Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon spent time earlier this week testing his athletic skills against the results of some of the best in other professional sports during a visit to the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas.
Dixon, a fitness enthusiast and triathlete, visited the center’s Nike SST Lab — one of two in the world — and took part in an abbreviated, 90-minute session of SPARQ training, which stands for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. It was the first visit to the sports lab for a race car driver.
“It was very interesting in there,” said Dixon, who will compete Saturday night in the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. “It’s definitely a big difference from what I normally do, and to get the side of analyzing things has been big.
“I think, most of the time, as has been said today, you’re always working on endurance and not so much your technique, I think that it’s good to see it from a different point of view.”
After completing the tests in the lab, Dixon moved to exercises that tested his strength and mobility. After several warm-ups with Lance Walker, director of sports performance and training at the center, Dixon tried his hand at sprints and movements designed to enhance his upper body mobility.
“He is definitely an elite athlete,” Walker said. “We found some holes where there are opportunities for him to become more efficient. But he picks up and learns things really quickly, and that’s always a sign of a true athlete. I wish I could work with him on a regular basis.”
Dixon said the experience was very worthwhile.
“I think this will definitely help my training away from racing and maybe for my triathlon and things like that,” the 27-year-old New Zealander said. “I think, overall, if you can improve yourself in any area it’s going to help you, with my racing, with anything.”
GREAT START: So far, Joey Logano has lived up to the hype.
The 18-year-old driver made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut last Saturday at Dover and finished sixth, overcoming an accident on pit road that put him into a deep hole early in the race.
Now the much-heralded Joe Gibbs Racing driver is hoping to back up that performance with a strong showing this weekend at Nashville, again driving the No. 20 JGR Toyota.
“I’m really excited to get Dover behind me and I’m really looking forward to the rest of these races. … I’m hoping this weekend I can start working on the chemistry between myself, (crew chief) Dave (Rogers) and the rest of the team guys,” Logano said. “This weekend will be much quieter and I’m looking forward to being able to just go out and race.”
Dover was a new track for the youngster from Connecticut, but he has tested numerous times for JGR at Nashville.
“I think it will be a strong race for us since (teammate) Kyle (Busch) ran well there in March in the 20 car and it’s a place that I’ve had a lot of laps at, even though it’s been in a Cup car and not a Nationwide Series car.”
Logano, who had to wait until he turned 18 late last month before driving in any of NASCAR’s top three professional series, said he isn’t setting any goals for this year.
“We go out to win every race and I’m not the person who sits down and says, ‘I want so many wins, so many top-fives, so many top-10s,’” he explained. “I don’t think you can look at my season and say that you want specific finishes, especially coming into something cold turkey like I am — not knowing where I’m going to stack up. It’s kind of tough to set goals on that.”
WOMAN’S WORLD: It seems that every week another woman finds her way to the winner’s circle in the NHRA Powerade Series.
Last weekend in Topeka, Kan., it was Hillary Will joining previous 2008 event winners Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel. Will won in Top Fuel, beating No. 1 qualifier Larry Dixon for her first career win by making a run of 4.744 seconds with a top speed of 304.53 mph. She became the 11th woman in NHRA history to win a national event.
The feeling was all new to Will.
“I never imagined I would make it this far,” she said. “The first car I raced was 99 miles an hour. It ran the quarter mile in 15 seconds. I didn’t think much of, ‘Oh, I’m a girl, the only girl racer out here.’ I didn’t even realize that I was different.
“I’m thankful that there’s been women racers before me who kind of paved the way. Maybe that’s a big reason why my dad even brought me to the race track in the first place, is because he saw there were women succeeding in motorsports.”
Being a woman in a man’s game is nothing new to Will. It was the same way when she was making her living as a financial analyst.
“There were times when I was the only woman sitting at a table full of suits,” she said. “That was tough. I know I feel a lot more comfortable in the drag racing world than I did in the business world. I know there are still women out there in business, women in politics, still struggling in those male-dominated fields.
“We just have to stay at it and be determined. If it’s what we love to do, then women can succeed in male-dominated fields, too.”
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