LONG BEACH, California – When it comes to driver’s wives in the Verizon IndyCar Series, they don’t come much nicer than Emma Davies-Dixon. When it comes to professionalism, it’s hard to top Target/Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull. And when it comes to success in the Verizon IndyCar Series, team owner Chip Ganassi is near the top.
All three were able to take in the special moment of Scott Dixon’s first victory in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday. It was the only missing jewel from the crown of a three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Dixon’s wife sat nervously in the pit area in the closing laps as she counted them down. She has been in this position many times because Sunday’s win was the 36th of Dixon’s career, breaking a tie with Bobby Unser for fifth on the all-time list and moving him just three wins short of Al Unser in fourth with 39 wins.
“This is huge for Scott,” Emma Dixon said. “Oh My Goodness. This is one of the biggest ones he’s wanted to win. The Indy 500 is big but this has always been a really hard race for him. He thought it was his style of racing that was stopping him.
“It wasn’t strategy today; it was about being fast and that is why we won the race.”
Emma Dixon didn’t get nervous until 16 laps were left.
“Sometimes things look so good and then at the last minute it goes to pot,” she said. “It didn’t today and I’m so over the moon.”
The Dixon Family is one of the most popular in the sport among the other IndyCar Series families. And one of the greatest drivers in IndyCar Series history was able to accomplish something that had eluded him.
“This is a Crown Jewel race and we’re excited about that,” Hull said just moments after Dixon took the checkered flag in a race that he dominated by leading twice for 44 laps. “It’s really big for us because we are slow starters for some reason. It was happy to get out of the blocks and get started the right way, especially at Long Beach. It’s fun to win at historic places.”
Dixon served notice at the start of the race when he used the “Paul Tracy line” by going to the outside to pass Juan Pablo Montoya for second place just after the green flag waved. From that point on, Dixon put pressure on race-leader Helio Castroneves and took the lead from laps 34-55 and then again on lap 57 for the remainder of the 80-lap race.
“It was perfect,” Hull said. “He did his job and our guy’s did theirs. The engineers figured out a great strategy to employ and it all came together the right way. That is what teamwork is all about. I think it’s a great start and we have quality people out here getting it done.”
The cantankerous team owner takes pride in hiring quality people. That is why his IndyCar Series operation is so successful.
“No question, the Long Beach Grand Prix is our second biggest race of the year behind the Indianapolis 500, it’s in a big market, a big market from our sponsors, great fans and a great place to win,” Ganassi said. “It was nice today that he passed Bobby Unser on the winner’s list. That’s pretty impressive.
“And his start was a real ‘racer’s move.’”
When it comes to real racers, Dixon is at the top of the list of the current IndyCar Series drivers but he lives his life with great humility.
His wife would like him to be more demonstrative.
“I wish he would just come out and say, ‘I’m Scott Dixon and I’m a Bad Ass,’” Emma Dixon said.
Scott will never say that but he proved it in Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.