Dixon takes checkered flag as racing returns
Grandstands sit empty in first pro sports event in Texas since March
FORT WORTH, TEXAS— IndyCar packed every bit of its delayed season-opening event into one long, hot day in Texas without any fans in the stands. Scott Dixon was the fastest for most of the day at a place he knows well.
Dixon, a five-time IndyCar champion, took the checkered flag at dusk Saturday for his fourth win at the one-and-ahalf-mile, high-banked oval, where drivers had also practised and qualified earlier in the day. The 39-year-old New Zealander raced to his 47th career victory and matched A.J. Foyt’s record of 18 seasons with a win.
After a restart with three laps left following a caution when his young teammate Felix Rosenqvist crashed, Dixon sped away in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda for a 4.4-second victory over Simon Pagenaud. Defending IndyCar champion and pole-sitter Josef Newgarden finished third behind Pagenaud, his teammate at Team Penske.
Nearly three months after the start of the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, IndyCar finally got on the track for what would usually be the midpoint race of its season.
The massive grandstands that can seat well over 100,000 people were empty, and not because of extreme heat — temperatures in the mid-30s C with a heat index around 37 C throughout practice, qualifying and even much of the race. No spectators were allowed, as will also be the case for the next race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4.
Gov. Greg Abbott rode in the pace car for the first professional sporting event in Texas since sports shut down across the U.S. because of the coronavirus. The only at-track spectators were the people watching from their condos in the building overlooking Turn 2.
Dixon had the top speed during the two-hour practice session earlier in the day, and qualified second to start on the front row alongside Newgarden. He went on to win the IndyCar title each of the three previous times he won the race at Texas.
Because of the extended day at the track, the length of the race was shortened to 200 laps from its usual 248 at Texas, and was finished under two hours. When Newgarden won the pole after being the last to take a qualifying run earlier in the day, there was no reaction from a crowd. There was, however, a quick warning over the radio to his Team Penske crew to avoid any celebratory high-fives.
“This feels awkward. There’s no fans,” Newgarden said then, adding that he was still excited to be back with his team and racing again — more than eight months after the end of his second championship season.
All of the teams were already in St. Petersburg, Fla., for what was supposed to be the season opener March 15. But there were never any practice laps on the streets of St. Pete, making the fast track at Texas the debut for the protective windscreens now over the open cockpits of the cars. Texas became the season opener while keeping its originally scheduled date, which was supposed to be the ninth of 17 races. That would have been two weeks after the Indianapolis 500, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 23.
Drivers and team members went through health screenings when they got to Texas Motor Speedway. Many of them had already gone through similar screenings to get on chartered planes they boarded at dawn Saturday in Indianapolis — they were returning home after the race.