IndyCar: Scott Dixon ties A.J. Foyt record with Texas win

By Asher Fair | Jun 7, 2020

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Texas Motor Speedway, IndyCar (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Scott Dixon tied one of A.J. Foyt’s all-time IndyCar records with his dominant win in the 2020 season opener at Texas Motor Speedway.

For the first time since the 2008 season, which he entered as just a one-time IndyCar champion, five-time champion Scott Dixon opened up a new season with a victory.

He did so with a dominant performance at Texas Motor Speedway, the first oval track to host a season opener since Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the 2008 opener which Dixon won.

His victory, which included 157 laps led throughout the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) high-banked oval in Fort Worth, Texas after starting in second place, was the 47th victory of his IndyCar career, moving him to within five wins of Mario Andretti on the all-time wins list.

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Sitting atop the all-time IndyCar wins list is A.J. Foyt, the seven-time champion and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner whose nickname is “Super Tex”.

Foyt’s record mark of 67 career victories will be tough for Dixon, or anybody for that matter, to catch and pass.

But with his dominant victory in Foyt’s home state, Dixon tied another one of Foyt’s record. The 39-year-old New Zealander, who is in his 20th season of American open-wheel racing competition, has now won at least one race in 18 different seasons, matching the mark which Foyt solidified with his 67th and final victory at Pocono Raceway back in 1981.

Dixon has now won at least one race in each of the last 16 seasons, extending his record in that category. He went winless in the 2002 CART season and more recently in the 2004 IndyCar season. Foyt’s longest streak in that respect was only seven seasons (1973 to 1979).

Behind Dixon among active drivers in both of these categories is Will Power, who has been victorious in 13 different seasons — the last 13.

Power’s first full season in Champ Car back in 2006 is his only season as a full-time driver during which he did not produce at least one victory. He has won multiple races in nine of the last 10 seasons, including each of the last four.

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Dixon is set to carry his lead in the championship standings to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the GMR Grand Prix at the track’s road course on Saturday, July 4. Power has won three of the six races which have been contested here, most recently 2018’s edition, while Dixon has finished in second place in each of the last three.