Teamspeed.com - Awesome Video: Dario Franchitti drives Jim Clark's legendary '65 Lotus at Indy

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Dario Franchitti drives Jim Clark's legendary Lotus 38

Text from Road & Track:
As a proud Scot and an Indianapolis 500 winner, it’s no surprise Jimmy Clark is my hero. My brother Marino—who races in the ALMS series—and I grew up in a house where we talked about Jimmy Clark and Jackie Stewart.

Jimmy died in April 1968, a little more than five years before I was born. Then, in 1993, Jackie invited me to a dinner commemorating the 25th anniversary of Jimmy’s passing. I met all of his old friends, mechanics and guys he raced against. That was when I got wondering, what is it about this guy? The stories they were telling...

He was an absolute tiger in a car, the best driver of his generation...maybe ever...and yet a very quiet, humble guy out of the car. The more I read about him and the more I talked with people, the more his exploits in race cars fired my passion. And yet I think it is as much the guy he was outside the car that is the reason he’s my hero.

YouTube - Exclusive: Dario Franchitti Drives Jim Clarks Indy-Winning Lotus 38 Ford

Then again, I’ve always enjoyed the history of our sport. I talk about it with some of today’s drivers and they don’t care, but for me the guys who went before us trod the path. They were all heroes because of their exploits and the risks they took.

They raced in dangerous times, although Jimmy’s 1965 Indy Lotus was as safe and as fast as they could make it. Jackie pushing for safety moved things along, of course, but because of the danger element there was a different attitude in that day when you went racing. And I have little doubt I would have accepted that danger and been as involved in racing then as now.

So I love the history of the sport...the drivers, the cars, the tracks, the whole thing...and I guess in some ways am obsessed by it. I’m not the only driver who has loved the history of the sport, of course, and I mention Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, Brian Redman and Bobby Rahal as just a few others. I don’t necessarily think this makes us better race drivers, but I think it gives us a greater appreciation when we’re able to achieve success because we can put it in the context of history.

And not just an appreciation of the drivers, which is why I was so looking forward to driving Jimmy’s Lotus 38 at Indianapolis. I first saw the Lotus at The Henry Ford museum in 2007. We were doing an appearance and I was walking around the museum, saw the car and thought, “Oh, what a nice replica.”

“No,” they said, “this is the real thing.” They allowed me to go over the barrier and I stood there and touched the side of the car. I remember putting my fingerprints on it and thought that was as close as I’d ever get to it.

For the full story head over to Road & Track:
Exclusive - Dario Franchitti Drives Jimmy Clark

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