Ron's letter from America - 28th April 09*
We’ve been smiling since Sunday. It’s a feeling of back to reality after Scott's (Dixon) win at Kansas.
The car was almost perfect. Scott was happy with the chassis, said it was awesome but the engine wasn’t right. Now if you elect to change your engine you have to start at the rear of the field.
Fortunately Honda recognised that there was a problem and they elected to change it, so Scott was still able to start from the second row of the grid.
This win is huge, particularly with going into the month of May. It will give the team real confidence, particularly coming off an oval. The month of May is all about practice, qualifying and lead up to the Indianapolis 500.
Interestingly a difference between F1 and Indy cars is that in F1 your pit garage is determined by where the constructor finished last season. In Indycars your pit is determined by where you are in the championship. So at Kansas Scott’s pit was at the rear because he had no points.
Actually he was second from the rear. The difficulty then is that once you have pitted you have to virtually weave your way down the pit row with all the other cars in front of you going in and out. When you are leading the championship you tend to lead everyone into the pits, your pit is nearest the exit so overall you have an unencumbered entry and exit.
Indy Lights
While we had a great race in the Indy Cars it wasn’t that great earlier in the day for our own Indy Lights team. Jay (Howard) was the fastest car in practice and we had both cars on song for qualifying. Jay should have got pole but the fuel pump went on him.
During the race there was a lot of carnage – 10 crashes and five cautions. With both our cars (Jay Howard and Charlie Kimble) starting down the field they both suffered from punctures from the debris left from these crashes. Laps on an oval are so short that if you come in to change a tyre you will immediately lose a lap. End of story.
Wade (Cunningham) did incredibly well to get second. He is with a very good team this year so we will see some good results from him.
I actually didn’t make the race day. I was due to fly into Kansas on race day morning but couldn’t get there. There had been a huge storm over Kansas the night before and this upset all the flights going in and out of there. Ironically the Indy Lights race had winds up to 30mph on the track.
Well next it is the month of May. A very exciting month of the year full of tradition, speed and celebration of the great race. I can't wait.
More soon
Other letters from Ron
Qualifying was average, the racing should be great
*Ron Dixon is father to Indianapolis 500 winner and 2003 & 08 IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. He is also the President of Palm Beach International Raceway, Junpitor, Florida. This season nzracer.com follows Ron on his road trip around America with the Indycar Championship. Each week Ron will give us the insiders view from track side, pit lane and behind the scenes.
