Dario Franchitti discusses post-racing future, open to broadcasing

Dario Franchitti appeared in public for the first time since announcing his retirement last month and restated his intentions to remain in IndyCar -- perhaps in the broadcast booth moving forward.

“I’d love to stay involved in IndyCar racing... with the Target team and everybody involved in that,” Franchitti said on Thursday regarding his future. “That’s something we’re working on. We’re working to make that happen.”

Franchitti suffered two fractures on his spine, another fracture on his right ankle and a concussion on the final lap of the Grand Prix of Houston (second race) when his car was sent airborne into the catchfence. He would go on to miss the season finale at Auto Club Speedway as he began his road to recovery.

Due to the increased risk of injury to his head, Franchitti’s doctors advised him to cease racing and retire from active competition, prompting his emotional decision to seemingly step out of the cockpit for good.

Franchitti called the press conference on Thursday to update the racing community on his health, saying that he’s made so much progress over the past month that he couldn’t have been able to host the event if it were scheduled a few weeks sooner.

“I’m not going to go into the whole ins-and-outs of the concussion, but just problems related with any normal big concussion really,” Franchitti said of his current condition. “But I will say the last three weeks, there’s been a big improvement.

”I mean, (Tony Kanaan) and I were together in Miami when I went for the consultation with Dr. Olvey. That was probably the lowest point actually -- not because I was with Tony (a joke) -- was probably the lowest point.

“But the last three weeks, really improved a lot to the fact I could do this today. I couldn’t have done this three weeks ago. The back is healing. I’m seeing Dr. Olvey soon. I saw Dr. Weber about my ankle yesterday. That’s coming along really well. Saw Dr. Trammell about my back. That’s coming along well. So it’s all as expected. ”

The four-time IndyCar Series champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner also dished out the possibility that he could wind up in the broadcast booth someday.

“If it was done in the right way, yes, I would be open to it,” Franchitti said. “I think whatever you do though; you’ve got to do it properly. That’s something I’d have to take into account. Could I work with a team 100% and give 100% to that and be totally focused on that? Broadcast, too.

“Could I do those things? If I could, then I’d be interested in it. There’s no point in doing anything half-assed. Not the way I do things.”

Franchitti was also asked which race he would choose to compete in, should the doctors ever allow him to race one last time. He said that participating in the 24 Hours of LeMans with his younger brother, Marino, would be ‘amazing.’ But at the end of the day, Franchitti says he would choose one last run at a fourth victory in ‘the 500.’

“The allure of going for a fourth would be difficult to turn down,” he said. “To even have a chance at a fourth, that’s one of the hard things about this.”