Scott Dixon is hoping that winning the Indianapolis 500 is just the first big step toward another major goal — winning a second IRL IndyCar Series title.
It’s been a long, tough five years since the New Zealander took the championship in his rookie year. And last year provided the biggest disappointment in that stretch.
After a season-long title duel with Dario Franchitti, all Dixon had to do was finish ahead of the Scot in the season-finale at Chicagoland Speedway and a second title would be his. Dixon was leading Franchitti on the last lap as both drivers tried to stretch their final fuel load to the finish.
Franchitti made it. Dixon didn’t, falling less than half a lap short. Title gone.
Instead of crushing the spirit of the 27-year-old Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team, that agonizing loss served to renew their determination.
“I think it even goes back further than that,” Dixon said. “We had the dominance of winning three races in a row and going for four and trying to chase down Dario for the championship. … everything that everybody was doing was just falling into the right place.
“Everybody was working well together, and we’ve carried on that confidence level and the success we had at the end of last year even if we didn’t come away with the championship.”
Now Dixon is the winner of the world’s richest and most prestigious open-wheel race, and that may have given him just the edge he needs to win the 2008 championship.
The past three Indy winners — Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Franchitti — have all gone on to win the IndyCar title in the same season.
“We definitely knew that because of last season,” Dixon said earlier this week as his team prepared his No. 9 Dallara for Sunday’s race at Milwaukee. “And we were definitely trying to stop that tradition (last year). Unfortunately, we came up short. This year, we won the 500, and it sounds like a pretty good tradition. We’re going to try and carry that on, come away with the championship.”
That’s Ganassi’s focus, too.
“We’re in this business for one reason, and it’s to win races and win championships and give back something to our sponsors,” the owner said after the 500 win. “I’m the luckiest guy on the planet about the sponsors that I have and the people I get to work with.”
It is the third Indy win for Ganassi, but the first since Juan Pablo Montoya won it in 2000 and the first for Dixon.
Asked how winning at Indy compares to winning that first championship, the driver said Sunday was “much more sweeter.
“There’s not many people that have this happen,” he explained.
“For me, though, a championship is different. I think, especially in 2003 for all us guys, it was a bit of a shock (to win the title), you know. It wasn’t a shock for Chip and his team because they’re great at winning championships, but it was different for me.”
Dixon noted that when he moved with Ganassi from the CART series, where he ran the previous two seasons, to the rival IRL in 2003, he didn’t like ovals very much and wasn’t too happy about the non-turbocharged IndyCars.
“That’s why that year was definitely a shock, I think,” Dixon said. “So this is much sweeter. You know now what goes into winning this race and how much effort everybody puts into it.”
Dixon has been the most consistent driver in the series for most of the past two seasons.
He began last year with three runner-up finishes, including Indianapolis, and three fourth-place runs. Following a 12th and 10th, he put on a second-half performance that included four wins and three seconds, including Chicagoland.
More of the same this year.
Dixon won the season opener from the pole, finished 22nd with a suspension failure, bounced back to finish third in the next two races and, Sunday, won Indy from the pole. He heads to Milwaukee leading the standings by 15 points over Helio Castroneves.
Ganassi knew what he was doing when he hired Dixon after CART’s PacWest team folded in 2002. And he saw right away that the driver’s generally unemotional facade belied the determination underneath.
“He’s been like that, you know, since I’ve known him,” the team owner said. “At first, I didn’t think he was that excited about racing … because he had won so early in IndyCars in his career. You know, that quietness, people confuse that with (not) caring about things. It’s a relief to know that really wasn’t what it is; it was a quiet confidence that sort of is his trademark. That’s a powerful tool.”
Now, Dixon has made himself the favorite to win the title this year.
“Having won a championship in 2003, that was a long time ago,” Dixon said. “So I need to get on my game and try and capture another championship for the team and everybody involved. That’s exactly what they want to do.
“We’re going to have great memories from (the 500), and we’re going to treasure those for sure, but Thursday, Friday we’re back on the game for the championship.”
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