It was a year when all of Dario Franchitti's dreams and aspirations came true. For what had seemed like an eternity, the sprightly son of West Lothian had flirted with triumph on the Champ Car and Indy Racing League circuits in the United States while suffering a litany of travails, ranging from falling off his motorbike and sustaining serious injury on a trip home to Scotland, or being left in the slow lane through mechanical failure.

Finally, though, as a testimony to his resilience, perseverance and redoubtable character, 2007 brought him the prizes he craved.

In May, he celebrated a remarkable victory in the hallowed Indy 500, and followed that success up with a heart-stopping last-gasp triumph in his protracted IRL Championship tussle with rival, Scott Dixon, who ran out of fuel on the final lap of the campaign's final race.

The circumstances would have been deemed too fanciful if penned by any Hollywood scriptwriter.

In the midst of these victories, he also emerged unscathed from a couple of potentially fatal crashes and thanked his lucky stars even as many spectators feared the worst. It was, for a man weaned on the work ethic of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, truly the best of times.

And yet, as Franchitti remarked when we spoke last week, fate has a nasty habit of intruding on party celebrations.

He wrapped up his maiden IRL title on Sunday, September 9; less than a week later - on Saturday 15 - came the news that his confrere, Colin McRae, had perished in a helicopter crash, along with his five-year-old son, Johnny, a family friend, Graeme Duncan, and Johnny's six-year-old friend Ben Porcelli.

"That's the thing: as good as the rest of 2007 might have been for me, I will always regard it as the year that we lost Colin and Johnny," says Franchitti, the quiver in his voice reflecting his continuing distress at the death of a comrade.

"Colin was two things: he was a hero to people all across the world, but he was also my pal. We had done so many good things together, and it is terrible to realise that he has gone."

There was a pause and he strove for a few seconds to gather his thoughts, but the message was clear: this may not be a time where kind words will make any difference to the McRae family, but Dario, and millions more like him, will say a prayer for them this Christmas.

Yet, as Franchitti appreciates more than most, motor racing requires tunnel vision of its heroes. Whatever tragedy impinges on the competitors - he lost another friend, Greg Moore, while battling with Juan Pablo Montoya for the Indycar Championship in 1999 - these steely individuals have to climb back into their cars as quickly as possible and maintain business as usual.

In that respect, Franchitti has recently poured himself into a daunting new challenge by switching to NASCAR circuit with the Chip Ganassi team. Despite his unfamiliarity with stock cars, he is determined to prove that his move, at the age of 34 (on a reported $30m-plus-bonuses contract with the American team) does not prove to be a racing miscalculation.

"The only downside when I won the IRL competition was that, because I had already signed a deal to join NASCAR, I wasn't really able to sit back and enjoy my success," says Franchitti.

With the benefit of hindsight, though, he acknowledges that it was "a real roller-coaster-ride of a season".

"I must have gone through about 20 different emotions during the Indy 500, but to finish in the lead when the weather intervened summed up how things went in my favour as the summer progressed," he says.

"It was the same when Scott Dixon's car ground to a halt on the last corner in the final race, I surged past him and knew I had the championship in my pocket. In previous years, there had been little blips, technical problems, weekends where things didn't go according to plan, but I certainly couldn't have asked for better fortune at key moments this time around.

"To walk away from the two accidents with barely a scratch was remarkable, but after everything I had been through, maybe we got payback.

"That doesn't alter the fact that I am entering a new part of my life by going to NASCAR and it is a huge transition. Until now, throughout my career, I have only had to deal with minor variations when I have changed from one circuit to another. Now I am in a stock car, which is heavier than a single-seater vehicle, it handles in a different way from anything I have been used to before, and it is a totally different style of driving."

He is under no illusions that it is going to be other than a massive challenge and is not setting himself goals at this stage. He is , though "aiming to be competitive, as ever".

Since September, Franchitti's achievements have been properly rewarded by his peers, precipitating a series of transatlantic sojourns to collect assorted honours.

He was the Sports Personality of the Year at the Scottish Sports Awards in Glasgow earlier this month, and was presented with the Gregor Grant Award in London a few days later, as well as gaining the prestigious Stewart Medal, the John Romanes Swift Trophy, and other symbols of recognition from the British Racing Driver's Club.

He has finally escaped the tag of being "Ashley Judd's husband" in the USA, where he is one of 12 finalists for the Speed Performer of the Year, which will be screened in February and doubtless help to cement the reputation he and Ashley have as a genuine A-list couple.

Yet it is a measure of this character that he is free of the selfishness which tends to pervade those in the fast lane. "I try to keep tabs on as many different things as possible and it has obviously been a good year for Scottish football, both for the national side and with three clubs advancing in Europe,"

says Franchitti, who will be glued to Celtic's Champions League joust with Barcelona, even if he expressed mild incredulity at the fashion of their recent defeat in Inverness.

"Quite apart from me, we should be proud of Scotland's continuing success in motorsport, because my brother, Marino, did very well in the US Le Mans series, Allan McNish has just had a terrific season, and Paul Di Resta performed really creditably in DTM German Touring Cars. I have great hopes for him Di Resta; if the guys at Mercedes look after him - which they will - Paul is a fantastic talent and, in my opinion, is as good as anybody I have ever seen racing at his age 22. There are plenty of reasons why we can be confident about the future."

As he embraces the thrill of fresh ambitions, Franchitti's Yuletide will be spent in Nashville and you sense that, amid the justified delight at the way he has prospered late in his career, there will be a frisson of recherche du temps perdu.

Ultimately, as somebody who has always cared for more than simply himself, Franchitti's path to redemption throughout 2007 was every bit as joyous as he deserved. In the final analysis, and whatever else he achieves, it will remain a source of mourning as well as marvelling.