Enduring Dixon Hopes to Make More History From "500" Pole

Scott Dixon doesn’t see himself as old as his longevity of success suggests.

The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver has battled familiar rivals such as Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan seemingly forever in the Verizon IndyCar Series. But a few days before Dixon won the pole Sunday for the 99th Indianapolis 500, he is reminded those other guys just turned 40 whereas he’s six years younger.

Dixon didn’t need a second Indy 500 pole nor should he have to add another victory in Sunday’s race to go with his 2008 triumph to prove there’s plenty of racing left in the three-time series champion’s career.

“I’m not quite as old as some of them,” he said before a practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I keep getting thrown into that bracket, but those guys are turning 40 and I’m still 34. I hope I can make it to that age and still be as competitive as those guys.”

If Dixon sticks around six more years, it will be interesting to see how far he can climb in career IndyCar victories. He’s won at least two races in every season since 2006.

He celebrated his 36th career victory with a win at Long Beach in April, and surpassed Bobby Unser for fifth on the all-time list. Unser won three Indy 500s. And there are other legendary names Dixon has passed along the way — two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. (34), four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears (29) and three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford (27), among others.

Dixon knows who’s ahead of him, too, not that he’s consumed by catching four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt (67), 1969 Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti (52), Michael Andretti (42) or four-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr. (39).

“It’s a very nice compliment, and obviously with the names you start to run into with that list, it kind of makes you think back to where it all started and how far-fetched it seemed,” the New Zealander said. “Later on in your career, you understand the team you’re with, Team Target, and what it has achieved and all but one win has been with this team, so it’s very exciting.

“But I don’t know, right now, I just want to focus on race wins and championships and if you can add to those stats. Hopefully when you’re done, racing is something you can look back at and say, ‘We did a pretty good job.’ It’s a huge compliment and obviously very exciting to be amongst Andrettis, Foyt, Unser. Foyt is obviously off in his own little section, Mario, too, which is quite a little ways, but I need to start giving Michael a little bit of a hard time because his total is somewhat achievable. We’ll have to see.”

Dixon’s series championships were in 2003, 2008 and 2013, and he's finished at least fourth in points every year since 2006. He’s fourth after five races this season, 27 points behind Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya.

After enduring his share of setbacks last season, no driver finished stronger in the last four races, when he won twice with a second and a fourth.

“As a team, I think we know we’ve got what it takes to win,” he said. “If you just look at the team championships in a fairly short time period compared to some of the others, we know we can win.”

Chip Ganassi’s team has celebrated four Indy 500 victories, 10 open-wheel series titles and 93 career IndyCar/CART victories.

The owner obviously knows what he has in Dixon, whose contract is up after this season. The driver doesn’t sound worried about staying put.

“Maybe in the ’04 or ’05 season, I was probably lucky my contract went through in those years,” he said. “I love being a part of the team. Half the time, they just ask you, ‘Do you still want to be part of the team?’ And I’m like, ’Yeah, of course.’ We don’t fight over the small things and that kind of stuff.

“It is what it is. I’ve been here for a long time and if they want to do something different, then that’s up to them. I hope it’s not that way and I hope I can stay. But obviously if that doesn’t come, there’s always other opportunities.”

While Dixon is among those drivers celebrated each May as past Indy 500 winners, he doesn’t dwell on that accomplishment.

“It’s funny, a lot of times you think about the ones you miss more than anything else,” he said. “I think that’s true for everyone else as well. The memories of that win, you just want it that much more after you get the one. You want to win again.

“We’ve had great cars here. (Retired teammate/three-time Indy 500 winner) Dario Franchitti obviously had a hell of a streak and we’ve finished second here three times (as a team), which is probably the most frustrating place you can ever finish second at. It’s a tough place. To get everything to go right in a three-hour period for the team, it’s almost impossible.”

Dixon won from the pole in 2008, but admitted Sunday the style of racing has changed since then. The cars are so close with such strong tows, he advised nobody will run away and dominate. Seven years ago, he said a strong car could break away from the pack.

It’s all about staying in the hunt, as he has done throughout his career. In a dozen Indy 500 starts, he’s also finished second in 2007 and 2012 as well as fifth in 2010 and 2011. He’s been at least eighth or better in eight of those races.

When 33 cars speed toward the “Yard of Bricks” for the start of Sunday’s next installment of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” Dixon’s red No. 9 Chevrolet-powered machine will be a familiar front-runner. And he’ll likely still be lurking at the end, too.

“It’s going to be flat out,” he said. “We need to try to stay near the front and give ourselves a good shot come the last 10 laps.”