ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Happiness. Scott Dixon can see it in their eyes, mask-enclosed smiles be damned.
That feeling you get as a young race fan to see a legendary champion up close, even if he's just walking by. Maybe you shout their name and hope they turn around and catch your eye. Maybe, even, you grab the hat off your head and ask for an autograph. Unheard of a year agowith fans barred from so many tracks, that sector of fandom is starting to come back to sports.
For IndyCar, it has reemerged at St. Petersburg.
“Coming here today was my first time in a while of walking into an event and getting bombarded to sign autographs,” defending series champion Scott Dixon said Friday. “It’s really nice to see that. Hopefully we see a lot more of that as the year progresses.