Ron's letter from America* - 29th June 09
The win in the weekend by Scott (Dixon) and the 1-2 finish by the Target Chip Ganassi team at Richmond is huge. They now seem to have an advantage over the nearest rivals Team Penske.
They hadn’t tested at Richmond while Team Penske had, so to be fast straight out of the box was tremendous. Dario (Franchitti) took pole with Scott alongside him on the front row.
Unfortunately at the moment the racing is a bit processional. There have been a number of changes in the cars from last year and these mainly affect the down force. Now they are struggling to pass on the speedways. In fact I spoke with Dario at some length after the race and he said that he could catch up to Scott but there was no way that he could get past him.
I was worried near the end when Scott came up to lap slower cars and the difficulties that this would present. Thank goodness it wasn’t a problem in the end.
The lack of down force is mainly a change to the under tray of the cars and a different configuration to last year. This is how it will be for the rest of the season but I am confident that the IRL will make the right changes for next year.
Scott was very economical on gas during the race and this allowed him to pass Dario who had to make a splash and dash during a caution period.
We'll take the win thank you very much and now it is on to Watkins Glen this weekend followed by two more road courses.
Other letters from Ron
- Castroneves claims Texas, Dixon third
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.
