IRL IndyCar Series Round 05: Indy500, Indianapolis Motor
Speedway
‘Ice Man’ Dixon Gets the Milk
 Scott
Dixon, known as the “Ice Man” for his cool demeanor,
became the “Milk Man” at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway as the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver featured
throughout the 92nd running of the famed 500-mile race, and
then held off the final-lap efforts of Vitor Meira and Marco
Andretti to score his first “500” victory.
The 2003 IndyCar Series champion was one of the primary contenders
all month, qualifying on the pole, taking the initial lead
at the green flag and leading 115 of today’s 200-lap
race. But he faced a stern challenge in the last 40 laps from
Meira and later, Andretti.
Meira, who led nine laps just prior to the final round of
pit stops, lost the lead to Dixon during the last stop. But
he gave his all in pursuit of the victor, visibly sliding
his Panther Racing Honda through the corners and setting some
of the fastest laps of the race during his chase, taking the
checkers just 1.7 seconds behind Dixon.
Andretti was equally strong, but first had to deal with passing
the Team Penske Honda of Helio Castroneves, which he accomplished
on Lap 190. But the 10 remaining laps were not enough for
the third-generation racer to close the gap to Dixon.
For the third consecutive season, Honda powered the entire
33-car starting field at Indy. And for the third year in a
row – and the only three times in Indianapolis 500 history
– there was not a single engine- related retirement
in the event.
Other performances of note included Vision Racing’s
Ed Carpenter, who charged back after problems in the pits
left him 16th to finish fifth; and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who crossed
the line in sixth as the top rookie finisher after a long
battle with fellow Indy 500 rookie Hideki Mutoh.
The 18-race IndyCar Series now makes a dramatic shift from
the high-speed 2.5-mile Indianapolis “Brickyard”
to next week’s race at the equally historic, but much
smaller and tighter, Milwaukee Mile oval in Wisconsin.
Erik Berkman (President, Honda Performance Development) on
Honda powering the entire Indianapolis 500 starting field
for the third consecutive year with 100 per cent reliability:
“Our congratulations to Scott,Chip Ganassi and the entire
Ganassi Racing organization for their outstanding victory
today. This is a record-third consecutive Indy 500 to be run
without a single Honda engine failure, andit is an outstanding
testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
It is an amazing achievement, and I would like to recognize
the efforts of all the associates at Honda Performance Development
and our technical partner Ilmor for their hard work, which
led directly to today’s success.”
Scott Dixon(#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)Started
1st, finished 1st, his first Indianapolis 500 victory and
12th career IndyCar win:
“What a day! I just couldn’t believe it. So many
times in the past, we thought we’d had this race won,
only for it to get away. This was a tough race, there were
so many good cars out there: Vitor [Meira], TK [Tony Kanaan]
and Marco [Andretti]. We seemed to have a good car, but maybe
had just a bit too much drag in it. Still, I knew that if
we could get a good jump on that last restart then we could
win it. We just had to hold on to it and stay in front of
those guys [Meira and Andretti]. With so many yellows, it
was tough to get into a rhythm. I was trying to save fuel
toward the end and I wanted to see how the car was in traffic.
I want to thank everyone who came and everyone from Target
Chip Ganassi Racing. This is just a great day.”
Vitor Meira (#4 Panther Racing Honda) Started 8th,
finished 2nd, also finished second to Dan Wheldon at Indianapolis
in 2005:
“We really, really prepared the car well and everything
went according to plan. The last 10 laps, I said to myself
‘I’m not lifting [off the throttle] any more,
and that’s what happened: I was flat out to the finish.
The team gave me a great car and I drove it for all it was
worth. Things just didn’t quite go our way at the finish.
But you know what? This is a very good result compared to
all the trouble we had last year and we definitely want the
‘Big 3’ [Penske, Ganassi and Andretti Green] to
know that Panther Racing is back. We’re only going to
get better from here.”
IRL IndyCar Series
Round 05: Indy500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
1 Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi)
2 Vitor Meira (Panther Racing)
3 Marco Andretti (Andretti Green Racing)
4 Helio Castroneves (Team Penske)
5 Ed Carpenter (Vision Racing)
6 Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal Letterman Racing)
7 Hideki Mutoh (Andretti Green Racing)
8 Buddy Rice (Dreyer & Reinbold)
9 Darren Manning (A.J. Foyt Racing)
10 Townsend Bell (Dreyer & Reinbold)
11 Oriol Servia (KV Racing Technology)
12 Dan Wheldon (Target Chip Ganassi)
13 Will Power (KV Racing Technology)
14 Davey Hamilton (Vision Racing)
15 Enrique Bernoldi (Conquest Racing)
16 John Andretti (Roth Racing)
17 Buddy Lazier (Hemelgarn Johnson)
18 Mario Moraes (Dale Coyne Racing)
19 Milka Duno (Dreyer & Reinbold)
20 Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne Racing)
21 A.J. Foyt (IV Vision Racing)
22 Danica Patrick (Andretti Green Racing)
23 Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske)
24 Tomas Scheckter (Luczo Dragon Racing)
25 Alex Lloyd (Rahal Letterman Racing)
26 E.J. Viso (HVM Racing)
27 Justin Wilson (Newman Haas Lanigan)
28 Jeff Simmons (A.J. Foyt Racing )
29 Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing)
30 Sarah Fisher (Sarah Fisher Racing)
31 Jaime Camara (Conquest Racing)
32 Marty Roth (Roth Racing)
33 Graham Rahal-R Newman Haas Lanigan)
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