As another offseason is thoroughly in session for IndyCar, we take this time to look over a few careers that have stood out in the history of American open-wheel racing. This year provided a theme that spreads over multiple decades.
We begin with a driver who has been retired for quite some time, but a name that remains recognizable to all. Some drivers hold honors that we do not recognize, and with a shift at the top of IndyCar's record book, this is the man whose achievements many years ago was the first domino to where we ended in 2026. We might not consider his achievements enough as much of his career was spent in the shadows of teammates and politics.
We start with Jimmy Vasser.
Where was Vasser coming from?
Hailing from California, Vasser began in club acing, running in SCCA, where he was the 1986 Formula Ford national champion, winning at the Runoffs held at Road Atlanta. Despite the club racing success, Vasser was not on the fast track to IndyCar. He ran three races in the 1987 Formula Atlantic West championship where he won two pole positions and had finishes of third at Portland and first at Laguna Seca.
Vasser dabbled with a few one off starts in Indy Lights, but his next big step was into Canadian F2000 in 1989, and he was fifth in that championship the following year. In 1990, Vasser returned to the Atlantic Championship for a few rounds with Genoa Racing. While he showed speed, winning two more pole positions and starting third or better in four of five races, he failed to finish four races, two of which ended on the opening lap. However, the one race he did finish was a victory at Road America.
Come 1991, Vasser was full-time in Atlantics, and he opened the season with a victory at Laguna Seca. While he won four of the first six races, mechanical issues plagued his season. Vasser won six times in 13 races, but he finished outside the top twenty in five events. Though he won the finale, Vasser lost the title by four points to Jovy Marcelo.
What did IndyCar look like when Vasser started in the series?
When Vasser made his debut in 1992 it was quite the place, full of drivers at their peak while some other legends were at the end of their career, and it was on the verge of a generational shift.
CART was a little over a decade-old, but riding high. The series had taken on a variety of new circuits over the previous decade, as street courses became more prevalent. Following Long Beach's addition to the schedule, Detroit followed, which moved its event to Belle Isle in Vasser's first year. CART had become more international. Toronto had been added a handful fo years prior, Vancouver was in its third year, and Surfers Paradise, Australia was hosting the series for the second time.
Out of the 16 races, six were held on ovals, and most of them were shorter. Phoenix and Milwaukee were historical mainstays. Nazareth was relatively new, and New Hampshire International Speedway was hosting its first event in 1992. The other two oval events were 500-mile races at Indianapolis and Michigan.
The top teams were Rahal-Hogan Racing, a team with an owner-driver in Bobby Rahal; Newman-Haas Racing, which had long supported the Andretti family and was fielding Michael and Mario; and Galles-Kraco Racing was a force with Al Unser, Jr. as its lead driver with Danny Sullivan also a part of the team.
Team Penske remained a threat with Emerson Fittipaldi, but the team was experiencing a shift as Rick Mears battled injuries and Paul Tracy was a development driver for the team. Chip Ganassi Racing was entering its third season and had yet to win a race. This was Ganassi's first year as a two-car organization with Arie Luyendyk was added as an Indianapolis 500 entry along side Eddie Cheever, which expanded into a bigger role for Luyendyk.
Lola was the preferred chassis manufacturer, but Penske and Galmer-Kraco were building their own cars. Some teams got along with older cars. Year-old chassis were regularly used when it came to smaller teams. The main battle in the engine battle was Ford-Cosworth vs. Chevrolet, but Buick had a place, though mostly used at Indianapolis. Even an unbadged Judd engine was used.
How does IndyCar look now?
Settled but potentially on the verge of a generational shift.
Álex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, Patricio O'Ward and David Malukas represented the championship top five in 2026, an average age of 26.8. Despite this youth, there are a number of veterans on the grid, but a few are getting closer to the end of their careers. Scott Dixon turned 46 years old and had his worst season in two decades. Will Power turned 45 years old and had his first season at Andretti Global after 17 years at Team Penske. Even Josef Newgarden is 35 years old at this point with plenty of career ahead of him, but far from being a part of the next generation.
