Dario Franchitti is determined to keep his feet firmly on the ground after becoming the first Scot to win a US Indycar race since the legenday Jim Clark in the 1965 Indianapolis 500.

The fast-moving young driver who plans to take a lucrative American route to Formula One, is a dashing young racing driver, rarely still for long. On a plane, in the gym, out for a training run or threading a

Ferrari 355 sports car through Livingston's unending chain of roundabouts.

The combination of Franchitti's moniker and the Ferrari marque has an inevitability about it and it is in the requisite scarlet Italian thoroughbred that Scotland's rising star was run to ground on a dreich weekday afternoon.

The weather does not interrupt the fleet but secure journey from a karting photoshoot to his

parents' Bathgate home. Long-standing friend and fellow racer Andrew Kirkaldy takes my call and his driver computes arrival time ''for a decent blether'' much as he would a pit stop.

Franchitti, 25, was back home from the USA for a spot of R and R, still relishing a breakthrough win in the hard school of Champcar racing, formerly Indycars.

Rarely has a motor-racing victory generated such a palpable sense of relief and pleasure as that shared after the long overdue victory at the Road America track, Elkhart Lake, near Wisconsin.

It was a transatlantic moment of release experienced first-hand in the heat of Elkhart Lake,

Wisconsin, where Franchitti's triumph drew acclaim from rival drivers and pit crews. Father George was on hand to savour the moment. Simultaneously, but five hours further on across global time zones, the Franchitti family matriarch Marina and daughter Carla shared anxiety and hopes via satellite behind drawn curtains in West Lothian.

So often this year their boy had looked set to break into the winner's circle, only to be thwarted by technical hitches, duff brakes or tactical inexperience.

Carla will not readily forget the moment the chequered flag flashed down over the gaudy green, gold and white Reynard-Honda for more than one reason.

''Not that long before the end I had a nose bleed. I suppose it was not so much a case of 'I'll back you up until your nose bleeds' as 'I'll back you up until mine does,''' she recalled.

Round the Road America course Dario Franchitti was resolved to avoid any parallel last-minute dramas but a combination of a sustained high pace, shrewd strategic nous from the Kool Green Racing team, and frugal economy from his Honda engine eclipsed current champion Alex Zanardi, one of the first to offer congratulations.

Road America, claimed Franchitti, with its changes in gradient and swooping bends, is the CART series' closest equivalent to Spa, a true driver's track. It is one of the ''road'' circuits which share the championship with specialised higher-speed ovals, on which the Scot has also impressed but not yet registered higher than fourth place.

Tomorrow in Vancouver, another road venue, Franchitti pursues his second win, with confidence at a new high. He explained: ''The first win at this level is obviously the hardest. Now I know there is no mystery involved, but I am itchy to do it again and move up from seventh in the points table, set out my stall for next year.''

Four pole positions have produced scant reward in terms of results and points in just his second year driving in the cosmopolitan FedEx Champcar championship.

Team Kool Green Racing, run by Australian owner Barry Green and his brother general manager Kim, (dubbed ''the janitor'' by Franchitti,) is the same outfit which guided Jacques Villeneuve to the CART title in 1995. No omens are invoked but the French-Canadian F1 world champion's first CART win came four years ago, at Road America.

Champcar racing has a competitive strength and depth far beyond its more elitist F1 counterpart. Pitlane tactics are even more pivotal to success as teams exploit periods holding position under yellow flags, with strategic pit stops to top up fuel and replace worn tyres.

On the track it is characterised by constant changes in position and overtaking, with upwards of 10 drivers capable and ready to win.

Franchitti said: ''Anything can happen and it usually does. On track it is highly serious cut and thrust stuff. Off the track there is a sense of camaraderie, a social side. We are more of a travelling circus, moving around within mainly one country, if not one continent.''

Canada, Brazil and Australia are also on the bill for what is dubbed a world series.

He hangs out with a multi-national crowd of

drivers including Italian Max Papis, Canadian Greg Moore and Brazilian Tony Kanaan.

Competitive Champcar drivers are paid a professional fee for a professional job and Franchitti's

combined earnings, including respectable prize money, is likely to be around #1m this year.

A busy schedule, 270 days ''on the road'' last year means an apartment on Pampona Beach, Florida is rarely used and more often than not the team's $1m 45-foot long motorised unit is home from home.

Franchitti arrived in what was then known as Indycar racing last year, arguably because of patronage from Mercedes-Benz, who employed him as a touring car racer in Europe in 1995 and 1996.

Placed in Carl Hogan's team he learned quickly but sensed that one season was long enough in an organisation which lacked cohesion.

The decision to leave the

Mercedes ''family'' has still not been forgiven by international motorsport director Norbert Haug, even if the company's US chief Hal Whiteford offered his congratulations at Elkhart Lake.

''With Team Kool I have hit the jackpot. Sometimes you have to go with your instincts. I owe a particular debt to race engineer Dan Halliday, a New Zealander. We have the rapport necessary in testing and races,'' explained Franchitti.

With Zanardi poised to pick up his second title and join the Williams F1 team Franchitti admitted that grand prix racing remained the ultimate driver's goal.

Not renowned as an early riser he goes through the ritual of watching European grand prix in the motor home from 7am onwards on is own race days.

''Champcar might have the better show, but F1 remains the pinnacle,'' Franchitti confessed, adding: ''All this interest is flattering but I want to finish the job next year by winning the title. Hopefully I can pick up some more wins over the final five races of this season.''

That includes a $1m winners' purse at the finale California Speedway oval challenge in Fontana. You can only drive one Ferrari at a time.

His dark Latin looks are, he claimed, beginning to prompt recognition in Scotland, pointing and staring, but Franchitti knows not to over inflate his ego.

He warned: ''With my family if you get uppity you'll probably get a good slap. But give me the same racing equipment and I will be faster than the next guy.''

Going faster does not always mean winning. Halliday and the brothers Green have added a layer of patient racecraft to Franchitti's pace.