INDIANAPOLIS mdash; Dario Franchitti won the 91st Indianapolis 500 race this weekend in the No. 27 Canadian Club Honda/Firestone for Andretti Green Racing, taking the checkered flag while torrential rains fell. Franchitti, who is married to actress Ashley Judd, made his fifth start in the Indy 500 on Sunday.
The Italian-surnamed racing driver is actually Scottish and names Jim Clark as a hero. His fellow countryman won the Indianapolis 500 42 years ago. The rain and happenstance both worked in Franchitti's favor.
The race was stopped after 166 of the 200 laps, and 415 of the 500 miles, had been run, and Franchitti mdash; who had altered his pit-stop sequence because of a cut tire earlier in the race mdash; was in the lead. Franchitti teammate Tony Kanaan led for 83 laps but made a pit stop just before the start of rain that ended the race. He finished 12th.
Scott Dixon, driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished 2nd, and Penske racer Helio Castroneves was 3rd. The total purse for the event was a record of almost $10.7 million, up from last year's $10.
5 million. Franchitti's win was $1,645,223. This was Michael Andretti's 16th appearance as a driver in the Indianapolis 500.
He finished 13th and afterward announced mdash; for the second time mdash; that he is retiring to give his full attention to the Andretti Green Racing organization.
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