AUSTIN, Texas -- As Chip Ganassi Racing celebrates its 30th season in INDYCAR, the operation has epitomized excellence. Five-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon leads a three-driver effort that includes Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson.
Team owner Chip Ganassi expanded his effort to three drivers after the Ford GT IMSA program was eliminated. That allowed him to add Ericsson, a talented driver from Formula One to the program after the Swede spent last season at what was then known as Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
CGR also made some changes in the engineering department. Chris Simmons moved from Dixon’s timing stand as his race engineer to the new position of performance director. Michael Cannon, who worked with Dale Coyne Racing with then-rookie Santino Ferrucci last season, was hired to work with Dixon as the race engineer.
Dixon is an INDYCAR legend with 46 career wins, including the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Already a larger-than-life figure in the paddock, Dixon is confident he can achieve even more in 2020.
Dixon said the addition of Cannon to his engineering stand this season should help improve the team’s oval effort.
“We’ve been running a little lean the past couple of years on the engineering staff and even mechanics,” Dixon said during Monday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Content Day. “With some changes we’ve had in the offseason, I think we are a lot better prepared coming into the season than we have ever been.”
Dixon praised the addition of Cannon and believes his engineering expertise can help the team regain an edge on the oval tracks on the schedule.
Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda finished 17th in the 103rd Indianapolis 500, 17th at Texas Motor Speedway and 20th at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway – all oval tracks. The team fared much better at Iowa Speedway, finishing second, and scored another such finish in the rain-shortened contest at Pocono.
“There are always areas for us to improve,” Dixon said. “A lot of the times, the car felt on edge. It’s amazing these small teams are not so small. Talking to Michael, there were some big areas we were missing, and we talked about what we can improve. Michael told us they worked on some things at Dale Coyne Racing that we hadn’t even thought of.
“It’s been nice to hear Michael talk about doing something that was totally different.”
Dixon hopes the shuffling of the engineering staff, along with some fresh ideas from Cannon, will help improve the team’s overall effort in 2020.
“We have gone through the offseason and talked about what our path is and it’s interesting to bring someone new into the mix, just to think outside of the box,” Dixon said of Cannon. “He doesn’t always stick to what Chip has generally observed or done. He can be a bit aggressive and the feel he has for old-school engineering, too.
“We’ve always had a fantastic team. The depth we have now on the engineering side is important. It’s been great with Mike so far and I look forward to working with him in the races.”