To say that Scott Dixon runs well near Music City USA would be quite the understatement. Consider that in five starts, Dixon has completed every possible lap at the Nashville SuperSpeedway, and he has done that in with several car/engine combinations.
That means Dixon has turned 1000 laps at speed on the 1.3mile tire and car eating concrete surfaced raceway. And he has done that while going all out. Never content to just finish a race, Dixon has attacked what many consider to be one of the IndyCar Series more difficult ovals.
In 2003, Dixon's first in the IndyCar Series, the Kiwi took the pole and came home second en route to the series title. The next two years the team struggled mainly due to using the underpowered Toyota engines, though he still came home eighth and sixth at Nashville and he did that while driving the now shelved Panoz chassis.
When the IndyCar Series went exclusively to Honda powerplants for all competitors in the 2006 season, the team also moved to Dallara chassis for the ovals, and with the handicaps now removed, Dixon went right back to running up front. The playing field leveled, Dixon has won the last two events at Nashville.
Nashville's concrete surface forces tire maker Firestone to compromise between softer tires that will provide grip, and harder tires that will not generate excessive “marbles.” Additionally, the surface itself is intentionally abrasive nudging Firestone toward harder tire compounds that can withstand the abuse of 200 laps of high-speed running.
With Nashville being the home of country music and Gibson guitars (along with hosting Firestone's headquarters), the Nashville SuperSpeedway presents one of the most unique trophy's on the IndyCar Series circuit, a custom painted Gibson electric guitar.
Dixon enters this weekend hoping to add his third guitar to his trophy case, and possibly one day he will learn to play the guitar as well as he plays the NSS track.
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