimmy's done it. You know, Jimmy's had fun doing it, but I don't know.
- [72:32]
Dario Franchitti
Yeah, we went down there to watch him. Scott Dixon and I went down. Ellie and the girls came down. We were all there supporting Jimmy. He had a great strategy to get in the front for the last stage, but he. He spun coming on pit road, and that. That messed the strategy.
- [72:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That would be me. I would be spinning on the pit road. I would be. You wouldn't be able to give me a strategy because I'd screw it all up. But you need to. I try to tell people, like, you know, it's. Cause it's so whimsical to think, yeah, go run one more race at the top level of the motorsport, discipline that, you know, it ain't that easy. These guys are elite. They're. They're. That. That 5% that they have that none of us have anymore. That's. You can't race without it, you know, and expect to do well. To your point, like, I could go do it. I could stay out of trouble. I could. I could disappear into the pack and probably get across the finish line. But that's not what we want to do. That's not the experience that we want to have. And so we want to get out there and do it well. And if we can't do it well, it's not as easy to go through the commitment of it and all the extra stuff you have to do as well. So I got to tell you, man, I learned about you racing this truck. I'm excited for you. We've had some very brief kind of exchanges over the years about our, you know, our own experiences, and I am thrilled for you to. To be able to get back behind the wheel. I know you've had some experiences behind the wheel racing over the years, but this is. This is a Real deal. This is a legit top three NASCAR. You are back to 2007, back to square one. But you're at least at a place you're familiar with. I think you'll have an advantage over a lot of the competition in terms of your experience on the racetrack and your, your great expertise as a road course racer. So I'm looking forward to seeing you just like this at the end of the day, all smiles, proud that you did this. Arm in arm with Jimmy. Thankful for this opportunity. Can't wait to see it happen this weekend, buddy.
- [74:35]
Dario Franchitti
Thanks, Junior. Appreciate it.
- [74:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All right, man, thanks for, thanks for giving us some time today. I know you're a busy man trying to figure out how you're going to get over to St. Pete, get ready for this weekend, but good luck and, and enjoy it. Thank you, Dario. Frankie on the Dale Jr. Download. All right, so, man, that was a great conversation. I wanted to say this to him before he got off the air. I wanted to add this into the back end of the conversation, but Dario, thank you for being transparent and open about some of the toughest moments in your career and, and some of the, some of the heartbreak and loss that you experienced. This guy is prepping himself for the race this weekend and in a racer's mind, you want to like, put the blinders on and just forward, focus on trying to do the best job you can with this singular opportunity. So asking him to like kind of open up the chest and dive into some of those, those old memories, some that, some that probably still are difficult to discuss, that was a big ask and a tall, tall order, I think, for Dario. So thank you, Dario, for doing that for our listeners for the show. Not, not, not, not always assumed and expected, but just a great conversation. I, so he, I didn't, never really, I didn't know, know him at all. I've obviously was a fan or had watched him race and then when he retired, we had some, we had some brief interactions in our, you know, in the direct message and so forth on social media about his injury and about his experience and so forth. And I'm very grateful for that. I mean, he, I think he's the one that instigated the, the conversation, but it made me, it made me really care about his, his health, his well being, his experience in life beyond racing. And so, yeah, I, I, I'm glad to know that he got back behind the wheel, that he got to enjoy some great moments that he mentioned with Jimmy and so forth at Goodwood and now this truck opportunity we should all, you know, knowing what he's experienced, everything that he's done, everything he's accomplished, we should all be wanting him to be able to go to St. Pete and just have a blast. You know, it's the performance where what the end result is matters. None matters very, very little. You know, the competitor in him is certainly going to want to go out there and run well. Right. Put up a good effort. But honestly, that matters very little. It's about the lapse, the smells, the sounds, the feeling, the rush, you know, and I'm sure he's going to, he's going to capture all of that perfectly. Just thankful for him. He couldn't make the flight to get here. He's supposed to be in the studio and he's like, I could still do remote. And we as a team got together, had a conversation and I'm glad we were able to do it today. And that was a lot of fun. Yeah. So excited about this weekend. I think I'll be tuned into the truck race anticipating how he may do and yeah, thanks for joining us here in the RB studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meet in three boxes. Right here it is. You get more meal for your money when you go to Arby's and especially with this deal right here. 7.99 Arby's. We have the meats. We'll see y' all next week. Check out dirtymomedia on Instagram, Facebook x and TikTok.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Dario Franchitti
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