fitness![\"\"](\"http:\/\/images.intellitxt.com\/ast\/adTypes\/icon1.png\")
<\/a>\u00a0play in your job?<\/p>\nDixon:\u00a0<\/b>We\u2019re pulling up to 4 Gs on some of the short ovals and road courses. In the winter it\u2019s weights, biometrics, reactions \u2014 high intensity stuff. Once spring hits, you do a lot more cycling, running, swimming. You start to get race fit as well (with) your neck. You go to a track like Barber (in Alabama) and by the end of the day your head is starting to lay over in the corners.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>You do sports car endurance racing as well. How does that compare physically?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>It depends. At Daytona you have so many straights you get to relax. But the heat is tougher in those cars, whereas the open Indy cars have built in air conditioning when you go 200 mph.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>How do you like Belle Isle?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>It\u2019s actually quite a technical circuit. The turn I really love is the fast corner onto the front straight. It\u2019s pretty crazy there \u2014 quick, and very bumpy. Turns one and two are quite tricky too because of the surface change and bumps. The new track layout creates better passing which last year was a great addition.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>You do back-to-back weekends with Indy. Is Belle Isle more demanding?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>Indy is very mentally tough because of the emphasis that\u2019s put on it. All your sponsors are there. The team is really pushing itself to win. It\u2019s such a long three weeks and the fact that, when you\u2019re on the oval, it\u2019s not as physical \u2014 but you\u2019re on the edge so often. Detroit is really physical and with the (Saturday and Sunday races) it makes it twice as hard.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>When you were young was it your dream to race in the U.S.? Or in Formula One?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>I watched all racing, but New Zealand has a rich heritage with Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme and Chris Amon in F1. But I still watched the Indianapolis 500. At a young age you think racing just happens. You don\u2019t know the financial risks your parents are taking or the sponsors who are trying to help you. Did I ever think it would get to this point? Not really.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>Was it a conscious decision to come to the U.S. over Europe?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>We were heading to Europe and Formula 3. But Kenny Smith, my mentor and manager when I was in New Zealand, knew Vern Schuppan who was running Stefan Johansson\u2019s Indy Lights team at the time. He said they\u2019ll give us a test. That changed my career path.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>What\u2019s your daily driver?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>A Chevy Tahoe. I\u2019m a little tight with my money. Whenever I buy a flashy car I feel like I\u2019m wasting money.<\/p>\n
HP:\u00a0<\/b>What\u2019s your dream car?<\/p>\n
Dixon:\u00a0<\/b>I have an appreciation for older cars. The American muscle cars. But it will take me a long time to figure out which one. I have the Corvette pace car (I won at) Indy 2008. But I\u2019ve only driven it twice. It\u2019s in storage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scott Dixon rounds turn 8 at the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix in 2012. (Daniel Mears \/ The Detroit News, file) Memorial Day weekend belongs to the Indianapolis 500. Next week belongs to the Belle Isle Grand Prix. Last year belonged to Scott Dixon. IndyCar\u2019s defending champion \u2014 and most accomplished driver \u2014 will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14879"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14880,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14879\/revisions\/14880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}