Leading into this year’s running for the famed Indy 500, Scott Dixon had a helluva build-up.
After recording the fastest qualifying for the legendary race in 21 years, the 36-year-old New Zealander was robbed at gun point in the drive-through of a Taco Bell earlier this week.
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Kiwi Indycar Legend Scott Dixon Held Up at Gunpoint in Taco Bell Drive-Through
Come race day, you would’ve thought the hairy stuff was behind him. You’d have guessed wrong.
The three-time Indycar champion was involved in a horror crash in lap 54 of the Indy 500. Dixon clipped the back end of Jay Howard’s car, which had just rebounded off the wall.
The Kiwi was sent flying into the air, before the car collided with the barrier on the racetrack’s other side and rolling several times. When it finally stopped, there was little of the car remaining.
And yet; Dixon walked away.
“Just a little beaten up there,” the Kiwi told media afterwards. “It was definitely a rough ride. I am just bummed for the team. We had a great shot.”
Dixon paid tribute to the safety standards Indycar have put in place over the years, that meant his cockpit was protected during the incident.
“I was hoping Jay was going to stay against the wall but obviously with the impact it started to turn down but I had already picked that way to go and there was nowhere else to try and avoid him,” Dixon said.
“I’m glad he’s ok too. You just have to believe in the safety progress we have had over the last many years.”
Former F1 driver Takuma Sato later won the Indy 500, becoming the first 40-year-old to win the race since 1998.
