Even though he walked from it, Scott Dixon’s terrifying crash at last week’s 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil left him with a painful left ankle injury that had him in a walking boot later in the day. He subsequently spent the next few days on crutches while the injury healed, and while his ability to race at this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear was never in doubt, the task at hand seemed all the more daunting.
Though the back stretch of the Belle Isle street circuit had been smoothed over, the track remained notoriously bumpy, like all street circuits. And given that Dixon is a left-foot braker, it seemed like it would be a punishing day for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver.
However, he endured the pain, which he previously explained only occurred when he lifted his foot off the brake pedal, to run a very strong race to finish second. Although he was never able to challenge race winner Graham Rahal, Dixon’s run to second was no less impressive given his injury.
“It’s been good to be back in a car,” said Dixon, who then credited the No. 9 Camping World Honda team for their efforts in building a new chassis. “Huge credit to the Camping World crew. They’ve had a rough week obviously having to build a new car. Everybody at Chip Ganassi for pitching in.”
Dixon added that the injury does make things difficult for him behind the wheel and that he was glad to have a good handling car, which made coping with things easier.
“You know, the foot’s not great, but it’s working. So it’s just hard to get the last part out of the car and the performance out of it. Very lucky that everybody in the Chip Ganassi side and the Camping World crew have given me a good car for today.
Race 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear rolls of tomorrow at 3:30 ET.