When you’re growing up in Aotearoa, the odds of becoming a professional racer are pretty slim. But as a keen young kid, Scott Dixon never saw that as a problem.
“As a kid you dream big. You don’t really think about how far away New Zealand is,” he explains, on the line from his adopted home of Indianapolis.
“You’re so naive, you think anything’s possible – which is how life should be. It’s only as you get older, and you mature, that you understand the magnitude of how big the journey is.”
Thankfully, Scott didn’t have to make that journey alone. He credits the support of his parents and the backing from local investors for helping him reach great heights – and teaching him a few key life lessons along the way.
“The people I had with me when I was growing up really helped me with the discipline and the understanding of looking forward and not back. I remember the first time I threw my helmet [after not winning a race], my dad gave me a boot up the arse,” he laughs. “That’s when you realise, okay I can’t do that stuff.”
Sadly, Scott’s beloved dad passed away in October 2023, leaving him reminiscing about those early days even more.
“I spent many summers with Dad, staying in a tent and going racing in Invercargill, Christchurch or Taupō. It was a real bonding time. In many ways those were the best days of my career because it was so simple. It’s a lot more political now, and you drive a lot less than you did back then.”
As he’s reached new heights, the pressure and the demands have also become a lot greater, but Scott looks at it in a positive light. “Pressure is a privilege,” he says.
“And yes, in this world it comes at a very high frequency, but you learn to deal with that. It’s another factor that pushes me harder because I know that it’s not just about myself – it’s about my family, my friends, and my sponsors too.”
Not that the pressure seems to show much. After all, he didn’t get the nickname ‘The Iceman’ for nothing. So how does he keep his cool?
“I think that’s a Kiwi thing really,” explains Scott. “Having spent time in other parts of the world, you notice that people can be very outspoken: ‘I’m going to do this’ or ‘I’m going to do that’, whereas Kiwis just get on with it. I like to let the results speak for themselves rather than boasting about it. I think Kiwis just dig in and do their stuff.”
When he does need to take a load off, he opts for a different kind of stress: “Through my career I’ve picked up different things – whether it’s learning to fly or doing triathlons. Triathlon training keeps me in a good mindset and helps me focus on something else, because the problem with any sport is that you become consumed by what you do.”
Another key factor that keeps him grounded is his family: his wife Emma and their three children, Poppy (14), Tilly (12) and Kit (4).
“You walk through the door and it doesn’t matter whether it’s been a crappy weekend or a great one. With the girls, you just start playing with dolls and you forget about that side of it.”
For the Dixon kids, not only is their dad a champion racer but their mother is a former Commonwealth Games runner, so how does that heritage manifest in them?
“I think they all have the same competitive instinct built in,” says Scott. “Tilly is similar to Emma, she just did her first running championship, Poppy is very academic and into the arts and Kit is car mad.”
Although Scott is quick to point out, “I was never car mad. I loved racing but he is just all about cars.”
With Scott’s job requiring him to be in the US, but Emma being originally from the UK, the busy family have attempted to split their time across continents, which isn’t always easy… Scott says.
“Recently Emma’s mum was unwell and her sister was fighting cancer so we decided to be based out of the UK. My commitments were a lot less so all I had to do was fly in and out for races. The kids started going to school there and they loved it. But now we’re back in America, and Poppy is doing her GCSEs, so we’re just having to think about [how we’ll do] all of these things going forward.”
And then of course there’s his home in the South Pacific. “I miss New Zealand a lot,” says Scott.
“I wish I could get home more often. Emma and I are going to try and make more of a point of that. I’m still very tight with a bunch of my school friends and people I raced Go Karts with, and then there’s my family and the people who helped me along the way. And the country’s so beautiful, I think you don’t realise what New Zealand has until you leave it.”
Though he can’t be here in person, his influence has certainly rubbed off locally with more Kiwi drivers following him onto the world racing stage.
“It’s cool to see them coming through and I wish I could be part of the junior races or categories that go on there. I think we have a ton of talent in New Zealand, it’s just insane. It’s pretty impressive what Kiwis do on the world stage, across many different categories.”
As he ponders the trajectory of his own path, Scott says “I feel very lucky to be doing what I’m doing. If I were to write a book about how my career turned from one part to the next you couldn’t write it any better. It was just a certain door opening at the right time or a certain group of people being there – it’s crazy how it all worked out.”
And perhaps that same youthful determination that saw him strive for greatness has never really left. “There are many things that drive me,” he says, “but what it comes down to is the competition. I don’t like losing, I never have,” he laughs.
“My first road car was a Honda Prelude – a red one with pop up lights. Over the years the majority of my race wins in IndyCar have been with Honda. I think what I love most is that they’re real racers and it’s their racing heritage that pushes them forward. They’re always looking to make the car faster, to perform better, and to be more efficient… As a racer yourself that’s all you really want to see. The cars work, they work forever, and they do everything right. It’s a really cool brand to be a part of across all different motorsports.”
This article first appeared in the October 2024 issue of NZ Autocar Magazine.
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