The Country has been following the fortunes and ambitions of this sports star since the days before he had a car licence yet was racing – fast. And now he is the winning driver of the Indy 500, one of the most prestigious car races in North America and the world.
There has been much debate as to where this phenomenal achievement ranks amongst the annals of Kiwi sporting achievements. For me, it’s up there, yet suprisingly for me (a list maker) I haven’t placed it in a list yet. Quite possibly on the international scene, in modern times this is right up there with achievements. We’ll see where this plays out in the media over the next few weeks. There’s one thing for sure though. As this is right up there with the Monaco Grand Prix F1, Wimbledon, The US Masters, The World Cup (football) to name a few, there aren’t many sporting peaks as high as these, and a Kiwi has just climbed to the summit and knocked the bugger off.
Within minutes of the achievement, the win was splashed across the web sites of the world. Here’s a snap shot of what they were doing with this story.
Of course USA Today was onto it pretty quickly. But somewhat surprisingly the only other major US newspaper to go with the story was the NY Times.
The story was of course big here. Sorry about the blur, but the story I have blurred out was too disturbing, and out of respect for Sophie Elliot, I have done this. However this doesn’t take away from the achievements of Scott Dixon.
A couple of days later and the story was still big news in the US, this from the Indianapolis Star a couple of days later. By now Scott is big news in the US, with media appearances being par for the course. He states that his main aim is to win the following race this weekend and then the Indy title this year.
Well done Scott, I know you will be showered with the accolades you deserve, this is a huge victory for you and a massive shot in the arm for racing fans back here in NZ.
One of the more curious aspects of this has been the rise in popularity of Emma Dixon, Scott’s wife. It’s natural that the world’s media would be interested in her, as she is obviously a young attractive woman, whom more or less nobody knew about, and now the wife of the winner of the Indy 500. But in the finest traditions of the web, all manner of sites have been plastering her pictures all over the web.
