CHIP GANASSI RACING

In July, after the #9 Ganassi car scored its second of three consecutive wins, this writer observed to Scott Dixon’s new race engineer Michael Cannon that it was surely time for another Indy win for the five-time champion who has ‘just’ one Brickyard triumph to his name – a dozen years ago.

“Winning the 500 is the plan,” said Cannon. “I’ve promised Scott that his car for Indy will be better than his car for Texas [in which Dixon was in a different league from all his rivals]. That said,

Tony Kanaan summed it up well when he said that the track chooses who wins. But what we can do now is come up with a good enough car to run at the front, and then on the day, come up with a good enough strategy to stay there.”

Well, the first part is done. The knock-on effect of a hummingbird beating its wings anywhere in Speedway, Indiana could have been the difference between Marco Andretti winning pole and Dixon prevailing and, while Dixon came up 0.017mph short, no one is doubting his race-winning potential. Dixon’s car seems able to run anywhere on the track (if we ignore that spin in last Sunday practice) and in any conditions.

His newest teammate Marcus Ericsson looked smooth, safe and fast in traffic and continues to impress at every oval, while his Swedish compatriot Felix Rosenqvist has been far less timid than the man who shunted in practice at Indianapolis last year (see page 22). Still, given Dixon’s apparent ability to deal with all circumstances and blessed with a great pitbox and a slick pitcrew, it’s hard to bet against him to be at the front.

“DIXON’S CAR SEEMS ABLE TO RUN ANYWHERE ON THE TRACK AND IN ANY CONDITIONS”