Dario Franchitti Wins 2010 Indianapolis 500

During the last lap of this year’s Indianapolis 500, Mike Conway’s car hit Ryan Hunter-Reay’s. It sent Conway’s car airborne and flying into the catchfence before crashing back down and shattering:

It’s one of the more frightening crashes, considering how totally ruined Conway’s car was. And yet, according to reports on ABC, Conway will be okay. He’ll be hospitalized on account of a foot or leg injury, but he was awake and alert, and the injury is not considered time-critical.

Dario Franchitti is now a two-time winner of the 2010 Indianapolis 500. He very well may have benefited from the yellow flag which effectively ended the race -- Franchitti was running out of fuel, and Dan Wheldon was closing fast. Wheldon ended up finishing second.

Danica Patrick shuffled through the crowd to place fifth at the end.

At the 151st lap, Dario Franchitti has the lead at the Indianapolis 500. He’s followed closely behind by Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan.

Franchitti, it should be noted, won the rain-shortened 2007 Indy 500. Currently, he stands as the IndyCar Series champion.

So far, today’s race has belonged to Dario Franchitti; the 10 car has dominated Helio Castroneves and the rest of the field for the vast majority of the 85 laps thus far.

In third place, however, was the relatively unknown Raphael Matos, who was a 50-to-1 shot to tak the race coming into today. It was not to be for Matos, however, as he lost control of his car on the 77th lap and crashed into the wall.

Since the dawn of the automobile, an otherwise nondescript street corner west of Indianapolis has served as the focal point for the hopes and dreams of racecar drivers the world over.

The sprawling Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the home of the 94th annual Indianapolis 500, an American institution since the year before the RMS Titanic was built. It has survived a century of American history.