Dixon on fast track to join IndyCar all-time greats
FORT WORTH – At this point, the superlatives seem, well, superfluous. Sensational. Remarkable. Incredible.
Yes indeed, Scott Dixon is all those things. Truly a living legend. But following his leap Saturday into third place on IndyCar’s all-time wins list (43) — a runaway on the oval at Texas Motor Speedway — the modifiers are beginning to feel insufficient. Redundant, even.
He is simply Scott Dixon. The greatness is implicit. It accompanies his name each time we hit the keys or utter the syllables. The name Dixon now fits in comfortably adjacent to the other iconic names of open-wheel racing, although that still doesn’t seem quite right to Dixon.
“When you look at those names — A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, the Unsers (Al Sr., Al Jr. and Bobby) — to me it still seems very strange that ‘Dixon’ is on that list, too,” the New Zealand native said after his victory.
But there it is all the same, one spot ahead of Michael Andretti on the alltime wins list and nine shy of Mario Andretti. Foyt tops the list with 67.
Nothing the longtime Chip Ganassi Racing star does astounds his peers anymore. Not winning two races — one a street circuit (at Detroit), the other an oval — in seven days. Not leading twice as many laps (119) as anyone else Saturday night at Texas. Not his uncanny ability to stretch fuel yet still turn some of the quickest laps of the race.
It’s all become a matter of course with him. Greatness is expected, and it is delivered — every weekend.
The least-talked about story to come out of Indianapolis this May was Dixon’s third-place finish in the Indy 500. That’s because it took absolutely no one by surprise. Dixon in third place? We all seemed to say, “Yeah, that makes sense.” And we moved on.
Even at a place like Texas Motor Speedway where, over the years, drivers and fans alike have learned to expect the unexpected, like death and taxes there are still two things you can count on.
“(Unpredictability) is why it’s so fun to come here, because you never know what you’re going to get except Scott is going to be fast and Team Penske is going to be on pole,” Alexander Rossi said shortly after this third-place run — his fifth podium finish of the season.
That’s what makes Scott Dixon, Scott Dixon.
No matter what track the series visits or how his car is performing, Dixon finds his way to the front. After nine races this season, Dixon has finished worse than sixth once (at Long Beach), and that was only because of an ill-timed caution flag.
It’s no wonder that at the halfway point in the season the four-time IndyCar champion finds himself on the precipice of a fifth. His series-leading 357 points are 23 more than Rossi and 36 more than Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power, who crashed out of Saturday night’s race.
“The biggest thing with Scott, no matter where the car is at, he’s able to drag something out of it, even when the car is not quite there,” said Dixon’s Ganassi teammate Ed Jones, who’s had an up close and personal look at the “Ice Man” this season. “Every weekend, no matter what’s going, he’s always up there.
“He just always makes my job even tougher,” Jones added with a smirk.
Don’t worry, Ed. There isn’t a driver in the paddock who doesn’t feel the exact same way.