Dixon, Franchitti pace Target Ganassi

Target Chip Ganassi Racing celebrated several milestones in 2008: winning the Indianapolis 500, winning the IndyCar Series championship, and winning its 100th race as a team.

In 2009, the team will make history again when it becomes the first to pair the two most recent Indianapolis 500 and series champions. Scott Dixon, who captured both titles last year, returns to the team for his seventh season, while 2007 Indianapolis 500 and series champion Dario Franchitti joins Ganassi’s IndyCar Series operation for the first time.

Dating back to the first American Automobile Association-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 in 1911, the FIA-sanctioned Monaco Grand Prix in 1950 and the NASCAR-sanctioned Daytona 500 in 1959, no team has ever paired the previous two winners of the sport’s driver championship, and it’s respective crown jewel event, together on the same team.

“In open-wheel racing, I think what you try to achieve is winning the Indy 500 and surrounding yourself with the kinds of people it takes to continue to win,” said Mike Hull, the team’s managing director. “We’ve been very fortunate over time to have Target and all the associated support from Target and from all the vendors that supplied us the resources it takes to not only have the cars and the equipment and the kinds of things it takes to be successful, but it’s allowed us to have championship-caliber drivers drive our cars. It’s exciting to actually have two drivers with the pedigree that each of them now have competing with each other and competing with other people on the racetrack. It’s really going to be a lot of fun to experience this.”

Dixon is coming off his second championship season (2003, 2008), when he won a record-tying six races. The New Zealand native began his recent string of dominance midway through the 2007 season, winning 10 of the last 26 races.

“I think we’ve got a fantastic lineup if you just look at it as we’ve got the last two (Indianapolis) 500 champions, last two series champions,” Dixon said. “We definitely are going to have the target on our backs.”

Franchitti returns to the IndyCar Series after winning four races during his championship run in 2007 with Andretti Green.

“I think having Scott and I on the same team is good,” Franchitti said. “Scott is a great competitor, and he’s going to push me on. We’re going to push each other, for sure. That’s what it means to us and the team. We both believe we can do the job, Chip believes we can do the job, the guys on the team believe we can do the job.”

“It’s going to be a lot of fun to see these two guys as teammates,” team owner Chip Ganassi said. “I think they’ll bring out the best in each other. They are very similar drivers in that they are both, calm, cool and patient and are equally adept on road courses as they are on ovals. I know we have had some pretty good duos in our cars over the years like (Jimmy) Vasser and (Alex) Zanardi, Vasser and (Juan Pablo) Montoya and Dixon and (Dan) Wheldon, but I think this one has the chance to be real special.”
 

IndyCar Weekly will air live on indycar.com

IndyCar Weekly, a radio show hosted by Mike King, lead announcer for the IMS Radio Network, will air live on indycar.com beginning March 30.

The show will be broadcast every Monday through mid-October from 7-8 p.m. (ET). Many weeks IndyCar Weekly will follow the Firestone Indy Lights race show and IndyCar Series race replay that will air on VERSUS from 4-7 p.m.

IndyCar Weekly, which will feature special guests, listener Q&As and timely news from the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights, will be produced for IMS Radio Network affiliates’ replay during the week. It’s also available via Podcast and archived for listening on demand on indycar.com.

“It’s more interactive; that’s the best part about it,” King said. “We want to carry over that momentum from the weekend broadcast. We found last year when we opened up the lines of communication between the broadcast booth and listeners and they were able to e-mail us questions we made instant connections. Now to be able to feature Davey Hamilton in a segment that’s live and to be able to have a driver from the IndyCar Series or Firestone Indy Lights on live, it just makes it that much more interactive.”

IndyCar Weekly augments the IMS Radio Network’s coverage of IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights on indycar.com and its nationwide affiliate stations. According to independent media research firm Gfk, the IMS Radio Network broadcast of the 2008 Indianapolis 500 drew an average quarter-hour audience of more than 6.5 million.
 

Countdown to season opener

The 2009 IndyCar Series season opens April 5 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 2 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network. The radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season begins with a doubleheader race weekend April 4-5 at St. Petersburg. The races will be telecast at 6 p.m. (EDT) on April 6 by VERSUS.