There were 18 races this past season, and all 18 were held on the North America continent. There was a new race in Canada, as Markham replaced Toronto, which had spent the better part of four decades on the calendar. It was quite the season for new events with three total new street courses. Along with Markham, Arlington, Texas hosted a race, and Washington, D.C. pulled off an event on eight-month notice.
Long Beach remains, Detroit had its fourth consecutive year on a downtown street course after leaving Belle Isle, and St. Petersburg has spent closer to 25 years on the schedule.
Five oval races were on the schedule. Indianapolis and Phoenix remained, but Phoenix was a part of combination weekend with NASCAR. It was IndyCar's first visit to the Arizona capital in eight years, and it was only the fourth IndyCar race in the last 21 years at the one-mile oval. Gateway has been on the schedule for almost a decade after over a decade away, and Nashville Superspeedway hosted a race for a third consecutive year. Milwaukee had a doubleheader weekend, its third consecutive year on the schedule after nearly a decade away.
Chip Ganassi Racing has now won the most championships in IndyCar history, surpassing Team Penske this season. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a mid-pack team capable of strong days but more known for its struggles for consistent pace. Andretti Global is not owned by an Andretti. McLaren is on the grid but, despite its history of building IndyCar chassis and building cars in Formula One, it is not fielding a McLaren as all IndyCar teams use the Dallara DW12 chassis, which just completed its 15th season of competition.
Chevrolet and Honda have been the only two engine manufacturers since 2013.
What did Vasser do in-between?
Starting out in a year-old Lola, Vasser's first IndyCar experience was with Hayhoe-Cole Racing. The team ran most of the races, and it did not take long for Vasser to score his first career top ten finish, a seventh in his third career start at Long Beach.
After overcoming Bump Day drama, Vasser was the fastest rookie qualifier for his Indianapolis 500 debut, but started 28th. He was nearing the halfway point of the race when he had an accident in turn one, which left him with a broken leg.
Vasser spent two more seasons with Hayhoe-Cole. In 1993, he was third in the second race of the season at Phoenix, finishing behind Mario Andretti and Raul Boesel. It was Andretti's final victory. Vasser was three laps down. The 1994 season began with three top five finishes in the first four races, including a fourth in the Indianapolis 500. His results dipped over the final three-quarters of the season, but Vasser drew the eye of Chip Ganassi and was hired for the 1995 season.
Though Vasser did not win during his first season at Ganassi, he had four podium finishes and was eighth in the championship. In 1996, Ganassi took on Honda as an engine partner and the team hired Alex Zanardi. Vasser started the season with his first career victory. He won four of the first six races, including the U.S. 500 from Michigan held counter of the Indianapolis 500, which concluded the inaugural Indy Racing League season.
Consistency was key over the second half of the 1996 season as Vasser took the championship ahead of Michael Andretti.
Vasser remained a top driver over the next few seasons, but he could not get the best of his teammate Zanardi. In 1997, Vasser was third in the championship with only one victory. Zanardi took the title with a race to spare and five victories. Zanardi was even better in 1998 with seven victories. Vasser was second in the championship, but Zanardi clinched a successful title defense with four races remaining.
Zanardi left after 1998, and Juan Pablo Montoya joined Ganassi alongside Vasser. Montoya picked up where Zanardi left off with seven victories going to the Colombian. Montoya took the championship on tiebreaker over Dario Franchitti. Vasser was not close to his teammate, ending up ninth in the championship with zero victories. Vasser had one more season at Ganassi, and results improved, he won at Houston, but he was dismissed from the team at the end of the season.
