Eric Thompson: Pitstop mistake costly for Dixon

Opinion

Everyone who's ever had to change a wheel on a car has done it at least once. I, for one, have done it on numerous occasions - fumbled a nut when putting the wheel back on and had to mess around to get it right.

The extra time it took to get it on didn't really matter in the scheme of things and it sure didn't cost me any money. But the same error by one of Scott Dixon's pit crew yesterday morning, during the Indianapolis 500, cost the Kiwi just under $5 million and probably his second Borg Warner Trophy.

Staying out of trouble for the majority of the race and avoiding the carnage of cars hitting each other and the wall, Dixon looked mighty comfortable shadowing Helio Castroneves.

The Brazilian passed Dixon, who had led for 73 laps, after a restart to take the lead with 59 to go. There were no big dramas, as in the same manner as last year, and the flying Kiwi was happy shadowing Castroneves and letting him punch a hole in the air using more fuel.

But the fouled-up pit stop ruined all that and left thousands of Kiwi motorsport fans spluttering into their coffees yesterday morning.

With bugger all laps left in the great race, there was no time for Dixon to get back up to Castroneves and he had to settle for sixth. I won't even try to guess the conversation in the Ganassi pits after the race.

The best comment of the day came from Dan Wheldon, who had struggled all month and could only qualify 18th. On his way to the grid he was heard to say: "Brother, do I now have a car for today". He finished second.