IRL contenders arrive in South Florida

DAVIE, Fla. — Dario Franchitti was getting dressed at the Miami Dolphins’ training facility Thursday afternoon, when someone warned him that the adjacent pile of football playbooks were top secret.

Franchitti didn’t understand all the little squiggles anyway.

“I know soccer,” Franchitti said. “I was like, ‘Where is the goalkeeper?’”

Soccer, football, none of it really matters right now to Franchitti and the other two remaining contenders for the IRL series championship, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe. They were an hour north of Homestead-Miami Speedway’s finish line Thursday, posing at the Dolphins’ facility with Miami’s two Super Bowl trophies and the oversized silver chalice to be given Saturday to the IRL champion.

Only one of the shiny silver prizes mattered to that trio. Each arrived in South Florida this week for the Indy 300, which will decide the season-long title.

“I come from New Zealand. Rugby’s our big sport down there,” said Dixon, the two-time and reigning IRL champion. “Living in Indianapolis, obviously football’s huge there with the Colts. But we’re focused on one thing, man. It’s all about our championship trophy this weekend. I’ll quite happily sit back over the winter and let the Dolphins and the Colts go for their trophies.”

It was an unusual spot to promote a race; Dolphins’ defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni seemed to wonder what was going on as he strode through the lobby.

For IRL officials, though, it made perfect sense: After years of relatively low attendance at IndyCar races in Homestead, what better way to generate interest for the finale than align with the team countless South Floridians follow on a daily basis? A dozen TV cameras and photographers huddled around as the three drivers, in their race suits, stood alongside the Dolphins’ Vince Lombardi trophies.

“I’m still pretty young as far as NFL knowledge goes,” Briscoe said. “It’s still cool to be here, but the IndyCar trophy, that’s the one I want this weekend.”

Dixon leads the standings by a slim margin, with Franchitti and Briscoe both within eight points of the series lead.