Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: New Zealander Dixon adapts well to oval tracks

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Scott Dixon was winning races even before he legally could drive a car on the streets of his native New Zealand and he hasn't slowed down since.

Granted a special license to drive in the New Zealand Formula Vee championship in 1994 at the age of 13, Dixon went out and won the series title. He added three more Formula championships in New Zealand and Australia before coming to America, where he won the Dayton Indy Lights championship in 2000 before landing a ride in CART in 2001.

That Dixon has continued to enjoy success in the top ranks of open-wheel racing shouldn't come as a surprise -- but where he has recorded his victories does.

Groomed as a road-course racer, Dixon earned his first Indy Lights, CART and Indy Racing League victories at oval tracks, including this month's IRL IndyCar Series opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"It seems strange that in both (Indy Lights and CART), both my first wins have been on mile ovals," Dixon said during a break in testing Tuesday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Dixon and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Tomas Scheckter were testing at the 1.5-mile oval in preparation for next month's IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.

"I don't really know how to explain (my success on ovals). I think if you talk to most people, either you hit them running well and like them or you just dislike them and do pretty bad. I've always liked them -- I enjoy them -- because the racing's close and tight and a lot of fun. There might not be as much skill level in it but it's a different kind of racing."

Mike Hull, Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's managing director, said Dixon, 22, reminds him a lot of former TCGR driver Juan Montoya, who joined the team at the age of 23 and won seven races and the series championship as a rookie.

"The similarity between the two of them, at the same age ... they're both very mature and they just ooze natural ability," Hull said. "Scott, at his age, is well beyond his age in terms of maturity and he just oozes natural ability.

"It seems like young guys with ability can turn fast laps but they don't know how to keep the tires underneath them on race day. That's what Scott is able to do; he's able to sense what the car needs for speed and he's also able to sense what the car wants to have for race day so that he can run a full stint on the tires. Juan did a great job of that and Scott does a great job of that."

Dixon appeared to be on course to win his second consecutive race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway before a gearbox failure prematurely ended his day. Dixon started third but immediately jumped to the lead and stayed in front for 34 laps before his early exit.

"It was really disappointing after Phoenix; I think we could have been two for two," Dixon said. "The car was running pretty well and I think we had the speed to (win) it. But we couldn't have a better start to the season. It shows we have the speed, we just need to make it last a little longer."

Dixon's immediate goals are to win more races this season and contend for the IRL championship. Long-term, however, he said he would like to follow the same path that Montoya took to Formula One.

"That has been the main goal from the start," Dixon said.

Racing in an all-oval series such as the IRL -- as opposed to the mixture of ovals and street/road courses in CART -- shouldn't deter him from reaching that goal, Dixon said.

"This has sort of side-stepped it a little but I'll keep trying," he said. "The worst thing you can do is probably not do any racing; then you get lost. As long as you're still out there winning, there are still going to be chances with testing and things like that.

"As long as you don't do it for a long period -- oval racing the whole time -- you should be fine. It's all about the right time and the right situation."