With four IndyCar titles and three Indy 500 victories, as well as a 24 Hours of Daytona win and appearances in everything from NASCAR and DTM to historic racing, Dario Franchitti is one of the most prolific drivers the UK has ever produced.
So few were surprised when the affable Scot was selected as the 2026 Amelia Concours d’Elegance honouree, joining an illustrious roll call of drivers – including Sir Stirling Moss, Jacky Ickx and Dan Gurney – whose careers have all been celebrated at the event. Despite his achievements, the honour may have surprised Dario more than anyone
‘It’s quite humbling, to be honest,’ the IndyCar champion smiles over a Zoom call. Even with the Amelia honour, and having been forced into early retirement after a nasty crash in 2013, Dario still finds it hard to stay away from competition.
Roughly 48 hours earlier, he was sitting in the 40°C cockpit of Tricon’s No. 1 Toyota Tundra, competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the St Petersburg street circuit in Florida. It marked his first professional race in 13 years.
‘The truck race came from a throwaway comment to Jimmie Johnson,’ Dario recalls. ‘We were at my house in London, and I said it looked like good fun. Then, he just used his connections – his NASCAR team and the Legacy Motor Club – to make it all happen.’
After hastily putting Dario’s Truck Series cameo together, NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson was on hand to help him over the radio – much in the way Dario did when Johnson made his 2021 switch to IndyCar.
‘It was fabulous to have Jimmie there. When you’ve got a seven-time NASCAR champion on the radio, you can ask him all the questions – just like he did with me in IndyCar.’
With the support of Jimmie and the Tricon team, Dario’s comeback was a great success. He was immediately on the pace and ran in the top ten for much of the race until a brush with the wall forced him to pit, costing him a lap.
‘They’re tough old things, those trucks,’ Dario laughs. ‘I feel quite happy. I wanted to go out there and do a good job. I didn’t want to be slow or to just suck, so it’s kind of mission accomplished. It was fun to do it in front of my daughters and my wife – and to do it on an IndyCar weekend made it extra special.’
The heat and adrenaline of the cockpit stand in stark contrast to Dario’s next destination, the manicured lawns of the Amelia Concours – roughly 300 miles north of St Pete. He is, however, well accustomed to the more refined Amelia atmosphere – and historic car events in general, for that matter. A passionate petrolhead and car collector, Dario discovered his joy of historic car events in the 2000s as his open-wheel racing career flourished.
‘I owe Harley Cluxton my introduction to this world of historic cars – although “introduction” is probably too small a word,’ he reveals. Cluxton, the American racer and specialist car dealer, has long been a major figure in the scene.
‘Harley basically told me, “You need to come and do this. Let’s go and have some fun – you need to see these cars,”’ Dario says. Multiple appearances at major historic gatherings, including Monterey Car Week, Goodwood and the Amelia, followed.
‘I love the Amelia and I’ve always had a really good time there. I love this event.’ So, when Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty invited Dario to become the 2026 honouree, he didn’t hesitate.
As honouree, the story of Dario’s career will be told through a showcase of significant race cars he’s raced over the years in the Amelia’s Cars of the Honoree class. It’s quite the collection and includes his 2012 Indy 500-winning Dallara DW12, the McLaren MP4/10 Formula 1 car he tested at Silverstone in 1995 and the Acura ARX-01a LMP2 prototype he drove to class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2007.
Unsurprisingly, Dario says it’s always nice to see his Indy 500 winners again. ‘They’re very special to me and I’ve spent quite a bit of time with them at different events.’
But he’s also excited to reconnect with some of the cars he drove outside of his IndyCar career.
‘Seeing the McLaren Formula 1 car I drove in ’95 will be really special, too,’ he says. ‘Zak and the team at McLaren sent it over and had it put back to the spec I tested it in, which was a lovely thing for them to do.
‘Then there’s the little Acura I drove with Tony Kanaan and Brian Herta. That was one of the most flattering cars I ever drove,’ he says.
While the cars showcased on the lawns of the Amelia chart important chapters of Dario’s professional career, his racing story began decades earlier with a far more humble machine: his first-ever go-kart.
‘I couldn’t bring it over, and I’m not sure my dad could have fitted it into his luggage,’ Dario laughs. ‘It’s still in the garage in Scotland, which is a shame because I love that kart. I used to just blast around on it on the roads outside my dad’s factory in the ’70s — things were a bit different back then. I don’t even think I wore a helmet. If my kids did that now, I’d be horrified!’
When Dario’s parents found his childhood kart, they had it recommissioned for his 40th birthday.
‘I often wondered what happened to it, so it was a lovely present from my parents,’ he smiles. ‘When they gave it to me for my 40th, it was parked between my race car and my spare car at the Indy 500, and it took me straight back 40-odd years. Sitting in that little kart with the upright steering wheel… trying to pull-start it was a nightmare for a five-year-old.’
While that special kart – and much of the Amelia’s Cars of the Honoree class – chart Dario’s racing career, they also trace a path toward his work on modern performance road cars, represented by the GMA T.50 hypercar.
Dario has served as the development driver for professor Gordon Murray’s eponymous marque from almost the beginning, helping shape the development of the T.50 and T.33 models, as well as the S1 LM and Le Mans GTR special editions. He also signed off the track-only T.50 S Niki Lauda for production following a test at the Bahrain International Circuit in January.
The process is shaped by the experience Franchitti has gained from both racing and road cars he has owned and driven.
‘It’s easier to develop a racing car because it’s so focused and one-dimensional,’ he says. ‘Sometimes a quick race car isn’t necessarily that nice to drive, even if it feels great when you see the lap time pop up on the dash.’
‘With Gordon and the development team, it’s always about driving enjoyment – putting a smile on your face rather than just chasing performance numbers. You can keep making cars faster and lower, but you start to lose that connection with the driver.’
For Dario, that simple joy of driving, first discovered in a small go-kart outside his father’s ice-cream factory, led to a career worthy of the Motorsports Hall of Fame and Amelia Honoree status.
