Chris Simmons (second from left in photograph) is being moved from the timing stand to the front office in his new role at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Simmons has been promoted to Director of Performance at Ganassi’s NTT IndyCar Series team after many years as one of the top race engineers on pit lane, most recently with five-time champion Scott Dixon.

“I guess I’ve gone from being a quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, to put it in NFL terms,” Simmons told NTT INDYCAR Mobile.

In his new position, Simmons will be in charge of helping set the development direction for all three of the team's Honda-powered cars: Dixon’s No. 9, Felix Rosenqvist’s No. 10 and Marcus Ericsson’s No. 8. Simmons also will work with all of the individual race engineers to improve performance and reliability.

“For me, this is an opportunity,” Simmons said. “I went to college and have a degree in mechanical engineering, but I also have a degree in business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I’ve always been interested in the management side of (the sport), and this will let me transition into that role and still be heavily involved in the technical side.

“For me, it’s a good fit, and I think I can help raise the level of the whole team and get it back to where the 8, 9 and 10 cars are all competing for the championship.”

Simmons will start the season on Dixon’s No. 9 timing stand overseeing new race engineer Michael Cannon’s development with Dixon. Cannon is a longtime race engineer, most recently working at Dale Coyne Racing with driver Santino Ferrucci, who had a standout rookie season last year.

“I’ll help with that transition and then help out as needed throughout the season,” Simmons said. “The crew with Mike Hull being the strategist hasn’t changed. Scott Dixon has many good years left and we plan to get the most out of them.

“We weren’t happy with our performance in 2019, so in 2020 we have set some very high goals and make sure we do it better.”

Many team members from Chip Ganassi’ Racing’s former Ford GT IMSA operation have been added to all three of Ganassi’s IndyCar teams. Simmons will help oversee that transition as well.

Among those additions are Ken Brooks, who began with Ganassi’s Indy Racing League team in the early 2000s and was a key part of Ganassi’s sports car program. Brad Goldberg will be the engineer for Ericsson on the No. 8 Honda.

“Brad was my assistant years ago with Dario (Franchitti) and engineered Charlie Kimball for many years,” Simmons explained. “We brought him back to the IndyCar side and he will be working with Marcus. The rest of the mechanics will be filtered among all three cars on the team.”

Simmons will answer directly to Hull, the managing director at Chip Ganassi Racing, who remains as Dixon’s race strategist on the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Cannon takes over for Simmons.

“We’re really happy and fortunate that Michael was available,” Hull told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “That doesn’t happen in this sport very often, but the timing was good for him and it was good for us.

“The proof of the hire will be in the results. He is going to be the lead engineer for the No. 9 car and Simmons moves to a different role but will be involved with Michael throughout the year.

“They are already up to speed and we’re looking forward to big things.”

Hull and Ganassi are not afraid to tinker with a good thing. The combination of Dixon and Simmons worked very well over the years, so why change it?

“There is no question about the dynamic, there,” Hull said. “The dynamic has been really good for a long time and will continue that way. We move people around in the system and this is not the first time we’ve done it. When we do it, we try very hard not to displace anybody from the vacuum it has created.

“We felt there was a need for a Performance Director, which we have never had here. Chris, with the engineering aptitude and background he had made a lot of sense for us with Michael becoming available to do what we have done.

“We are moving down the road in a different direction with more than one person.”

Barry Wanser remains the team manager of competition at Chip Ganassi Racing, and he manages the process of what the car needs to perform in addition to the crew chiefs and process for all three cars.