Dixon cools off overheated Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Over the final laps of Sunday's crash-filled Indianapolis 500, Scott Dixon showed exactly why he's known as the "The Iceman."

Dixon remained cool under the most extreme pressure, deftly navigating lapped traffic and holding off a hard-charging Vitor Meira for his breakthrough victory at the Brickyard in the race's 92nd running, the first since open-wheel racing's reunification in February.

Meira, driving for underfunded Panther Racing, finished a surprising second, 1.7 seconds behind Dixon, and a fraction of a second in front of third-place Marco Andretti in a disjointed race slowed by eight cautions for a total of 69 laps.

"I was worried going into the race because we had such a smooth month," said Dixon, who led the most laps (115) and became the 19th driver to win from the pole. "I was just sort of waiting for something to go wrong ... a bad pit stop or a problem of some sort mechanically that's going to take you out of it."

The problem Dixon feared, however, never materialized.

The 27-year-old pulled out ahead of Meira on the final round of pit stops and held on to score the first victory for a driver from New Zealand.

Sunday, though, was as much about who didn't win as who did. Tony Kanaan, one of the prerace favorites, was critical of Andretti, his teammate, for an impatient move that contributed to knocking him out of the race near the midpoint.

Fan favorite Danica Patrick also experienced a major disappointment. She started in the middle of the second row but finished 22nd after battling a poor handling car for the entire afternoon, then was knocked out of the race by a pit-road accident. At one point midway, Patrick chastised her team over the radio, exclaiming, "I am sloooooow."

Her day ended prematurely when Ryan Briscoe swerved out of his pit stall and clipped Patrick's passing car on the left rear wheel, damaging its suspension. Patrick climbed out of her wrecked car, then stalked angrily down pit road toward Briscoe, who was still sitting in his car as it was repaired. Patrick, though, was headed off by IRL security before she reached Briscoe.

"From what I know, it looked like it was pretty obvious what happened," said Patrick, who was then asked what she had in mind when she walked toward Briscoe. "It's probably best I didn't get down there anyway, isn't it? ...

"You don't just come out of your pit box and swing three lanes out. That's why there is a 'get up to speed lane' and an 'at speed lane.' I was at speed."

Briscoe countered, saying: "We both have a brake pedal in our cars, and from what I can tell, there was still plenty of room for her to get around me."

Though the Patrick-Briscoe near blowup certainly will be memorable, the enduring image belonged to the calmest — and quietest — driver on the circuit as he poured the traditional jug of milk over his head in victory circle.

The son of two dirt track racers, Dixon gave owner Chip Ganassi his third Indy 500 victory, beating the strongest field in front of the largest crowd in more than a decade thanks to the February merger between IndyCar and Champ Car. That ended a bitter 12-year battle over politics and money that tarnished open-wheel racing's image and popularity.

With the increased attention and a larger audience brought about by the merger, the race could have benefited enormously from a victory by Patrick or Andretti or even 19-year-old Graham Rahal. It wasn't to be.

Although Andretti led twice for a total of 15 laps, the 21-year-old spent most of his postrace news conference defending his move on Kanaan, who called it "very stupid."

Kanaan was leading on Lap 106 when Dixon sped past. Andretti also sensed an opportunity and dived to the inside. Kanaan chose to give his teammate room, but wound up wandering too high and spun. Kanaan was then hit hard by Sarah Fisher, ending both drivers' day.

At first, Andretti took responsibility and apologized for the incident over his radio. When the apology was relayed to Kanaan, he told a television reporter: "He'd better be [sorry]. That was a very stupid move. Me being a good teammate, I didn't want to turn into him and take out two cars."

Said Andretti: "Maybe it was a bit last-minute. But I don't know about stupid. Maybe he didn't expect it, but we didn't touch."

Another favorite, Dan Wheldon, also went home heartbroken. He started second alongside teammate Dixon, and led four times for 30 laps. But a suspension problem knocked him out of the running.

The victory vaulted Dixon past Helio Castroneves for the series points lead. Castroneves, a two-time winner here, finished fourth.

"It's such a strange feeling for me," Dixon said. "I don't show emotions too much. I don't know, it's almost like I'm in dreamland."