Dixon

DENVER -- Ron and Glenys Dixon are long-suffering parents.

The native New Zealanders have followed their son, Scott, to race tracks since he was 7, nervously watching him move up to his current status as a regular in the CART series at age 22.

"He always wanted to do it," Glenys said in a lilting Kiwi accent. "He set his target and went after it. His dad and I have supported him all the way through."

Scott Dixon's love for speed comes naturally. Both of the elder Dixons have driven race cars, they owned a race track, and Ron has been involved in race management for a number of years.

First and foremost, though, they have been part of their son's driving career.

It hasn't always been easy.

"We've mortgaged our house until we can't mortgage it any more, just like a lot of racing families," Glenys said. "There were plenty of times when we would tell him maybe it was time to do something else. He's not going to hear of that. He's got that sort of attitude."

He's got talent, too.

Scott won championships at every level on the way to CART, taking titles in Australia in karting, Formula Ford Class II and Class I and Formula Holden. After coming to the United States in 1999 and looking impressive during a test with former Formula One and CART star Stefan Johansson, Dixon got a ride in Indy Lights and won that championship the next year.

The PacWest team brought him to CART in 2001. Dixon responded by winning a race at Road America and easily took rookie-of-the-year honors.

This season has been a strain, though. After the first three races, the financially strapped PWR Championship Racing team (formerly PacWest) folded. With the help of Toyota and CART, the youngster was added as a third driver to Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.

In 10 races with his new team, heading into Sunday's inaugural Shell Denver Grand Prix, he has six top-10 finishes and has impressed everyone with the way he has adjusted to the new surroundings.

"This is the only team that could do that, probably," Dixon said of adding a third car. "It's the only one that has the experience and resources."

Joining more experienced teammates Bruno Junqueira and Kenny Brack, Dixon has definitely impressed Ganassi general manager Mike Hull.

	Scott Dixon's parents have followed their son to tracks since he was 7, watching him move up the racing ladder.

"For as young as he is, he's got a lot of maturity," Hull said. "He's the product of a racing family and all he thinks about is how to make his car better, working with the engineers and the other drivers."

Dixon is very aware of what his parents have given up for him, leaving his two older sisters behind as they follow him halfway across the world.

"They've supported me in everything I want to do," he said, "even when they don't like what I'm doing."

Besides the travel and sacrifice, neither parent is comfortable with watching their son race.

"I'm a lot calmer now than I used to be," Glenys said. "The first full race of his I watched since he was 13 was the Chicago Indy Lights race two years ago.

"His engineer convinced me to go up in the tower and I managed to get through it. I've watched all of them since then. I just pace a little bit now."

His father can't get to every race because of business commitments, but he always watches from the pits when he's there.

"I get a nervous cough every time," Ron said. "I hate it when I can't get to a race meeting. The worst is when you can't even see it on TV. I go a little crazy then."

For all of his racing, though, Dixon has had very few crashes. "He's had bruises and such, but he's never really had any big accidents," his mother said.

"Last year in Fontana, his motor went on the fourth-to-last lap and there was a lot of smoke and fire. I couldn't see what was happening and I was crying my eyes out when he wheeled up on a bike and said, 'I'm all right, Mum.'"

Unlike his parents, the young driver seems to have no nerves when it comes to a race car.

"He loves to sleep," Ron said. "He's always the last on the grid. We used to have to get people to go find him and tell him it was time to qualify or to race."

"He's always the first out of his race suit, too," Glenys chimed in. "He likes to be incognito.

"He can be walking across the paddock and somebody will ask him if he's Scott Dixon," she added, laughing. "He'll say, 'No, no, that's my brother.' He's really quite shy."

Not in a race car, though.

"He lives for that," his mother said. "It's his dream and, for better or worse, we're living it with him."