By Gordon Kirby

Scott Dixon is the modern era’s most complete IndyCar driver. Dixon has been racing Indy cars for 23 years — 22 with Chip Ganassi’s team — and established himself in his mid-to-late 30s as IndyCar’s most successful active driver. Scott has won six championships (2003, ’08, ’13, ’15, ’18 and ‘19) and 53 races, including the 2008 Indy 500, and is Ganassi’s unrivaled number one driver. A soft-spoken Kiwi known as “The Iceman,” Dixon can win on any type of track and is a master of the arcane art of fuel-saving.

Dixon showed plenty of ability as he moved steadily up the ladder, winning championships in karts, Formula Vee, Formula Ford and Formula Holden in Australia before successfully attacking Indy Lights in America. He won the Indy Lights championship in 2000 and scored his first IndyCar win with PacWest Racing at Nazareth in May 2001 at just 20.      

“Now I’ve been with Chip for more than 20 years and I don’t think you could write a story that worked out as well thanks to the right drives coming at the right time and all the support I’ve had from different people along the way.”

Dixon and Ganassi have developed a close, direct relationship. “I respect Chip immensely,” Dixon said. “There’s no BS with Chip. I think Chip is very good at finding the right people to work together. But I think it really comes down to he’s one of the most competitive people I’ve met.”

Dixon is proud of mastering IndyCar’s unique and sometimes underestimated challenges. “I think we are one of the last major formulas without power steering,” he remarked. “So physically, it’s very tough. At tracks like Texas or Iowa we’re pulling over 6 g, which I believe is much higher than anything a Formula 1 car gets to.

“After three hours at Indianapolis in the close form of competition we’ve had over the last few years, you’re mentally drained. You can hardly speak. You’ve constantly got someone in front of you, someone behind you, and several times each lap, you’ve got people beside you. You’re fighting such a fine line all the time of being in control.”

Dixon is happily married to former Olympic track star Emma, and they have two young children, Poppy and Tilly. Scott sees no signs of retirement on his horizon.

“I kinda look at five-year plans,” he grinned. “Right now, a five-year plan has IndyCar in it and really, nothing else, other than doing Daytona and Le Mans with Chip’s Cadillac GTP program.” (Dixon was won the Rolex 24 at Daytona three times.) “I look at the longevity of Tony Kanaan, Helio and Montoya. Those guys all raced well into their 40s, so there’s a few good years for me in Indy cars for sure.

“I’m very blessed by being able to race with such a great team and have a great family. But what it really comes down to is I love the sport. I love what I’m doing and I’m hungry every day I get out of bed. I want to do my training, I want to learn more, and until those things start to change, I will continue to do it.”

Kirby is one of the world’s most accomplished racing writers. He’s covered more than 1,000 races and written close to 20 books, including Boost! Roger Bailey’s Extraordinarily Diverse Motor Racing Career (2022) and The Green Flag: The Life and Times of Barry Green, Racer (2023).