Scotland's Dario Franchitti received a top prize of 1,645,233
dollars Monday from a record purse of 10,668,815 dollars at the
victory celebration for the 91st Indianapolis 500.
Franchitti captured the rain-shortened Indy-car spectacle Sunday
after showers interrupted the race for three hours and halted the
event after 166 of 200 laps at the famed 2.5-mile (4km)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
In his fifth start in Indy's 33-car field, Franchitti become on
the second Scotsman to win the race, following Jim Clark's 1965
triumph. He led three times for 34 laps.
Franchitti, 34, took over the lead on lap 155 and led when a
heavy downpour halted the race just nine laps shy of when
Franchitti would have needed to surrender the lead for fuel.
Franchitti's money total was shy of Buddy Rice's 2004 record of
1,761,740 dollars while the total purse was 150,250 dollars above
last year's former record payout.
Runner-up Scott Dixon of New Zealand received 719,067 dollars
while Helio Castroneves of Brazil, a two-time Indy 500 winner who
was third, received 646,303 dollars.
American Phil Giebler won the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award.
He finished 29th after an accident that knocked him out of the race
after 106 laps.
(CRI via AFP May 29, 2007)
