Dixon rides Firestones to first victory of 2005 in Watkins Glen source: irl.racing-live.com Scott Dixon picked up his first victory since his 2003 championship season today at Watkins Glen International, while Dan Wheldon clinched this year's drivers championship, becoming the 103rd driver to win a major series championship title on Firestone tires. Dixon's victory came in the league's second permanent road-course event ever. Firestone's race tire development team brought their most durable road-course compound for competition this weekend and the spec won raves from teams and drivers for its consistency all weekend long. This weekend's event also brought the first opportunity ever for Indy Racing League competitors to run Firestone Firehawk rain tires, another point of history in a season of "firsts" for the league. "The Firestones were great," said Dixon. "The wets were especially good; they last forever and are very consistent. Same with the race tires; throughout the whole stint the balance doesn't change whatsoever. They have plenty of grip and extremely consistent." Quote from Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing: "This was a great weekend for the entire Indy Racing League and everyone involved; it just feels right for open-wheel racing to be back at this historic track. The fans were great, the race was fantastic, and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend tire-wise. We got a chance to see these drivers try out their rain tires for the first time ever and we couldn't have been happier with the all-around results this weekend. It is certainly great to see Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing back in victory circle and our hats go off to Dan Wheldon and the entire Andretti Green organization for a fantastic season." Firestone Performance Award winner Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing led mile 119 (lap 35) today to claim the Firestone Performance Award, which commemorates the fact Firestone has competed in every IRL IndyCar Series event since the league's 1996 inception. Today's race was the 119th in league history. Dixon will be presented a $10,000 check during pre-race festivities for the Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway on October 16.
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