Last in a series this month

Five years ago, Dario Franchitti joined the exclusive club of drivers who have won the Indianapolis 500 multiple times.

The Scotsman dominated the 94th Running of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” leading 155 of the 200 laps in his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda-powered Dallara and claimed his first '500' win for team owner Chip Ganassi. He also won in 2007 and 2012.

“That was my most dominant car of the three I had,” he said. “It was warm day and one of the keys to the race – before we even started the race was – one of the keys was my engineer, Chris Simmons, getting the downforce level right for the day. We didn’t make one change to the car all day.

“The thing was so fast. Those were the days where if you had a fast car, you could drive away. Restarts, I was able to drive away at will from the pack behind. The car was really fast.”

Speed wasn’t the only ally that Franchitti had that day. With the way the cautions fell, Franchitti made his final pit stop on Lap 163, he knew he had to save enough fuel to complete nearly 100 miles without another pit stop.

“It meant that we were going to have to stretch the fuel until the end,” Franchitti said. “We went from absolutely flat out to saving as much fuel as I could. At one point, I was doing laps just above 200 mph and wondering if we were going to make it until the end.”

Compounding the worries for Franchitti was the car’s fuel pressure light, which began flashing with a few laps. If that didn’t worry Franchitti, the fast-closing No. 4 car for Dan Wheldon was also an issue.

“I kept going slower and slower and Dan was catching me,” Franchitti said. “We were playing a game of cat and mouse. He had the same issue that I did and he was trying to force me to run quicker to use up the fuel and I wasn’t biting. We finished with not a lot fuel in the tank. It was a great feeling, as you would imagine.”

Nowadays, Franchitti is trying to impart his wisdom and experience on Chip Ganassi Racing Teams’ younger drivers, serving as a mentor for Charlie Kimball, Sebastian Saavedra and Sage Karam – who Franchitti says have the talent and equipment to join him on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

“Dario is a great asset to have on the team,” Kimball said. “It wasn’t that long ago he was in the driver’s seat, so when me and (my engineer) Brad (Goldberg) are having trouble communicating, he’s a great go-between. He can translate what I’m saying to Brad or take what Brad is saying and tell me in a way that I’m thinking.”