Robbery ordeal ‘extreme’ for Dixon
Driver recounts turnaround from Indy 500 pole euphoria to facing armed assailants
It was intended as a celebration but turned into a nightmare.
Two days after he was robbed at gunpoint, IndyCar driver Scott Dixon reflected on the harrowing experience that was a big “contrast coming from a country with no guns.” The New Zealander and former IndyCar star Dario Franchitti were held up while in the drive-thru lineup at Taco Bell just before 10 p.m. Saturday in Indianapolis. Dixon had won the pole earlier in the day for next Sunday’s Indy 500, and he’d just wrapped up media interviews.
Because their first choice — an Italian restaurant — was closed, they decided on a Taco Bell run, since the fast-food restaurant was just a mile down the road from the race track.
“It was of course unexpected. Luckily everybody was OK,” Dixon said. “Definitely some highs and lows. You go from one extreme to winning the pole and feeling pretty good and then feeling pretty small again. It was an interesting contrast.”
The 36-year-old Dixon was in Toronto on Tuesday to help promote the Honda Indy, July 15-16. He couldn’t reveal much about Saturday’s incident because of an ongoing investigation.
Two boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested later Saturday by police.
Dixon didn’t believe he and Franchitti were targeted.
“Could have been us, could have been the next person,” he said. The suspects demanded Dixon hand over his wallet and his phone. He said fortunately he’d locked his valuables in the trunk.
The incident, he said, has make him think twice about security issues around a high-profile lifestyle.
“It definitely brings awareness to maybe some things you need to be a little more careful with, things you post maybe on social media,” Dixon said.
New Zealand also doesn’t have the gun crime that plagues the United States, so “it’s nothing you expect or even really see,” he said.
Dixon is the 2008 Indy 500 winner. He is fourth all-time on the series’ career list for wins (40), is tied for second in most series championships (four) and is now one of five drivers to win the Indy pole three times. He also is a friend of longtime teammate Franchitti, a Scot who retired after a crash in 2013.
Dixon is also a two-time Toronto Indy winner, winning both races in 2013.
“For me I love coming to Toronto. It’s part of the (British) Commonwealth so I feel a little bit at home,” he said. “Even though it’s basically just a few miles from the U.S., it changes totally. The culture’s different and it’s refreshing sometimes.”
Dixon hopes winning the Indy pole bodes well for a strong season, and credits the Chip Ganassi Racing team’s switch to Honda for renewed motivation.
“We hit the ground running. I think it’s been good in the fact that we kind of had a new toy so it refocused a lot of people within the team, and created a lot of new directions which we needed a fresh start,” said Dixon. “I think last year we had a lot of missed opportunities and made quite a few mistakes, to be honest.”
Dixon dropped to sixth place in the Verizon IndyCar Series points race last season, after nine years of finishing no lower than third.
He has a new rival this season in Fernando Alonso. The Formula One superstar qualified fifth for his Indy 500 debut.
“I think he’s done a hell of a job. It’s good to see,” Dixon said of the Spaniard. “He’s with a very good team (McLaren-Honda-Andretti), and a lot of good people around him, and he’s a hell of a talent. One of the best we’ll ever see in motor racing so it’s cool to have him over. And it’s bringing a lot of attention, which is good to see too.”