IndyCar champion Scott Dixon is trying to block out the significance of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 next year.
The New Zealander won the 2008 Indy 500 but has had his share of frustrations and heartbreak at the famous track.
The race will highlight the 2016 IndyCar calendar. Dixon is the defending series champion, claiming his fourth drivers’ title in 2015, but will be looking to improve on a fourth-place finish at the signature race next year.
“I don’t know how many other sports have anything like it. I mean, you think about that race running 100 times and it’s incredible. To see where it started and where it is in today’s world is amazing. Everything about the 100th running is cool. It’s pretty crazy,” Dixon told the Oakland Press as he visited Macomb County to celebrate Chevrolet’s outstanding year in IndyCar racing.
Dixon said the Indy 500 had rammed home its unpredictability to him again this year.
After dominating the race with pole and leading the most laps, he then collected a stray plastic bag off the track that led to overheating in the final laps and contributed to his fading finish.
“We’ve had some great results, lots of great finishes there. But it’s a place where you can think you’re running well, and then it can be taken away from you,” he said.
The 35-year-old felt he wouldn’t get caught up in the occasion when the flagged dropped to start the running of the 100th race next May.
“It’s just another race as far as our approach is concerned,” Dixon said.
“Sure, everybody wants to win the 100th running, but everybody wants to win the Indy 500 anyway.
“That doesn’t change your mindset or the way you go into the race.”
Dixon his hoping top build some momentum from his stunning finish to this year’s campaign into the new season.
Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya finished the calendar tied with 556 points after Dixon won the season-ending race at Sonoma, California that held double-points. He edged Montoya for the championship with three race wins to Colombian’s two.
“It’s nice to have one go that way. We’ve lost a couple in similar scenarios,” he said of his final day heroics.
“I’m glad it worked out the way it did, and I’m excited for next year.”
Dixon’s efforts in 2015 have seen him nominated for sportsman of the year at the New Zealand Halberg Awards.
Dixon, a former winner, looks certain to make the finalists and will be a strong contender for the award.
Dixon will make a rare New Zealand appearance this summer when he guest drives at the Leadfoot Festival hosted by Rod Millen at his Hahei property on the Coromandel Peninsular on February 6-7.
He will drive a 1906 Darracq Grand Prix which was built to contest the first grand prix held at the famous Le Mans track in France.
The open-wheeler is powered by a four-cylinder 14.25-litre engine and can hit speeds of more than 160kmh at 1650rpm.
