Dario Franchitti MBE

Dario Franchitti is a four time IndyCar Series champion (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (2007, 2010, 2012) as well as a winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona (2008). He retired with 31 victories from 265 starts in his American open-wheel racing career, a tally which put him in a tie for ninth on the all-time wins list.

Born in Bathgate, Dario started his career in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s, competing in Formula Vauxhall and Formula Three and was also the winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1992. Dario started racing in CART, an Indy Car race series in America in 1997 with the Hogan Racing team. He spent six seasons in CART, where he won 10 races.

Dario moved to the IndyCar Series for the 2003 campaign. His break-out year came in 2007, when he won Indianapolis 500 as one of four victories in his route to a first career championship title in a final-race title decider. At the end of the season, Franchitti was named as BBC Scotland's Sports Personality of the Year. He went on to win three of the next four championships, establishing himself as the driver to beat.

In 2013 Dario was involved in a serious crash in the Grand Prix of Houston when his car flew into catch-fencing after contact with other the cars. Dario suffered two fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle, and a concussion in the crash. A month later he announced his immediate retirement from motor racing on medical advice.