When Scott Dixon arrived in the IZOD IndyCar® Series in 2003, he was not only young but very aggressive. At the time, he began the season as a 22-year-old and was an extremely aggressive driver - almost too aggressive. At Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, he was racing furiously with Tony Kanaan before the two drivers slammed hard into the second turn wall. Dixon was uninjured but Kanaan suffered a badly fractured arm in the crash and was airlifted to a Japanese hospital.
"2003 was kind of strange," Dixon recalled. "It took us off guard coming in and winning the first race for a team first coming to the Indy Racing League, and for myself coming to the IndyCar series, it was definitely something very different."
He would go on to win the IZOD IndyCar title by 18 points over Gil de Ferran. Dixon's 2003 title was unusual to say the least. He had three victories that season (Homestead-Miami, Pikes Peak and Richmond) he also had five DNFs including three in the first four races.
Much has changed with Dixon, including his image and reputation. While drivers such as Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti say there isn't another driver on the track they feel comfortable with racing side-by-side than Dixon that certainly wasn't his rep when he won the title in 2003.
While he enjoyed his time as a champion following the 2003 season, it didn't last long before the reality of racing became apparent in a series that had multiple engine manufacturers at that time. While Toyota held the edge in 2003, Honda zoomed past its Japanese automotive rival in 2004 with Andretti Green Racing dominating the series and Kanaan winning the title. The bad times taught Dixon some valuable lessons.
"I think in 2004 and 2005 I realized how special it was to even get a win in a series like this more so now because of the combination of cars with the engines and chassis," Dixon admitted. "You do respect a win a lot more and to even run up top.
Dixon rebounded in 2006, but lost the 2007 championship when he ran out of fuel in the last turn of the last lap of the last race of the season at Chicagoland Speedway. He came back to win his second series championship in 2008.
"I appreciate the second one more than the first," Dixon said. "Now, the mix of many disciplines with short tracks and superspeedways and street and road course races and then a mix of more competitive people, more so for my side of the team than for me it was for the crappy times we had in 2004 and 2005. We won one race in a period of almost 40 races. So when you have a year like this after years like that it definitely makes it sweeter."
Dixon nearly added a third IZOD IndyCar Series championship in 2009 and once again the outcome was determined by fuel strategy as teammate Dario Franchitti won the championship again.
"The 2007 season and 2009 were similar in that we didn't have a great start to the season and had to fight back heavily in midseason and then come back to lead it," Dixon said. "I think losing the first one that way in 2007 was the hardest one. This one was easier to get over. And when your teammate wins, everybody on the team is happy."
Personal
- Was born in Australia but is a citizen of New Zealand. His parents, Ron and Glenys, were both dirt track racers
- Enjoys gadgets, and tries to buy the latest cell phone. Also likes to buy watches
- Has been racing cars since he was 13. Most embarrassing moment came when crashed when he was 13 and when he got out of the car, everyone could see that he had a cushion tied to his bum so he could see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals
- Drives an Acura RL or Range Rover SC
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