Future champion with a cushion on his back

New Zealander Scott Dixon, four-time IndyCar champion, started racing very early, as a seven year old boy, when he lived in Manurewa, South Auckland. After six years of racing with karts, he switched to cars in 1993.

He got an attention of motorsport fans when TV showed his accident in a one-make series with Nissan Sentra at Pukehoke Park Raceway. He rolled the car on the roof and camera caught him when he was coming out from the upturned car with a cushion strapped to his back. He used the cushion to easily reach the pedals.

At the time of this incident New Zealanders could not obtain a road licence until turning 15 years old, so Scott as a 13 year old student had a special dispensation to obtain the competition licence. In the same year, he started racing in the Formula Vee and his brilliant career began.