Scott Dixon Cherishes ‘Friends’ As Legendary Ganassi Tenure Ends

As Scott Dixon prepared for his final race weekend as a Chip Ganassi Racing driver, he spoke of moments he will carry to the next stage of his career and his life – 25 years of relationships with people who have come, gone and largely remained in Chip Ganassi’s organization.

Friends, he called them Friday.

“Twenty-five years,” Dixon said in reflection at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, site of Sunday’s Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). “It’s been fantastic, and it’s been a lot of fun with all those people. We’ll continue to all be friends, and obviously I’m not going far. I’ll see them next year, and you know, just be in a slightly different environment.”

Interestingly, Dixon will almost be able to see CGR’s longtime headquarters from his new digs at Arrow McLaren. Both race shops are located within a block of one another on Indianapolis’ northwest side.

As the 46-year-old father of three continued, Dixon mentioned incredibly close ties not only with team owner Chip Ganassi but also managing director Mike Hull, who almost exclusively has been the voice in his ear since joining the team in 2002. Yes, they have won 58 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races and six season championships together, but it’s the time away from the track that made them family long before Dixon and his wife, Emma, created a family of their own.

Dixon spoke of staying at Ganassi’s home and meeting his lifelong friends, and there was the time team sponsor PNC Bank took members of the organization into the desert to race buggies. Ganassi was a passenger in one of the cars, and his stomach couldn’t handle it.

Dixon laughed about how poorly Ganassi fared, an example of the fun they had together.

“Race wins and things like that are obvious (highlights),” he said. “But those (friendships) are the moments that I’ll remember, and they’re not necessarily (moments) at the track.”

It’s reasonable to say there has never been – nor will there likely ever be – another INDYCAR SERIES pairing such as this one. Not only was it a record for duration, their results rank atop nearly every category in U.S. open-wheel racing history.

For example, this weekend’s race will be their 417th as one. That alone would be enough to hold the sport’s record, and a host of other career marks Dixon owns, including consecutive series starts (373) and most consecutive winning seasons (21), all have been earned as a CGR driver.

Dixon also leads all drivers in history in winning seasons, top-three finishes and top-five finishes. He would still own those records with his rookie season with PacWest Racing in 2001 factored out. Similarly, Dixon would still be No. 2 all-time in race wins and laps led solely as a CGR driver.

All 28 of Dixon’s poles, including 12 wins from the top qualifying position, were accomplished with Ganassi’s team, all with Hull on his pit box.

Dixon joined Ganassi’s Indianapolis-based organization in 2002 – before current series drivers Louis Foster, Dennis Hauger, Nolan Siegel and Kyffin Simpson were born. Their debut was the fourth race of Champ Car’s season, at the Milwaukee Mile. Dixon qualified fourth and finished sixth. But most people won’t remember that Dixon drove the team’s No. 44 car (photo, above), and coincidentally finished one position behind the No. 9 car driven by Team Rahal’s Michel Jourdain Jr.

CGR switched to the Indy Racing League for the 2003 season, and Dixon was issued No. 9. He has driven with that number for all but 15 races since then, those coming in a disastrous 2004 season when he carried No. 1 as the reigning series champion. Dixon finished the year 10th in the point standings and was held out of the July 25 race at Milwaukee following accidents in practice and qualifying. He has not missed a race since.

The Dixon-CGR pairing set a bar for excellence in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. In addition to winning the 2008 race, they won five poles, one shy of Rick Mears’ record. They have finished in the top five nine times and hold the event record for laps led with 709. Dixon led 32 laps in this year’s race, the 17th time he has led in 24 starts. Seven times he has led 50 or more laps, which equates to more than a quarter of those races.

Dixon’s best season with CGR came in 2008 when he won Indy (photo, above) and the series title. All told, he won six races and six poles.

The Kiwi likely would be tied with A.J. Foyt for the most season titles in history if not for running out of fuel on the final lap of the 2007 season at Chicagoland Speedway. Dario Franchitti did well to avoid running into the back of Dixon’s race-leading car as it sputtered in Turn 3. That situation gave Franchitti the race win and the first of his four series championships.

Dixon has won three consecutive races on three different occasions (in 2007, 2013 and 2020).

Graham Rahal has the second-longest active tenure with one team (14 years), but he will need to still be with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2037 to match the Dixon-CGR partnership.

Will Power, who left Team Penske last year after 17 consecutive seasons, marveled at what Dixon and CGR have done together.

“It just shows you the level of talent, absolute professionalism,” Power said Friday. “It will be strange to see someone else in (the No. 9 car).”

During Power’s last race with Team Penske last August at Nashville Superspeedway, he noticed he was parked behind Andretti Global’s No. 26 car driven by Colton Herta.

“That’s the car I’ll be in next year, that’s the crew,” Power remembered thinking.

That could be Dixon this weekend. In 2027, his car will be papaya rather than orange as a new era begins.