IndyCar: How rare are 5-time champions in motorsports?

By Asher Fair | Sep 18, 2018

SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 16: Scott Dixon, driver of the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images) /

Scott Dixon became just the second five-time champion in IndyCar history on Sunday. How rare are five-time champions throughout motorsports?

With his second place finish in the 17th and final race of the 2018 IndyCar season, the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma, at Sonoma Raceway, Scott Dixon became just the second five-time champion in IndyCar history.

But just how rare are five-time champions in not only IndyCar but in the NASCAR Cup Series and Formula 1 as well?

The only other five-time IndyCar champion aside of Dixon is a seven-time champion. This seven-time champion is A.J. Foyt, who became a five-time champion in the 1967 USAC season, a six-time champion in the 1975 season and a seven-time champion in the 1979 season.

Mario Andretti is the only other IndyCar driver with five championships, but he earned his five championships across both IndyCar and Formula 1. He earned four IndyCar championships and one Formula 1 championship. The IndyCar championship that he earned in the 1984 season made him a four-time IndyCar champion and a five-time champion across IndyCar and Formula 1.

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In the NASCAR Cup Series, all three of the five-time champions are seven-time champions. These three seven-time champions are Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson.

Petty became a five-time champion in the 1974 season, a six-time champion in the 1975 season and a seven-time champion in the 1979 season. Earnhardt became a five-time champion in the 1991 season, a six-time champion in the 1993 season and a seven-time champion in the 1994 season. Johnson became a five-time champion in the 2010 season, a six-time champion in the 2013 season and a seven-time champion in the 2016 season.

In Formula 1, two drivers have earned five championships. Those drivers are seven-time champion Michael Schumacher and five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

Fangio was the first five-time Formula 1 champion. He became a five-time champion in the 1957 season. Schumacher became a five-time champion in the 2002 season, a six-time champion in the 2003 season and a seven-time champion in the 2004 season.

Lewis Hamilton is well on his way to become the third five-time champion in Formula 1 history later this year. The four-time champion currently leads the driver standings by 40 points over fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, meaning that even if he loses his lead in the standings, a new five-time champion is still set to be crowned.

Since Fangio became the first five-time champion of any one of these three series back in 1957, just seven more drivers, including Andretti, have been crowned five-time champions, meaning that an average of 8.71 years. This average will drop to 7.63 once either Hamilton (or Vettel) is crowned a five-time Formula 1 champion within the next few months.

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After Scott Dixon and likely Lewis Hamilton, when will there be another five-time champion in IndyCar, the NASCAR Cup Series and/or Formula 1? Will Sebastian Vettel eventually become a five-time champion? If not, how long will it take for another driver to be crowned champion in five different seasons? Odds are it won’t happen at any point in the near future, at least not anywhere near within the next 7.63 or even 8.71 years.

The only two-time, three-time or four-time champions who are currently active in any one of these series are two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, who is set to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season, and Sebastien Bourdais, who is a four-time Champ Car champion and has not won a championship since the 2007 season and has not had a ton of success in the modern IndyCar series.

With this in mind, enjoy the greatness that is currently on display and has been on display for the last several seasons by drivers such as Dixon, Hamilton and Jimmie Johnson. We may not see it again for several decades.