This year has been a season for dominant racing teams.
As Max Verstappen scored his never-before-achieved 10th Formula One victory in a row at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, another run for the history books was taking place half a world away in Portland, Oregon.
Chip Ganassi Racing was winding up an equally dominant season in the NTT IndyCar Series with drivers Alex Palou of Spain and Scott Dixon of New Zealand sitting first and second in the season points race, all but untouchable by any other team.
Going into the Portland race, the penultimate contest of the 2023 IndyCar series, Palou needed only to finish third or better to secure a mathematical lock on the championship. That was more than a reasonable goal, as the 26-year-old Spaniard had already won four races of the 15 that had been run and had been on the podium four more times in second or third.
From mid-May to the fourth of July, Palou won four out of five races — missing the win only at the Indianapolis 500 — to put himself at the top of the standings. Dixon won both races leading up to the race in Portland, placing him second in the points chase.
“Obviously it’s been an amazing season,” Palou said.
Before the start of the Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland, team owner Ganassi approached Palou and said, “Let’s finish this up today, ok?” Palou responded with confidence, “We’re going to win the race.” Then Palou got into the car and did exactly that, driving a commanding race with Dixon nearby the entire way.
The win in Portland secured Palou’s second IndyCar championship, the first of which came in 2021. By claiming the championship before the last race of the season, Palou did what has not been done since 2007 when Sebastien Bourdais also claimed the title in the second-to-last race.
With his second championship in the series, Palou joins IndyCar legends Dario Franchitti and Alex Zanardi, each of whom earned two championships racing for Ganassi. The 1-2 finish is also a notable achievement.
What does that mean and why should we care?
Major league auto racing seems destined to be dynastic. There is a large number of active drivers, including Verstappen and luminaries like Colton Herta, Graham Rahal, and others whose fathers and families could be deemed racing royalty.
Additionally, there are team dynasties like the Mercedes-AMG team that delivered four straight championships to Lewis Hamilton, for a record-equaling seven championships, the same number that Michael Schumacher earned in his glory years. Similarly, the great houses of NASCAR can afford the best equipment and the best drivers, which keeps the winning teams on top.
Yet within all this, there’s a difference. Both NASCAR and IndyCar are essentially “spec” series, where there are not meaningful performance differences between any of the cars. That highlights the skills of the drivers and the teams as the deciding factor in any race, or the season championship. In Formula One, teams have more latitude to develop the car, and Red Bull has had the best cars in the series for several years now.
This is not to take anything away from Verstappen — no one gets to Formula One without formidable skills and talents — but rather to note that dominance in any arena, sports or business, carries with it the seeds of its own downfall.
Whether it is complacency or rule changes or just the moving-on of successful people, no dynasty lasts forever, and the ones in racing are supplanted by new drivers and teams who bring fresh energy and thinking to the job. The same is true with automakers, and those that ride the crest of a wave for a time (looking at you, Elon) often falter after a winning streak. Sic Transit Gloria.
- SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
- PlatoData.Network Vertical Generative Ai. Empower Yourself. Access Here.
- PlatoAiStream. Web3 Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
- PlatoESG. Automotive / EVs, Carbon, CleanTech, Energy, Environment, Solar, Waste Management. Access Here.
- PlatoHealth. Biotech and Clinical Trials Intelligence. Access Here.
- ChartPrime. Elevate your Trading Game with ChartPrime. Access Here.
- BlockOffsets. Modernizing Environmental Offset Ownership. Access Here.
- Source: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2023/09/chip-ganassi-racing-winds-up-dominant-indycar-season/
