OK, the NTT IndyCar Championship is one of the few major motor racing series in the world to consistently need all (in the case of this year’s title chase) 17 rounds to be run before a final overall winner can be announced.
Sure, it took young Red Bull Honda driver Max Verstappen until the very last lap of the final GP (of 22) of the 2021 season to wrestle the World F1 championship title off long-time incumbent Lewis Hamilton.
Before that – in retrospect – momentous day in Abu Dhabi last year, however, the annual F1 World Championship has been dominated by a single team and (usually with it) driver for often long periods of time.
Of late it’s been Mercedes-Benz and the afore-mentioned Lewis Hamilton (who won 6 of his record equalling 7 F1World Champion crowns between 2014 & 2020.
Not only that but more often than not Hamilton had one hand on the trophy with several rounds to spare.
He has by no means been the only driver to stamp his authority on the world’s premier motor racing for multiple seasons at a time.
(Red Bull Renault) who won four F1world championship titles in a row between 2011 and 2013.
Before Vettel there was Fernando Alonso who won two consecutive F1 World championship titles for Renault in 2005 & 2006, then the Daddy of them all, Michael Schumacher, who won 5 of his record-setting 7 F1 world championship titles for Ferrari between 2000 & 2004.
‘Schuie’ also still holds the record for claiming the title with the most GPs yet to run (6) set in 2006 at the French Grand Prix.
The NTT IndyCar series has had its fair share of dominant team and driver combinations over the years (think fast Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais’s 4 x Champ Car titles won over consecutive seasons between 2004 and 2007, and Scott, Dario Franchitti, who won three titles consecutively between 2009 and 2011).
In saying that the sheer nature of the NTT IndyCar series with its ‘spec’ Dallara chassis and aero package and limited choice of engine supplier (either Honda or Chevrolet) means is it infinitely harder for one team – let alone a single driver – to gain anything more than the fleeting-est of advantages in a full-to-bursting field of at least 35 cars, driven – for the most part expertly – by a mix of front-runners like our own Scott Dixon and ex F1 aces like Marcus Ericsson from Sweden and Frenchman, Romain Grosjean, bright-eyed and bushy tailed ‘young guns’ like Josef Newgarden (already a two-time series title holder), second-generation driver Colton Herta, and Pato O’Ward from Mexico.
Towering over the series like a colossus, is – of course, Scott Ronald Dixon. Now 42 years of age, ‘Young Scottie’ (as he will always be known in the MacKay household!) is fast approaching living legend status in his adopted hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, thanks to an unbroken line of achievement going back 20+ years.
Not only for instance is Dixon now a six-time winner of the US IndyCar championship he is (also) so far, the only driver to earn his first series win in his rookie season (2003).
He has subsequently won the series title five more times (in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020, as well as the series’ Great Race,’ the Indianapolis 500 (from pole), in 2008.
Since then, Dixon has come very close to winning the ‘500 on several other occasions as well; only for fate to intervene – usually late in the race.
Despite that, in this year’s 500 he finally eclipsed Al Unser’s long-standing record for number of race laps led.
This year the now 42-yrsr-old also equalled then bettered the number of race wins set by one of the other OGs of US racing, Mario Andretti. And with 53 race wins now to his name, Dixon is now second only to legendary US racer A. J. Foyt who won 67), in terms of Open Wheeler racing at a national level.
Not bad for a kid from Manurewa with a rare talent for driving race cars which – fortunately – shone through brightly enough to allow him to develop and hone it in the crucible that is IndyCar racing.
What distinguishes Dixon’s record-setting efforts, of course is his metronomic-like consistency as well as his formidable pace which has seen him always in contention for the NTT IndyCar Series top prize at the pointy end of the season – whether or not he has been one of the ‘form’ drivers early on in the year.
This year, for instance, Dixon is nominally 3rd in the series’ points standings, albeit with the same number of points (503) as second placed two-time series title-holder Josef Newgarden and just 20 down on series points leader Will Power who has 523.
In theory all long-time, Toowoomba, Queensland-born Aussie expat Power has to do is finish Sunday’s season-final race at Laguna Seca in the top three to make the 2022 NTT IndyCar title his.
Which doesn’t sound too onerous a task for someone in Power’s position, does it?
Unless of course, you factor in what I am going to call the ‘Scott McLaughlin effect.’
As he did at the opening round of this year’s NTT IndyCar Series at Florida’s St Petersburg street circuit in February (where he claimed his first IndyCar series race win from pole!) Kiwi Scott McLaughlin made winning his second at Mid-Ohio and third at Portland last weekend look almost ridiculously easy. (Which you can see for yourself below)
And if he can do the same at Laguna Seca this weekend…….
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though.
McLaughlin earned the victory driving his No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet to a 1.1792-second margin over teammate and long-ish time series points leader Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, and the other Kiwi competing, Scott Dixon third\
With his maximum points from Portland McLaughlin is now one of five drivers eligible to win the Astor Challenge Cup at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday (Sept. 11) at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, joining Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, and Marcus Ericsson.
Power remains the overwhelming – not to mention, sentimental – favourite to claim his – his second season championship – his first coming back in 2014 – as he acknowledged last weekend in Portland.
“I want to win this championship for the guys that have been with me for more than a decade,” said Power, who began driving full time for Team Penske in 2010.
“It’s a lot less selfish for me this time around because they deserve it. I feel their pain over the years of losing so many, so I would love to win it for them.’
Scott Dixon, meanwhile, was talking up his chances.
“We’re still in the fight,” Dixon said. “Anything is possible. We’ve won on tiebreakers before. We’re in it, and we won’t ever give up as a team until it’s over.”
As was his namesake, Scott McLaughlin, who told reporters at Portland that; “we did exactly what we needed to do this weekend, and that was win and get max points and keep ourselves in the fight.
“Yeah, we’re a long shot. I don’t care. We’re a shot, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Needless to say, this year’s is the 17th consecutive season in which the NTT IndyCar Series championship will remain up for grabs until the season finale.
This year is also the first time since the 2017 season that at least five drivers will race for the Astor Challenge Cup at the final round. (“McLaughlin Runs Away at Portland; Five to Race for Title”)
And so. who do I think is going to win at Laguna Seca on Sunday?
OK. As much as my head says, ‘Will Power has got it in the bag,’ my heart is with the two Kiwi ‘Scotts,’ Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin; my ‘parting shot’ a rousing ‘may the best Scott win!’
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