\u201cYou\u2019ve got to start with your parents. My dad, for sure. Without him, it never would have started,\u201d Dixon said.<\/p>\n
From there, the list expands into a very New Zealand kind of network. Dixon credits the \u201cScott Dixon Contingency Group\u201d as the investment effort that helped get him moving and not just as a career launch pad, but as something that became a model for others.<\/p>\n
Scott Dixon celebrates after winning the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series Gallagher Grand Prix. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of proved that it worked. Others have used a similar model and it keeps the cycle going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s part of the story fans don\u2019t always see. Motorsport can look like a rich kid\u2019s game from the outside but there is so much more to it than being successful on the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is teamwork. On a three-car team, we travel with over 100 people each weekend. A driver is like a quarterback in American football. You\u2019re not just fast, you\u2019re an anchor point. You\u2019re meant to pull everyone\u2019s thinking into the same direction, especially when the weekend starts going wrong,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Dixon has been in enough teams to recognise when the drive for success wins championships. He still remembers the hard fact about success when he landed at Chip Ganassi Racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest change was the team\u2019s mentality. All they spoke about was winning. They didn\u2019t care about anything else. Chip [Ganassi, team owner] would say \u2018If you win, everything else takes care of itself\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing. Photo \/ Michael Allio\/Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n
The knighthood sits in that same space for him. It\u2019s not a homage to speed, but recognition of what happens in a team that wants success and the responsibility that comes with that, including a wider community outside racing and the influence a successful sportsman can have.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about outside racing giving back to the community and the partnerships you make away from the track and causes you get involved in. I\u2019ve been involved for a long time with youth cancer charity Canteen, Teen Cancer USA, St Jude and others. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s such a big part of motorsport that I don\u2019t think the public understand. It\u2019s about safety and teamwork, mental agility, dealing with stress and all that unseen grind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Listen to Dixon long enough and there\u2019s an underlying ethos that comes through and it\u2019s about how he processes success \u2013 gratitude, community and the quiet confidence that comes from hard yards rather than headlines.<\/p>\n
That last line matters, because a knighthood can tempt an athlete into reinvention. A new title, a new identity, a new level of separation from the person they used to be. Dixon doesn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust me, I don\u2019t expect any of this stuff. I\u2019m still Scott from Greenmeadows Ave, Manurewa.\u201d <\/p>\n
Scott Dixon drinks the milk after winning the Indy500 in 2008. Photo \/ LATT Photographic\/Photosport<\/p>\n
That mindset helped build a driver who has set more IndyCar records than you can poke a stick at. But if you ask Dixon what he remembers most, he doesn\u2019t start with a race or trophy, he starts with a year.<\/p>\n
\u201c2008 as a whole would be it. Getting married to Emma in February, winning the Indy 500 in May and winning the championship in October, and Emma falling pregnant in November\/December.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Indy 500 is the one that\u2019s hard to top and that definitely took a long time to sink in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I dwell on the most, though, are the losses. All the second places at the Indy 500, just missing out on a couple of championships and especially how close those losses were,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a revealing line in a week when the country is effectively giving him a lifetime achievement award.Dixon doesn\u2019t talk like someone closing a chapter, he talks like someone still chasing the next big trophy, and in particular, a second Indianapolis 500 win.<\/p>\n
If you want proof, just ask a hypothetical \u2013 a knighthood, or another Indy 500 Borg-Warner Trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a tough one,\u201d he said. \u201cI really want my second Borg Warner.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not disrespect, it\u2019s the competitive truth. Racing doesn\u2019t teach you to stop wanting more, it teaches you to get comfortable with wanting more and still functioning like a decent human being.<\/p>\n
The little downtime Dixon gets, he likes to spend with family and on occasion, by himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like travelling and visit national parks a lot with the kids. Relaxing for me personally is training. Riding, running, swimming or being at the gym chills me out. Occasionally, I like reading a good book and in particular autobiographies,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Potentially the most delighted person in the household with the news of Dixon\u2019s knighthood may be his wife Emma.<\/p>\n
Sir Scott Dixon and Lady Emma Dixon.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe becomes [a] lady and is probably more impressed with the lady part than the sir part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If you strip away the pomp, Dixon\u2019s summary of what makes a career worthy of recognition is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn motor racing you\u2019ve got to win and whenever you can, give back. It\u2019s about community and not about yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalent, yes, but also gratitude, hard work and not forgetting who helped you, mentored you and opened the door when it was needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in New Zealand, you have a unique view of the world. We\u2019re a small country with a big swing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why many people from New Zealand pack a pretty big punch. It\u2019s the upbringing, the never-give-up attitude. And Kiwis don\u2019t really boast, we let results speak for themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cKiwis don\u2019t really blow their own horn. They go about it fairly quietly and let results speak for themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That, in the end, is why the knighthood fits. Not because it turns Scott Dixon into Sir Scott Dixon, but because it confirms what the best of New Zealand sport has always looked like: excellence, graft, humility and the instinct to pull someone else through the door behind you.<\/p>\n
Scott Dixon\u2019s IndyCar records<\/p>\n
Most IndyCar career starts: 419 <\/p>\n
Most IndyCar career podiums (top three finishes): 145<\/p>\n
Winning streak: 21 straight seasons with at least one win and wins in 23 seasons overall<\/p>\n
Consecutive starts: 356 <\/p>\n
Most laps led total: 6913<\/p>\n
Most laps led Indianapolis 500: 677<\/p>\n
Most races led Indianapolis 500: 16<\/p>\n
Second all-time race wins: 59<\/p>\n
Second all-time championship wins: 6<\/p>\n
Other honours<\/p>\n
Jim Clarke Trophy: 1999, 2001, 2004, 2009<\/p>\n
Bruce McLaren Trophy: 2003, 2008<\/p>\n
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit: 2009 <\/p>\n
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit: 2019<\/p>\n
New Zealand Sportsman of the Year: 2008, 2013<\/p>\n
Inducted into the MotorSport New Zealand Wall of Fame: 2009 <\/p>\n
NZ Post issued stamp: 2009<\/p>\n
Road to Indy Hall of Fame: 2014<\/p>\n
Named by Autosport magazine as one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in F1: 2013<\/p>\n
Inducted into the Open Wheel category of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America: 2024<\/p>\n
Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame: 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That \u201cwarp speed\u201d is a lifetime of snapshots. The early grind, the family sacrifice, the people who opened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[10968,617,32613,64,63,205401,29484,90089,82775,89828,205402,205403,12888,25219,67835,50926,47868,5856,153910,163384,34827,806,805,824,803,804,3127,9660,173322,85,1547,22671],"class_list":["post-381842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-10968","tag-and","tag-announced","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bogan","tag-cheese","tag-colleague","tag-countrys","tag-dixon","tag-dixons","tag-enduring","tag-export","tag-fastest","tag-great","tag-herald","tag-honours","tag-indycar","tag-knighted","tag-knighthood","tag-most","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motorsport","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-new","tag-scott","tag-sir","tag-sports","tag-year","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}