ESPN John Oreovicz Blog

Last week's blog entry pointed out that Scott Dixon is definitely the best driver of the ex-CART period during the IRL era, put into the perspective of the 100-year history of open-wheel circuit racing in America.

The headline "Don't grant Dixon legend status yet" was probably unfair to the New Zealand native, who at age 28 is already a two-time IndyCar Series champion and the most successful driver in the 15-year history of the Indy Racing League.

Another way to judge a driver is how his record stacks up against his teammates. In that regard, Dixon has had the measure of what should theoretically be his closest competition for his entire seven-year IndyCar Series career.

Since 2003, Dixon has consistently matched or beaten his teammates at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, a group that includes Tomas Scheckter, Darren Manning, Jaques Lazier, Georgio Pantano, Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti.

Dixon has 20 race wins compared to his teammates' combined total of nine; he's led 60 races for 2,721 laps compared to 48 for 2,400; notched 57 top-5 finishes compared to 43; and was his team's fastest qualifier 71 times as opposed to 39.

Despite the drubbing he has dished out, Dixon has never had a bad relationship with any of his teammates. And maybe that's the secret of his success. He truly understands and values the meaning of teamwork.

"Scott and Dario are great teammates because they both communicate 100 percent, all of the time," Ganassi Racing general manager Mike Hull said. "A lot of times you'll see guys who will share 98 percent of what they know, but keep that last little bit to themselves."

The only year in his Ganassi career that Dixon was demonstrably second-best to his teammate was 2006, when a confident Wheldon joined the team as the defending Indy Car Series and Indianapolis 500 champion. Wheldon led 761 laps to Dixon's 215 that year and finished second in the standings, two places ahead of Dixon.

Dixon credited Wheldon with helping him improve his form on the 1.5-mile speedways that make up a third of the IndyCar Series schedule. Within two years, the numbers were reversed and Dixon was out front for a record 899 laps to Wheldon's 164.

After running close in qualifying in 2006, when Dixon was faster than Wheldon eight times to six, Wheldon outqualified only Dixon once in 17 tries in 2008.

This year's battle between the Ganassi teammates is a good one. Dixon has four race wins to Franchitti's three, and has led nine races for 545 laps compared to Franchitti's seven for 308. Franchitti has been the faster qualifier for seven of 13 races, and both have garnered nine top-5 finishes. They are separated by 20 points (and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe) in the standings, with Dixon leading the championship.

Ganassi Racing aerodynamicist Andy Brown believes that even with all of his success, Dixon is still learning. "Even going back to his first year in the series, he learned from Scheckter," Brown said. "He's always working to get better, and he's not afraid to look at alternate approaches. Dario has really helped him improve on street courses this year."

Prior to his move to the IndyCar Series with the Ganassi team in 2003, Dixon had great resources to learn from during his two years in the CART series. He teamed with the highly respected Mauricio Gugelmin at PacWest Racing in 2001, and worked alongside Oriol Servia, Kenny Brack and Bruno Junqueira the following year.

So, in spite of all he has achieved so far in his American career, it's likely that the best is yet to come from Scott Dixon.