Scott Dixon is having one of those near-perfect seasons, and it’s more than a little frustrating for the guy trying to chase him down. Dixon came from behind Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway, passing Helio Castroneves coming off the final turn on the 1.5-mile oval to win the Meijer Indy 300. It was the second win in a row and the sixth victory of the season for Dixon, tying the record of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon as he races toward what would be his second IndyCar Series championship. Series runner-up Castroneves, still trying for his first victory of the season and his first series title as he chases Dixon, tried to get this one with fuel strategy.
Scott Dixon took care of business on Saturday in the Rexall Edmonton Indy while many of his IndyCar Series competitors took themselves out of the running. Dixon didn’t have the fastest car in the IndyCar Series’ Canadian debut, but the 27-year-old New Zealander definitely had the fastest pit crew. A brilliant final pit stop by the No. 9 Target/Ganassi Racing squad vaulted Dixon ahead of Penske Racing teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, and he drove away to an uncontested six-second victory, his fifth win of the season.
Miscommunication mixed with heavy rain turned out to be a winning combination for Scott Dixon. Told to follow race leader Tony Kanaan, Dixon instead stayed on the track at the Nashville Superspeedway and grabbed the lead on lap 149. Dixon stretched his fuel until rain ended the Firestone Indy 200 with 29 laps left, giving him his third consecutive victory at this track and his fourth this season.
Scott Dixon, the calm and cool Kiwi, won again Saturday night. He is the studious master of his domain, a brilliant surgeon in a race car and possibly the best IndyCar driver in more than two decades. Only one problem. Dixon doesn’t sell tickets. With all due respect to his lovely new bride, Dixon is missing a racing version of sex appeal.
Sunday was an Indianapolis 500 the way we all remember it. Well, those of us old enough to remember when so many things made this event special. A giant crowd, clearly the biggest in a decade. Tempers flaring, almost A.J. Foyt style, among several contending drivers, including Danica. Unexpected moments and wild crashes, but thankfully, no one hurt. Tears of disappointment from one driver. And the race favorite holding off the little-team underdog in the final laps.New Zealand’s Scott Dixon will go in the books as the first Indy 500 winner of the new era, the return of one unified series for American open-wheel racing.
A Indianapolis trionfa il neozelandese del team Ganassi, Scott Dixon, che dopo essere partito dalla pole ha battuto il brasiliano Vitor Meira e Marco Andretti. Ritirati Tony Kanaan e Danica Patrick.
A Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry, this one driven by former series champion Scott Dixon, won the season-opener for the third straight year. He took the lead late in the 200-lap race when Tony Kanaan, another former champion, ran out of luck.
And, while none of the newcomers making the transition from the Champ Car World Series to the newly unified IndyCar series were able to compete with the leaders, forecasts of disaster proved wrong and the newcomers generally stayed out of the way of the faster cars and out of trouble.
Dixon, the New Zealand driver who lost the IRL IndyCar Series championship to Dario Franchitti when he ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 2007 season, got off to a great start with the victory in the Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300.
