CART: Dixon earns another top-ten finish for PacWest Racing

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

June 25, 2001

Race recap: A yellow filled event under rainy conditions saw numerous position changes. Gugelmin was running in fifth position on lap 43 when Paul Tracy spun in front of him causing Mauricio to take evasive action. Gugelmin had no choice but to swerve to the left of Tracy, and upon doing so they made contact. Gugelmin spun and made further contact with an outside retaining wall, which ended his race. Teammate Scott Dixon forged head after an early spin and fought hard to remain up front. He finished the day with only one pit stop and ended up seventh overall, bringing home more points.

SCOTT DIXON - # 18 POWERWARE PANASONIC PACWEST TOYOTA

Finishing Position: 7th "We didn't change the car for the wet weather, so it was a little stiff," said Dixon. "Mechanically we didn't have much grip at all, which I think made a huge difference. If the weather dried out, things would have gone our way. Had I not spun on a restart early on in the race we would have had a much better finish. Overall I'm pretty happy and glad we're going home with some points."

MAURICIO GUGELMIN - # 17 NEXTEL PACWEST TOYOTA

Finishing Position: 20th (Contact)

"I was having a good race," said Gugelmin. "I was running in fifth position, but I was behind Paul Tracy who was a lap down. Paul lost it and started to spin, so he let off the brakes so he wouldn't put his car in the fence. I had no choice but to go to his left to try to get around him. I didn't have the room and we touched with my right rear wheel, which sent me into the concrete wall. It's too bad because we had enough fuel to go the rest of the way without pitting. This could have been my best finish of the season had we held on to our position, but now we'll go back to Cleveland and give it another shot."

Text provided by Jodi Graffio

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