KEY POINTS:
A lot has been said, and written, about the help Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon received from a group of motor racing enthusiasts to get him started on his winning ways in the United States.
These businessmen and fans funded Dixon to the tune of $1 million, all
of which he has paid back, with interest.
What hasn't been talked about is the man who saw something in Dixon after he arrived in the US and signed him up for his Indy Lites team.
Swede Stefan Johansson, now Dixon's manager, should know a thing or two about what it takes to succeed at the elite level of motor sport, as the ex-Formula One driver once drove for two marquee teams, Ferrari and McLaren.
Johansson still competes in the premier division in endurance racing, so you couldn't ask for a better mentor when breaking into the big time.
"The first thing I noticed was his speed. Right from the start he was blindingly quick," said Johansson, who was in Auckland this week with Dixon.
"And what I liked about Scott was that sort of quiet, total confidence. He knew he could get the job done. He also knew he was better than all the rest without being cocky about it.
"Scott did a Petit Le Mans with me in 1999 in a Ferrari and he was really, really quick in practice and really fast in the race."
Johansson carried nearly all the costs for the first Indy Lites season, and as the pair's relationship and mutual respect developed, his role become more of a management one.
The two have several things in common, chief among them the Kiwi connection. Apart from his relationship with Dixon, Johansson has driven for the New Zealand-founded F1 team, McLaren.
They also both managed to run out of fuel while leading a race - Dixon in last year's last race for the title and Johansson when leading the San Marino Grand Prix in 1985.
"It's obviously pretty gutting," said Johansson. "In my case it was right at the beginning of my career and with Ferrari, but I thought there'd be a lot more opportunities later on. But in F1 you need a lot of stars to line up to win a race as it's quite difficult."
Although Johansson raced in 103 Grand Prix he was never able to secure that elusive win and remains the driver with the most podium finishes without a win.
Brought in to support Michele Alboreto at Ferrari, Johansson regularly outpaced his teammate. "I was quicker than Michele most of the time. Qualifying, I found out later on, was different and may have had something to do with different engines. Anyway, I beat him in the championship the second year."
At the end of 1992 Johansson felt he was getting pretty burnt out so headed to the US and the CART championship, winning rookie of the year.
"It wasn't hard to leave F1 at the time because the timing for me was atrocious. Both McLaren and Ferrari were probably at their lowest point in a very long time in terms of their cars and how competitive they were. From there on you could only go backwards, so I ended up with Ligier and that was an absolutely horrendous car."
Johansson may not have won a Grand Prix but he's won plenty of other races and is one of the few drivers to have completed the Triple Crown of motor racing events; the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours Le Mans. One day we might even see him and Dixon sharing a drive at the 24 Hours Le Mans.