Dixon Toronto's biggest weekend winner, but there were other stars - MotorSportsTalk

Scott Dixon won everything but the lottery this weekend in Toronto, and hell, if he stayed in town for a few more days you’d have to put odds on him for that versus the field, too.

Still, there were others besides the New Zealander who starred during the IZOD IndyCar Series’ Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader weekend. Dixon’s numbers are listed below, among them, with the rest of the standouts and winners from the two days of racing.

Scott Dixon. Two wins, one pole, 95 laps led, 105 of a maximum 108 points scored and closed to within 29 points of the IZOD IndyCar Series championship lead. Oh, and an extra $100,000 from SONAX for sweeping the double. Yeah, I’d say it was a pretty good weekend for the quiet, ninja Kiwi assassin from Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
Sebastien Bourdais. Cal Naughton Jr. famously once said, “Frenchie can drive.” It’s not that Bourdais forgot his craft, but after dwelling in anonymity and frustration for the first 11 races of the year, back-to-back podiums have revitalized him and Jay Penske’s Dragon Racing organization. He and new engineer Tom Brown have almost immediately gelled. He said this weekend that Toronto has been his springboard the last two years, and looks to make 2013 a three-peat of recoveries.
Dario Franchitti. Remember when Franchitti was 26th and last in points after the first two races? Yeah, me neither, except I have to bring that up to note how far he has come since. A reinstated third on Saturday and fourth on Sunday, after a comeback from an early tire issue, makes it nine top-10 finishes in the last 11 races, and Franchitti has recovered to seventh place in the championship.
Mike Conway. The biggest problem for Conway this weekend is that he set the bar so high at Detroit that a repeat was almost expected. So when he had back-to-back miserable qualifying runs of 20th and 23rd, with a setup that didn’t take as kindly to the streets of Toronto as Detroit, there were some who counted him out. But he charged through the field on both occasions, including some ballsy outside passes at Turn 3, to end with a pair of sevenths in Dale Coyne’s second car. He’s also confirmed for Houston, but there’s still a good chance we’ll see him before.
The Honda Indy Toronto fans. Yes, they got the short end of the stick on Saturday with the aborted standing start, and voiced their displeasure with a chorus of boos you could have heard in Edmonton. But to INDYCAR and the promoter’s combined credit, they made sure to enhance the weekend for the ticket-buyers and try it again on Sunday. As Marco Andretti said after Saturday, the series should do what the fans wanted. Not to mention, there were five other series on the weekend docket, and that made it worth every penny to attend in person.

Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

Dixon Toronto’s biggest weekend winner, but there were other stars

Vicki Golden and 805 Beer tell a unique story from an Inverted Perspective

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