The Franchitti Indy 500 Champ media tour continues

Dario Franchitti

It seems just about everywhere Dario Franchitti ventures these days he's greeted with the sounds of bagpipes. Not that the Indianapolis 500 champion minds.

Franchitti began his whirlwind Indy 500 victory tour June 7 in New York, joining national and local media outlets – and a bagpiper – for a lap around Central Park on an open-air double-decker bus. A second brief concert was conducted for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver and passers-by on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a good deal for the bagpiper; a couple of tunes for an autograph from the two-time 500 Mile Race winner.

"It was nice to see such a good turnout for the New York media tour," Franchitti said. "We're keeping busy and it's great to see such a high level of interest in the Indianapolis 500 and the IZOD IndyCar Series."

Next stops on the tour were interviews with Maxim, Men's Journal, GQ, Forbes and the Economist. Franchitti will be a guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on June 8 (check local listings), along with appearances on "The Daily Line" on VERSUS (11 p.m. ET June 7), "America's Nightly Scoreboard" on Fox Business (7 p.m. ET June 8) and assorted radio shows.

Franchitti earned $2.75 million for the May 30 victory in the 500 Mile Race, and followed up six days later with a fifth place in the Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway to move into the lead in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings by three points over Team Penske's Will Power.

Franchitti will travel a few hours northwest of Gotham on June 9 to participate in a full day of testing at Watkins Glen International with 10 other drivers in preparation for the June 2-4 Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen. The session is open to spectators for free (10 a.m.-3 p.m.). The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the June 20 Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer at Iowa Speedway.