Vasser went to Patrick Racing for 2001, and he started the season well with four consecutive top five finishes, but the results never came close to victory. Vasser moved to Team Rahal in 2002, where he won at Fontana, but he did not stay with the team as it moved to the Indy Racing League in 2003. Vasser stayed in CART and joined the team American Spirit Team Johnasson as the veteran driver alongside rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay. The team lasted a season before folding.
To continue his career, Vasser bought into PKV Racing along side Dan Pettit and Champ Car owner Kevin Kalkhoven. In two seasons, Vasser had three podium finishes and nine top five finishes and finished in the top ten of the championship. He ran the 2006 season opener from Long Beach before stepping away from driving.
While never moving to the IRL as a driver, Vasser did start four Indianapolis 500s after The Split, two with Chip Ganassi where he finished seventh and fourth in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 and 2003, he ran with the Rahal team, but gearbox issues ended each race. Vasser's final start was the "final Champ Car race," as the 2008 Long Beach race was held post-reunification with the pre-existing Champ Car teams as the IRL teams ran at Motegi on the same weekend. Vasser was tenth.
What impression did Vasser leave on IndyCar?
Vasser's legacy could be greater as a team owner as a driver. Winning in 1996 was probably the worst thing that could happen to him because all anyone can remember about 1996 when it comes to American open-wheel racing is The Split. Even if Vasser was succeeding against high-quality competition, the politics of the sport overshadowed his accomplishments.
On top of all of it, Vasser contributed to the war in his post-U.S. 500 victory lane interview when he said, "Who needs milk?"
Without The Split, 1996 could largely be remembered as the year of Vasser as he probably would have won the Indianapolis 500 had all the CART teams been there instead.
Vasser is the first Ganassi champion, which is significant when you consider Ganassi now sits alone with the most championships. Vasser started it. However, he was outmatched by each of his teammates. Vasser won the title his first year against Zanardi, but Zanardi was entirely new while Vasser had spent four years in CART and was in his second year at Ganassi. Zanardi's next two seasons throttled all Vasser accomplished. Then Montoya came and the intra-team beating continued.
Though not the best driver from his own team, Vasser was still one of the better drivers in the second-half of the 1990s. He had great speed and may have been unfortunate to be pair with two extraordinary talents that toppled American open-wheel racing with ease.
When the driving career was over, Vasser became a team owner and developed a competitive organization that lasted through the final days of Champ Car and into the unified IndyCar. KV Racing gave Tony Kanaan a home, and it turned into an Indianapolis 500 victory. Sébastien Bourdais showed he could still go toe-to-toe with IndyCar's best with KV Racing. For over a half-decade, it was the team just outside the elite level of IndyCar. Unfortunately, the team did not have the funding to continue beyond the 2016 season despite winning that year.
In 2018, Vasser and partner James Sullivan partnered with Dale Coyne Racing, where the team reunited with Bourdais and won the group's first race back together. However, the partnership with Coyne only lasted until 2021.
The Split hurt Vasser becoming a household name, but within IndyCar circles he is a respected figure and one that is generally celebrated. Just as with Michael Andretti, who did not win the Indianapolis 500 as a driver but was venerated with multiple victories as an owner, Vasser got his "500" victory after losing a prime part of his career to The Split. The 2013 race will be remembered for Kanaan getting his moment, but it is just as fitting Vasser also received his glory that day after such an incredible but obstructed career.
Vasser has spent the last few years running Lexus' sports car program in IMSA with Sullivan. The team has won a championship and a number of races. Part of Vasser probably itches to get back to IndyCar, but he knows how difficult it is to run an IndyCar program, let alone a competitive one. In a few weeks, Vasser will turn 61 years old. He is only seven years younger than Chip Ganassi. Does Vasser wish to spend the final chapter of his life running an IndyCar team?
It would be a lot of work just to get back. Vasser would be a dedicated owner and make the series better, but there is a chance that part of his life is behind him, and assuming the role of dignitary in the paddock carries less responsibilities than that of competitor. Whether it is as a guest or on a timing stand, Vasser will have a place.
