Rain may have stopped play, but that didn’t stop Dario Franchitti from clinching the 91st Indianapolis 500 and give Michael Andretti his second win as an owner in the past three years.
Andretti had five cars, including his own, entered in Sunday’s race, and to start with, it looked he would have a 1-2-3 in the form of Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick and his son Marco Andretti.
But rain stopped the race, and when the drivers came back onto the track, Franchitti was in the lead; Michael himself had dropped back to 13.
Marco Andretti crashed trying to keep Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr out of the running, Patrick, who was in 2nd for a few laps, eventually finished eighth, Kannas wound up in 12th.
Andretti has said he will now finally retire from racing the Indy 500, concentrating on adding to his two wins as owner – Franchitti this year and Dan Wheldon in 2005.
Talking to the Daily News, Andretti said: "We want the wins and we're very happy that Dario was able to get it. I'm so very happy for him personally. He deserves it. He's been such a big part of Andretti Racing Green since day one. He's helped build it to where it is today. I'm just so happy that he was able to get the benefits of that. I'm really happy for him."
Scotsman Franchitti was amazed to take the prize – as Andretti Green Racing’s last real hope despite not being favorite to win, he was in complete shock when he pulled into the pits after 166 laps to take the race.
"I'm in shock, definite shock," he told indy500.com, "I knew it was going to be difficult getting there. Then when I pulled in the pits, it was disbelief."
Franchitti’s famous wife, actress Ashley Judd, was equally ecstatic and completely drenched as she celebrated in the rain, making her way through the puddles without shoes to greet her husband, who picked up a cool $1,645,233 for his win.