Whew! I had to take a few breaths after watching one of the
more intense and gripping IndyCar Series races in recent memory.
Whoever said that races at Sonoma, the up-and-down road
course right in the middle of Napa Valley wine country in Northern California,
were boring needs to sit down and watch a replay of Sunday’s 85-lap
championship-deciding affair. Simply put, this was a race that had everything
that makes IndyCar racing so great: overtaking, contact – most notably, between
teammates, no less! – furious restarts,, pit road drama, and, at the very end, Scott
Dixon, a Queensland-born New Zealander emerging unscathed, claiming not only a
race win, but, more unbelievably, his fourth IndyCar Series championship.
A week ago, of course, the IndyCar Series was in the news
for all the wrong reasons, after British favourite Justin Wilson died after
being hit by debris from an accident that he wasn't even a part of. Cue too
many journalists who don’t know the first thing about IndyCar racing calling
for the end of the sport. One particular article was so outlandish and
factually incorrect that Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe felt aggrieved enough
to Tweet out and put the reporter in his place. Talk about kneejerk reactions.
This race, then, seven days later, was exactly what the
sport and the series needed as a way to bounce back, if only just a little. There
were six drivers theoretically and mathematically eligible to win the 2015
series: Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves, Josef
Newgarden and the eventual winner, Dixon.
Of course, in any series-deciding event, you’d hope for drama
and a good show, but it was particularly important on Sunday, after drivers,
teams and fans had grieved throughout the week for Wilson. The drivers, whom,
to a man, had spoken in the week about how they just wanted to get behind the
wheel and race, thus blocking out everything else, including the hurt they were
feeling, put on one heck of a show.
What could have been for Team Penske duo Montoya and Power!
Montoya, courtesy of winning the season-opening event at St Petersburg and the
Indianapolis 500, had led the points race for the entire year. And he should
have probably gone on to capture a second career championship, but for an
ill-advised passing attempt that resulted in him punting Power off the course,
too. Oh, to have been able to read Roger Penske’s mind at that moment!
American Graham Rahal, whose two-win season is undoubtedly
the feel-good story 0f 2015, was also struggling, openly admitting that he just
didn’t have the car he really needed to get to the front. Less likely hopefuls Newgarden
and Castroneves didn’t figure. Dixon, however, loomed large as Montoya and
Power and Rahal stumbled. It’s so typical of the driver known as the Ice Man.
He’s cool as you like under pressure, and he drove a perfect race on Sunday.
Yet, even with the race win, the championship was not
certain. Because Montoya needed to finish sixth or further back for the points
to be tied, with Dixon winning on a victory countback, three to two. Taking
advantage of some drama ahead – two drivers were taken out in one incident; one
penalised, the other with damage – Montoya surged late. He got to sixth, and
was in sight of Australia’s Ryan Briscoe, running handily in fifth, with two
laps to go, and closer still with one lap to go. The closing laps were as tense
as the final five at Indianapolis this year, again with Montoya involved.
If Sunday’s Grand Prix of Sonoma had been a 90-lap race,
Montoya may well have gotten into the top five and denied Dixon his fourth
championship. But it was a race over eighty-five laps, and Montoya came up
short. Therefore, it was Dixon’s day. And what a day! Saving fuel where he
needed to, and driving like he was on new tyres all day, whilst others
complained of tyre wear, Dixon’s Sonoma clinic delivered Chip Ganassi another
series championship and Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s one hundredth race
victory. There’s a double for you!
Sunday’s double win confirms what we have known for some
time: Scott Dixon now ranks as one of the all-time greats in IndyCar racing.
Think that’s an over exaggeration? Check out these stats: he has as many
championships as Mario Andretti, he’s one victory behind Al Unser on the all-time
list of IndyCar race wins and, at age thirty five, isn’t without a shout of
breaking A.J. Foyt’s record of seven American open-wheel championships.
In the last nine seasons, dating back to 2007, Dixon has won
thirty-one races, including the 2008 Indianapolis 500, and captured three
series championships. If that’s not enough to crown Dixon the most dominant
driver of the last ten years – at a bare minimum – then I honestly don’t know
what is. I’ve no doubt that Dixon, at the top of his game right now, is going
to add more wins and championships. He has at least another five good years in
him!
It’s been a rough week for the IndyCar Series. The death of
Wilson has hit the sport hard, as did Dan Wheldon’s passing four years ago in
Las Vegas. At least, though, Dixon’s superlative drive has reminded us of how
good things can be in IndyCar land. Sunday’s race delivered in spades.
Congratulations, Scott Dixon. The Ice Man is a very
deserving 2015 IndyCar Series champion.
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