Target Chip Ganassi Racing

Open Wheel History

Team owner Chip Ganassi and Target began their partnership in 1990 with the creation of a one-car IndyCar team.  Since then, Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) has collected seven championship titles and 74 wins, including two Indianapolis 500 victories.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Target Team solidified its place in open-wheel racing history, as Chip Ganassi became the first owner to lead his team to four consecutive championships with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-98) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1999). In 2000, Montoya won the Indianapolis 500, claiming the title for his team which had not raced at the famed Brickyard since 1995.

In 2003, following a switch from the CART Series to the Indy Racing League, Ganassi and Team Target driver Scott Dixon proved they could meet the challenge of a new series and new competition by capturing the 2003 IndyCar Series Championship.

Dixon won the team's sixth championship in 2008 on the strength of his first Indianapolis 500 win and a record-tying six race victories.

In 2009, Dixon - the reigning IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 Champion, joined new teammate Dario Franchitti – the 2007 IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 Champion, and made history. TCGR became the first organization in major auto racing history to team drivers who have won both its sanctioning body’s Driver Championship (IndyCar Series) and its marquee event (Indianapolis 500) the previous two seasons.

The pairing of Dixon and Franchitti also came on heels of the Chip Ganassi Racing’s (CGR) best season in their 19-year history with 14 wins across their six teams in four different touring series. In addition, CGR became one of only a handful of race teams to reach the 100-win milestone when it did so last July.

The 2009 season proved to be an exceptional one for Dixon and Franchitti, resulting in a one-two sweep of the point standings with Franchitti winning his second driver's championship (2007).  Along the way, Franchitti (five) and Dixon (five) combined to win 10 of 17 races for Target, who celebrated their 20th year of partnership with TCGR in 2009.  The 10-win season tied the team record from the 19-race CART season in 1998, in which Alex Zanardi captured seven race wins and Jimmy Vasser posted three.

Dixon and Franchitti will return again as teammates in 2010, having combined to win the past three IndyCar Series championships and two of the last three Indianapolis 500s.

The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season features a 17-race schedule, with events on eight ovals, four permanent road courses and five temporary street circuits.


Chip Ganassi - Team Owner

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Following a strong career as a driver, Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor – Target. Success has been no stranger to Ganassi as a team owner, his open wheel teams have amassed six championships and 64 wins while overall his teams can claim nine championships and over 100 wins; his NASCAR teams have 12 victories and three "Rookie of the Year" titles. Ganassi also boasts two state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., and a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Ganassi solidified his place in open wheel racing history, becoming the first owner to lead his team to four consecutive championships with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-98) and then with rookie Juan Pablo Montoya's championship in 1999. In 2000, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Montoya blew away the competition in the Indianapolis 500, claiming the title for his team which had not raced at the famed Brickyard since 1995. In 2003, following a switch from the CART Series to the Indy Racing League, Ganassi and Team Target driver Scott Dixon proved they could meet the challenge of a new series and new competition by capturing the 2003 Indy Racing League Championship.