Banner year for IRL’s Dixon

He captured his second points title and won the Indianapolis 500.

Los Angeles Times

As Scott Dixon’s car flew past the checkered flag in a photo finish with Helio Castroneves at more than 200 mph last Sunday, Dixon wasn’t sure who had won the IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

“Coming down to the line I had no idea,” Dixon said. “But the team came on the radio and said, ‘You won it.’ ” So he drove to Victory Lane.

Yet, after a brief celebration and television interview, “you could see them moving the car out of the winner’s circle,” Dixon said in an interview Tuesday.

The reason: After reviewing the finish, the series declared Castroneves had won — by a foot.

Still, Dixon won the series overall championship to cap a banner year for the 28-year-old New Zealander.

In addition to the title and its $1-million prize, Dixon tied a season record by winning six races — including the crown jewel Indianapolis 500 — and got married.

“The year on a whole has been amazing, an unforgettable year,” said Dixon, who also won the championship in 2003. (The series does have one more race in Australia on Oct. 26, but it’s a non-points event.)

The year eased the pain of Dixon’s final race last season, when he lost the title to Dario Franchitti by running out of fuel on the final lap.

By coincidence, Franchitti announced last week that after his brief stint in NASCAR stock-car racing this year he will return to open-wheel racing next season as Dixon’s teammate with Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

Dixon is a reserved, often taciturn driver known as “the Iceman.” But he is extremely competitive and can show flashes of anger on the track when he believes other drivers are blocking him or otherwise crimping his performance.

He also can quickly turn aggressive. With about 60 laps left in Sunday’s race, Dixon was several spots behind the leaders and seemed content to stay there, because he only had to finish eighth or better to clinch the championship.

Then his patience ran out. “I said to the team, ‘I’m going to get back up front because it’s getting crazy back here,’ ” he said. “Once you get back there .... you can take yourself out of the race pretty quickly.”

Yet in a series that heavily promotes such extroverts as Castroneves and Danica Patrick, Dixon typically is not given to self-promotion or brashness.

“I’ve always been that way, I let the results speak for themselves,” said Dixon.