BIO:Born and raised in Scotland, but of Italian descent. Licensed helicopter pilot and flies a Eurocopter AS350 3. Has accumulated 55 top-five and 87 top-ten results in his open-wheel career to date. He formerly competed in the CART series before switching to the IndyCar Series where he was 2007 champion, and won the rain-shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500.




Franchitti is also a former NASCAR driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, competing until mid-2008 when his team shut down. Franchitti returned to the IndyCar Series for the 2009 season, driving the #10 Target Honda/Dallara for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. He is the current, two-time IndyCar Series champion. On May 30, 2010, he won his second Indianapolis 500 race. He also competed in the American Le Mans Series for Andretti Green Racing with his brother Marino and former IndyCar Series teammate Bryan Herta. He won the 2007 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year award.
While attending Stewart's Melville College in Edinburgh, Franchitti became interested in karting. Allan McNish credited a large part of the start given to himself, Franchitti and David Coulthard as being down to David Leslie senior and junior. Franchitti won the Karting Scottish Junior Championship in 1984, the British Junior Championships in 1985 and 1986 and the Scottish senior title in 1988. He progressed to Formula Vauxhall Junior where he won the championship with four victories in 1991.
Dario is well known for combining partial Sports Car racing schedules during his IndyCar and NASCAR career. At the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring he finished 1st in LMP2 class at the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring with Andretti Green Racing team-mates Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan. They finished 2nd overall. He also participated in the 2007 ALMS Grand Prix of Long Beach with Bryan Herta and they finished 6th. He placed 18th in LMP2 class in the 2007 American Le Mans Series season standings with 32 points. Prior to the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he joined Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas and won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Lexus-Riley. That was the only race he participated in during the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series season and finished 42nd overall in Daytona Prototype class with 35 points. In the 2008 Petit Le Mans he was a driver for Highcroft Racing with Scott Sharp and David Brabham. They were the first retirement after only 16 laps. For the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona he once again drove for Chip Ganassi Racing in a Lexus-Riley. He finished 5th overall with Scott Dixon and Alex Lloyd. He participated in the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring for Highcroft Racing with Scott Sharp and David Brabham. They finished 15th overall and were the first non-finishers. He returned to Highcroft Racing with Scott Sharp and David Brabham for the 2009 Petit Le Mans He moved up to Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1992, where he joined Paul Stewart Racing. In his first year, he finished fourth in the overall championship, and was named the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year. Staying with the team for the next season, he won the championship in 1993. He graduated to the British Formula Three Championship in 1994, where he finished fourth and won one race in his first year. However, he was not retained for 1995 which was his final year in single-seaters in Europe. Instead, Franchitti was contracted by AMG Racing to drive a works Mercedes C-Class in the German Touring Car Championship and the related International Touring Car Championship, where he finished fifth and third respectively. He continued in the ITC in 1996, finishing fourth overall with one race win. Franchitti performed test driver duties for the Jaguar F1 team under his mentor Jackie Stewart in the 2000 Formula One season, but was not able to secure a competitive drive in the World Championship.
With the demise of the ITC, Mercedes placed Franchitti in Hogan Racing in 1997, making his US debut in the PPG/CART Champ Car World Series where his best finish was a ninth at Surfers Paradise. In 1998 he joined Team Green (forerunner to the current Andretti Green Racing), finishing third in the season standings with three wins (his first coming at Road America) and a season-high five pole positions. Franchitti finished runner-up in the 1999 CART season behind rookie Juan Pablo Montoya. Both drivers scored 212 points, but Montoya had seven wins to Franchitti's three and was crowned champion. Franchitti's close friend Greg Moore died in a crash during the final race of the year at California Speedway in Fontana, California. A heavy crash in pre-season testing the next year ruined Franchitti's 2000 season, and he only won once at Cleveland in 2001. In 2002 he won the Vancouver Molson Indy. He dedicated his win to Greg Moore, who was killed in 1999 and was from Vancouver, British Columbia. He finished fourth in Champ Car in 2002.
On 3 October 2007, it was announced that Franchitti would move to NASCAR to replace David Stremme in the #40 Fastenal Dodge.[17] He made his stock car debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series on 5 October at Talladega Superspeedway, qualifying 6th and finishing 17th in the #42 Target Dodge Charger for Chip Ganassi Racing.[18] His move to stock cars had similarities to former CART rival Juan Pablo Montoya's move from Formula One to NASCAR in 2006. Franchitti made his first NASCAR start on 20 October 2007 in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He drove the #41 Target Dodge Ram truck, owned by Cunningham Motorsports, with Brian Pattie from Chip Ganassi Racing serving as crew chief. He would finish 33rd after being plagued by problems with the rear of the car during the race. 2008 Sprint Cup car - On 26 April 2008, Franchitti suffered a slight left ankle fracture in a hard crash with Larry Gunselman while competing in the Nationwide Series Aaron's 312 race. David Stremme, Ken Schrader, Jeremy Mayfield, and Sterling Marlin all filled in for him. On 1 July 2008, Franchitti's #40 Sprint Cup team was disbanded by co-owner Chip Ganassi because of a lack of sponsorship. Franchitti was running 41st in points in the Sprint Cup series at the time, and Ganassi had been funding the team out of his own pocket. The entire #40 team was shut down, and 71 employees were released. On 9 August 2008 Dario won his 1st ever NASCAR Nationwide Pole at Watkins Glen.