by Chris Hayes
Expected front-runners Target Chip Ganassi Racing stamped their authority on the new unified IndyCar series at the Homstead-Miami Speedway with a dominant victory from Scott Dixon and an impressive charge from three-times Homstead winner Dan Wheldon. But both drivers came across a subdued non-resistant showing from the Champ Car World Series converts.
Bisbane-born Dixon - who came agonisingly close to winning the 2007 IndyCar series championship after running out of fuel while leading on the final lap of the season finale at Chicagoland - kick-started his 2008 campaign in the best way possible after storming to an eleventh career win in front of a 65,000 strong Miami crowd wallowing in the new era of unified open-wheel racing.
The 27-year-old was gifted the lead in the dying laps when the 2004 IndyCar champion and AGR driver Tony Kanaan damaged his car trying to avoid Ernesto Viso, who spun into the wall on lap 192.
After the race Dixon acknowledged that his charge to the top step of the rostrum wasn't without an element of luck.
"It was one of those races where we didn't exactly have the speed all the time, or things weren't really going our way, but we still came out on top," the Kiwi confessed.
"If you can have races like that, where you have a bad day, or a day where you don't think you're at your best, and you still come out on top, that's a great way to take some points away from others and hopefully it works for the rest of the season.
"We had a couple of stints there where it was nearly non-stop without a yellow. I thought there were going to be a tonne early on. In our team meeting, we were sort of scheduling for quite a few stops early on, but that just didn't come."
The 2007 IndyCar series runner-up also found the time to praise the Champ Car World Series converts, who, as expected, languished down the pecking order.
"I think everybody was really using their heads, the guys who came in from Champ Car were fantastic. They were giving everybody room and they drove a great clean race."
