Sports

Nearly 3 Million Dollar Payday For INDY Winner, Dixon

by Edmund Jenks | May 27, 2008 at 05:13 am

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The Indianapolis 500 Victory earned Kiwi Scott Dixon a record $2,988,065 from a record purse of $14,406,580. This result should give a new meaning to the phrase – “The Thunder From Down Under!”

This excerpted from indycar.com -

Dixon became the first native of New Zealand to win theIndianapolis 500. After starting from the pole position, he led seven times for a race-high 115 laps and beat Panther Racing's Vitor Meira to the finish line by 1.7498 seconds. The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers.

The previous record winner's purse was $1,761,740 awarded to Buddy Rice in 2004, while the 2007 Indianapolis 500 field was awarded the previous record race purse, $10,668,815. The event purse is comprised of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League awards, including the new IndyCar TEAM (Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix) program, sponsor awards and other designated awards.

Meira's efforts in the No. 4 Delphi National Guard Dallara/Honda/Firestone earned $1,273,215, the first time anyone other than the Indianapolis winner has won more than $1 million, far exceeding the previous second-place record payout of $739,665 for Helio Castroneves in 2003.