Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Patricio O'Ward kept the party going for McLaren with a 1-2 finish at Mid-Ohio. The Formula One team was not as successful, though it did have a nice livery in tribute of its first race at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. It did seem to rain everywhere this weekend, and it rained hard. NASCAR remained in the Chicago-area but returned to another part of the greater Chicago metropolitan area. There was a famous street race. An American won at Silverstone. Though it is not official, there is change coming, and it took over the week in IndyCar. It will remain at the forefront for the rest of 2026 and into 2027.
Chip and the Kiwi
The exact destination may not be known, but we know next season Scott Dixon will not be competing for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing will not be fielding a car for Scott Dixon. The team released a statement saying Dixon had informed the team he would be leaving the organization for the 2027 season.
The relationship began May 29, 2002. PacWest had closed its doors after the first three rounds of the CART season. Ganassi snagged the reigning CART Rookie of the Year, who won in his third start with the team. The partnership lasted a switch to the Indy Racing League, a dower Panoz-Toyota combination, a switch to Dallara and Honda, reunification, Dario Franchitti, the DW12-chassis, aero kits, aeroscreens, a global pandemic and the introduction and rise of the greatest driver since Scott Dixon at the same team. In seven races, it will be over.
It is still hard to wrap your mind around. Dave Grohl once said The Foo Fighters breaking up was like your grandparents getting a divorce: It wasn't going to happen. Ganassi and Dixon felt that way, and why would they go in separate directions? They continued to win together. They won no matter the circumstances. Who else won a championship with Panoz, the Dallara IL-07, the original DW12, a DW12 with an aero kit, a DW12 with the universal aero kit and a DW12 with an aero screen added? The subtle changes did not stunt this group, and for 21 consecutive seasons they have won a race. Why split?
We will find out the reason soon enough, and all inclinations point to Dixon joining McLaren.
You can find your reasons: Money, prestige, opportunity, fear, honor, curiosity. All could be valid. From the wording of the statement, this was Dixon's decision. Ganassi was happy to keep him around. For a driver who is about to turn 46 years old in less than three weeks, he was looking for something else, something Ganassi could no longer provide. We could chalk this up to an old-fashioned mid-life crisis.
Ganassi has taken care of Dixon, but McLaren could have an offer to great to refuse.
It could be money. It could be a shot at Le Mans with the Hypercar program. It could be ownership stakes, something that sets Dixon up for the long-term, something greater than Ganassi could offer. And then there is IndyCar, the series Dixon has called home for a quarter-century.
It doesn't feel right. Maybe Dixon feels he needs to prove himself elsewhere, though no one is holding driving essentially only for Ganassi for his entire career against him. It could be eternal. It could be he has seen his teammate wipe the floor with him for five-going-on-six seasons, and Dixon wants to show he still has got it. The only place he can do that is with another team.
For the better part of the 21st century, there were established order in IndyCar. Hélio Castroneves drove for Team Penske. Will Power drove for Team Penske. Dixon drove for Chip Ganassi Racing. None of them were going anywhere. Those combinations would survive nuclear holocaust. Yet, Castroneves left Penske. Power left Penske. Dixon is leaving Ganassi. It was all a fairy tale, a dream, the partnership would not ride off into the sunset. Like Castroneves and Power, this pending departure feels unsatisfying. Who is this for? Who benefits?
Few in motorsports leave on a high and with a team that easily could be called home. Rick Mears and Mario Andretti might be the only two in IndyCar who get to say that. The rest don't end where they should. They either hang on too long and a team is ready for a change, or a driver isn't done yet and will race wherever they can find a seat, hoping their old skill will be enough. That is rarely the case.
Now we will see Dixon in papaya, a previously unthinkable image.
This feels greater than just a driver leaving. This feels like a definitive end. It feels like an end to the relationship. There is a good chance Dixon will never do anything with Ganassi ever again. If this is greater than just being a McLaren IndyCar driver, and Dixon becomes a full-on ambassador, he is going to be engrained with this team until he is in his 60s or beyond, and all for what will probably not be more than four seasons driving for the team. It is essentially stolen valor, or at least it is bought. He is going to be a McLaren driver long after his final race, but we will all know where that success occurred, it doesn't matter what the polo shirt says.
Dixon isn't going be Dario Franchitti continuing to aid the next generation of Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon will be a competitor, and another one who joined McLaren late in a career. If you blinked and missed Tony Kanaan's McLaren career you are forgiven, but now Kanaan is a leading figure on a pit stand. That is Dixon's future, or so we think.
With everything that was achieved, there is really one team Dixon should be associated with. Yet, plenty go elsewhere. Willie Mays played for the New York Mets. Michael Jordan played for the Washington Wizards. Tom Brady ended as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.
A career rarely has a storybook ending. Or at least there is an epilogue we like to skip because who has time for another four or five pages or something that doesn't fit the timespan of the novel?
Some epilogues can be special. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, and Hélio Castroneves won his first Indianapolis 500 after Team Penske. Scott Dixon has the ability to do the same, but it will not take over what we have already seen.
From the start, Chip Ganassi has come off as a difficult character, almost a curmudgeon, someone who wants to win and does not care about making friends. Scott Dixon has been the one driver to stand the test of time, an exception but also the driver who brings out Ganassi's best side, and shows a sympathetic character. That could be the greatest achievement of Dixon's character.
There will be a professionalism between the two. Neither would be where they are without each other. This end does not erase what occurred over the previous quarter-century. The relationship will be different even if they say nothing has changed. Something is changing. Dixon is leaving the team. It is not the same as if Dixon had stayed until the very end.
Whenever Dixon calls it time on his career, it will not be as special as if he had never left Chip Ganassi Racing. There will be melancholia over the end of a great career and the end to a remarkable driving talent, but McLaren cannot buy the send off and goodwill that developed over 25 years. Whatever it has cooked up, it will be performative at best.
There is plenty of time until we will see Dixon where different overalls and speaking to a different set of engineers and team owner. It will take every second between now and that first practice session of 2027 to grasp the change that is occurring, and even that will not be enough time.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Patricio O'Ward, but did you know...
Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix, his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix. Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the sprint race.
Chase Briscoe won the NASCAR Cup race from Chicagoland. Brandon Jones won the Grand National Series.
Enzo Fittipaldi swept the Indy Lights races from Mid-Ohio. Leonardo Escorpioni swept the USF Pro 2000 triple-header. Eddie Beswick and Anthony Martella split the U.S. F2000 races.
Nikola Tsolov swept the Formula Two races from Silverstone. Ugh Ugochukwu (sprint) and Maciej Gładysz (feature) split the Formula Three races.
Nicki Thiim swept the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Norisring.
Pascal Wehrlein and Lucas di Grassi split the Shanghai ePrix.
The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca-Gibson of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson and Louis Rousset won the 4 Hours of Imola. The #17 CLX Motorsports Ligier-Toyota of Louis Iglesias, Alexander Jacoby and Paul Lanchère won in LMP3. The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Blake McDonald and Alec Udell won in LMGT3.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP heads to its summer break with one final round in Germany.
The FIA World Endurance Championship returns after Le Mans with a round from São Paulo.
NASCAR will run at Atlanta.
IMSA has LMP2 and the GTD classes competing at Mosport.
World Superbike competes at Donington Park before getting nearly two months off.
Supercars race in Townsville.
