Scott is returning for his seventh season in the IndyCar Series, all of them with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. He’s one of only two drivers to win multiple championships in the series, capturing the title last year and also in 2003. He’s also the defending winner of the Indianapolis 500 and has won 10 of the last 25 races since the middle of 2007.
Question: Scott, obviously that’s an incredible run that you’ve been on for the last year and a half. Can you guys keep it going in 2009?
SCOTT DIXON: I’d like to think that we can definitely keep the momentum rolling. The way we started last season and the way we ended it we were still very competitive, and with the addition of Dario (Franchitti), I think to have the last two series champions and the last two 500 champions could definitely ‑‑ we’ve got the target on our back as such, and people are going to have to chase us.
But I think the team hasn’t got too complacent by the looks of things over the season they’ve been developing the cars more so maybe than other years as I know the competition is going to be very tough this year with the transition teams having a complete season in it. I’d like to say we look good as a team, and hopefully we can come away with the two big trophies by the end of this year.
Question: You touched on it there, but obviously one of the big news in the offseason is adding Dario as a teammate for 2009. From the outside looking in, it looks like you guys have bonded well starting back with the race in Australia, a couple Open Tests. Obviously even events like Daytona and Sebring where you weren’t necessarily teammates, yet at those events you were still both there. Talk a little bit more about adding Dario as a teammate and the component that that brings to the team.
SCOTT DIXON: It’s been excellent, just from having a new teammate, I think for me I thrive on that. I’ve been lucky enough to stay with Ganassi. I think it’s my eighth season with the team, as you said, seven in IndyCar and then I had a season before that in Champ Car. I’ve seen and been through a lot of teammates, and every time you get a new teammate you learn a lot of stuff, and Dario I think is very technical, very, very good on road courses and street courses, and he brings a lot to the team.
Having I think the 24‑hour (at Daytona) together I think was great, but also, as you added, to have Australia to work together as a first race or a preseason race for the season was fantastic, and I think that was similar for Dan (Wheldon), who moved on to Panther. It was good to sort of get your feet a little wet and work with the new team and things like that.
Surprisingly we’ve been very close in driver styles and feel of the car. We’re talking maybe 50 pounds to 100 pounds of spring difference is about the only thing that we kind of have. That’s been pretty good for me because I’ve typically been a lot different from a lot of the other teammates.
As far as relationship goes, we’ve been great friends for many years. He was a guy I definitely looked up to when I came into the Champ Car series in 2001 and 2002, and I’d like to say we’ve definitely grown on that and I’m looking forward to a whole season with him.
Question: Let’s take a quick look at the first two races of the year. St. Pete is a place you finished second twice, although last year in your championship campaign it was actually one of the places where you didn’t finish the race and had some problems. I’m sure you’d like to come back there and get a strong start to the season.
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, St. Pete actually was ‑‑ we started off great with the win at Homestead and then we had a problem in the first qualifying knockout. We had a lap taken off us, and then we were sort of knocked out of that, which was nothing that we ever thought we’d be a part of, not to even make it into the top 12.
That was frustrating. We had a great race. I think we were running about second, and actually coming out, I’m not sure if many people remember, but it was a bit of a wet start to the race and then it kind of dried up. When I went out on the dry tires, made contact with the wall in Turn 4 but then carried on for about another 25 laps until the suspension finally failed.
I think we were on for a good finish there, as well, definitely in the top three, which definitely bodes well. I think each year that we’ve been there we’ve done pretty well. I’d like to think we’ve learned a fair bit in the season, especially at Detroit with the street course car, and to put it on the pole there was definitely a lot of fun. I’d like to hope that we can have a consistently good car there and try and finish out front.
Question: And then two weeks later we go to Long Beach. What do you remember about Long Beach and what kind of show do you think the IndyCar Series will put on there?
SCOTT DIXON: Looking forward to Long Beach. It’s a fantastic race. I think the last time I was there was maybe 2004 or 2005 as a spectator, and it’s a fantastic race. It’s a race with a lot of history, and I think for myself I’ve been there maybe four times 1999-2000 ‑‑ I won a race there in 2000 in Indy Lights, and then I think I had engine failures or something along those lines in the Champ Car days. But definitely a fantastic circuit.
I think as far as the IndyCar Series going there, it will almost be a better show than Champ Car because the cars are a lot closer and the power is maybe not as much as the turbo cars down the straights, but I think we’ll have a great possibility to pass there, so I’m looking forward to I think a very good race.
Question: Let’s go one more week and talk about Kansas a little bit. Being that that’s the first oval and it’s also the last race before Indy, can you talk about the importance of that as far as getting your setup and everything going to go in circles after two weeks of streets?
SCOTT DIXON: Definitely looking forward to it. I think Kansas as a circuit for the Target cars has been fantastic. We’ve always had very good races there. I think Dan won there last year. In the last two years I kind of missed out, some fuel problems or something like that. It’s been frustrating on my end. But we still ended up with a top three.
As a track and finishing‑wise, I can’t wait to get there. I think it’s going to be a fantastic place for us, for Dario and myself. But as you said, the first oval, I think it’s going to be an eye‑opener. We have a fair share of rookies this year, so it’ll be a good place to work at, see who you can race with at this point and who you can’t and who you want to give a bit more room coming into the month of May. As far as the month of May and that being the prep, you get so much time at the Speedway, a good eight days with testing and things like that. It will be good to get a lot of people up to speed, but it’s far different from Indy. But every race this year definitely counts. With what the competition level is going to be, you need to be finishing and finishing very well.
Question: Scott, you’ve got to be looking forward to getting back to Toronto. I know that you had some fairly good runs there if my memory serves correct with the old Champ Car series. The race was dark last year, but the race on that street course very tight, very narrow on the lake, is always a good contest and you’ve got to be looking forward to getting back there.
SCOTT DIXON: For sure. The Canadian races, even last year when we got to go to Edmonton, the fan base in Canada is fantastic. One, being just great fans but also very knowledgeable, which is a breath of fresh air in some places. It’s been a place that I’ve enjoyed going to in the past. It’s a great city to go to, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. Probably not as much as my teammate because I think he’s had many a great races over the years, but for me just the street courses that their adding, and then when it’s high caliber like Toronto as far as the race course goes, it’s definitely huge on my tick list.
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