{"id":210401,"date":"2025-12-31T18:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T18:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210401\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T18:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T18:59:07","slug":"scott-dixon-awarded-prestigious-new-zealand-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210401\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Dixon awarded prestigious New Zealand honor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To close out 2025, one of IndyCar\u2019s most decorated drivers was awarded knighthood by his home country of New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Dixon was given the title of Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit on December 31, making his new official title Sir Scott Dixon, KNZM.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon\u2019s award was given \u2018for services to motorsport,\u2019 highlighting how important his sporting accomplishments are in his home country.<\/p>\n<p>A Knight Companion is the second-highest appointment in New Zealand\u2019s royal honours system, second only to a Knight Grand Companion designation.<\/p>\n<p>A total of seven people were given the title of Dame Companion or Knight Companion for the 2026 celebration, and Dixon was the only person to receive the award for a sports-related achievement.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon was previously appointed Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019, with his status elevated this year on account of his continued accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p>The official notice of his appointment in the New Year Honours List 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dpmc.govt.nz\/honours\/lists\/ny2026-knzm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">lists a few of his extensive accolades<\/a> and highlights his Indianapolis 500 win in 2008 and his Rolex 24 at Daytona win in 2020 as well.<\/p>\n<p>At 45 years old, Dixon is the only active driver in American open wheel motorsports to have won six championships and is second only to AJ Foyt in all-time titles.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran has logged at least one victory in each of the past 21 years, an incredible achievement that brings his total race wins to 59.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon also continues a 20-year streak of finishing sixth or higher in the championship standings, making just how consistent he has been throughout his professional career.<\/p>\n<p>Dixon begins his 25th season with Chip Ganassi Racing on March 1 when he takes to the streets of St. Petersburg for the season opening round of the NTT IndyCar Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To close out 2025, one of IndyCar\u2019s most decorated drivers was awarded knighthood by his home country of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84394,5756,41211,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-210401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-dixon","9":"tag-indycar","10":"tag-knzm","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}