| | Hours after a brutal crash sent him to the hospital with a
broken pelvis and brain contusions, Dario Franchitti made a pledge
to his team owner.
"The evening of the accident he told me he'd be ready for
Homestead," owner Barry Green said. "I knew he'd put everything
he had into it."
Now, five weeks later, Franchitti has kept his promise.
The 26-year-old Scot will drive his Honda-powered Team Kool
Green Reynard on Friday when practice begins for the season-opening
Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
It's the same track where the Feb. 9 accident -- caused by a
broken suspension part -- nearly took last year's second-place
finisher in the CART series out of the picture for the 2000 title.
"I'm not surprised," Green said. "Dario is very determined in
everything he does.
"It does take a big load off," added Green, whose other
driver, Paul Tracy, was barred from the race in Homestead last year
as a penalty for rough driving the previous season. "Missing a
race like that can put you in a big hole and it was a big concern
for a while.
Franchitti was given the final go-ahead Monday, the second of
two days testing his car on the demanding Nazareth Speedway oval in
Pennsylvania.
The test was done before Dr. Terry Trammell, chief orthopedic
consultant to CART.
"He has recovered very nicely from his injuries," Trammell
said Monday. "The rehab he did in Austria pushed him over the
top."
Franchitti flew several times the past few weeks to Austria to
work on his recovery under the direction of Toni Mathis, a trainer
who worked with the young driver when he was racing touring cars
for Mercedes in Europe several years ago. Franchitti also worked
with therapists in Nashville, Tenn.
"I feel like the reason I'm ready now is because of the shape I
was in before the accident," he said. "I'm probably one of the
fittest of the CART drivers."
Asked if he believed his own words about his comeback -- even as
he lay in pain in a Miami hospital -- Franchitti said forcefully,
"Yes!"
He recalled a visit from Mario Andretti.
"He told me that when he had a big accident one time, he was
showing people he'd be fine because he was able to push his feet
forward on the hospital bed. I was doing the same thing the day
after the accident," Franchitti said.
"It's good to be back in a car and working with the boys on the
team again, getting involved in the banter and getting ready to
race."
Franchitti drove just more than 80 laps Sunday, trying to get a
feel for the car.
"Nazareth is a tough place every time you come here," he said.
"It takes you a good 30 or 40 laps to even be comfortable. By the
end of the day, I felt very comfortable. Today, we just started
from there and everything went very well."
Green said he wasn't surprised to see Franchitti turning lap
times on Monday that would be competitive on a Nazareth race
weekend.
"The whole crew is very proud of him," Green said. "He's
worked extremely hard. But it's typical Dario -- all calculated, all
focused. He doesn't seem to need a whole lot of testing anyway."
Now all Franchitti is thinking about is racing for a
championship.
"We have a big job ahead of us," he said. "Maybe it's a
little bit of handicap that we didn't get to test more because of
the injuries. But I'm not looking at it that way. I think the whole
team is ready."
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