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Scott Dixon Confident in IndyCar’s Future, Reflects on Cadillac IMSA Days

Scott Dixon in the pits at Exhibition Place in Toronto, 7/20/2024 (Photo: Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

In the world of the NTT IndyCar Series, Scott Dixon needs no introduction. Quite simply, he is the best driver to debut after 1970. In 402 combined starts between CART and IndyCar, Dixon has 58 career victories, finished on the podium 142 times and has six championships.

Sports car racing has traditionally been a side job for Dixon, but he has five career WeatherTech victories and enjoys it immensely. Dixon joined Frontstretch‘s Phil Allaway at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where they talked about his IndyCar season, thoughts on the Cadillac and hybrid in the series and more.

Phil Allaway, Frontstretch: I wanted to get your idea of just how much IMSA has grown over the past few years from the outlook of someone who isn’t a regular.

Scott Dixon: To be honest, it kind of goes in waves. I think when I first came to the series, the fields were big, but it was a very different car with Grand-Am. [The Daytona Prototypes] were fairly basic, but they were fun to drive. They had a sequential gearbox and all that kind of stuff whereas today, [the cars] are very technical, especially with the hybrid addition.

It’s interesting to be a part of these programs because there’s so many areas that you can fine tune, or even when you’re driving. It’s a lot of fun. Right now, the competition level’s through the roof, which is always fun to be part of.

Allaway: You’ve had experience in GT cars, regular prototypes and hybrid prototypes, three very different types of cars to drive. How does the Cadillac VSeries.R compare to some of the previous cars that you’ve driven?

Dixon: I think they’re all different. Sometimes, when you’re been in the sport for a little while, you actually enjoy the earlier days, when there weren’t so many aids like traction control, paddle shifting, even automatic shifting in some things.

I really enjoyed the early 2000s to the late 2000s. [Today’s action] is a totally different level of racing, next level over IndyCar as far as the technical side and engineering front, which is very special to be a part of.

I think for me, it obviously doesn’t matter as long as you’re winning or you’ve got a shot at winning and trying to be at the front, which Cadillac has done a good job of over the year.

Allaway: Speaking of winning, you’re coming off your 24th season in IndyCar. You won two races on street courses and finished sixth in points. How would you describe your season?

Dixon: It…

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