Stealth Fighter

Scott Dixon has never subscribed to the "fame" part of being famous. But he's quietly building a career that will stand as one of Indy car racing's greatest-ever.

If Scott Dixon didn't already exist, you probably couldn't invent him. In an era where a professional athlete's value is measured in part by their potential for social media ubiquity, there shouldn't be much space for someone who can turn up, beat everyone without looking like he's done anything spectacular, and then willingly fade into the background. Nothing about Dixon lends itself easily to a GIF.

The four-time IndyCar Series champ is understatement embodied. In his racecar, he's all stealthy efficiency; outside of it, he's different things to different people – loyal and intelligent with a rapier wit to those who know him; obscured by an amiable inscrutability to those who don't.

The numbers tell a clearer story: those four titles, fifth on IndyCar's all-time win list, one Indy 500 win accompanied by a few near-misses. And yet he's a driver who you define not by his peaks, but by his consistency. He hasn't finished outside the top four in the championship for a decade. In 15 top-level seasons – two in CART, 13 in IndyCar – he's only gone winless twice. And 192 of his 215 career starts have been for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. But all of that comes served with a side-helping of laid-back humility that has made him one of the most under-appreciated drivers among fans.

"Dixon isn't flash," says close friend and former teammate Dario Franchitti. "He just doesn't do flash, in the car or out of it."

His ability to keep the world at a distance when he's away from the track might be one of the keys to his sustained performance. Where Will Power has spoken of sleepless nights after difficult weekends, and Franchitti has admitted to keeping a notepad next to his bed, there's a sense that Dixon has an off-switch, and he's not afraid to use it.

"If he does worry about things, he's bloody good at hiding it," says Franchitti. "He clearly thinks about racing a lot, because nobody is that successful without it being your life. But he does have an ability to switch off, and he does have an ability to make it look effortless, which is really annoying! It can wear you down if you're fighting against him."

Dixon himself believes that the different perspectives brought about by fatherhood have taught him to deal with racing-related disappointments.

"Having kids definitely changed the dynamic," he says. "If you have a crappy race, it's a good way to switch off when you get home – see what they've been up to for the weekend, play with some Barbies, maybe a Ken doll here and there. And [wife] Emma is very competitive; probably more competitive than myself. If I have a bad weekend, I can forget about it much quicker than she does, and she'll keep asking questions. That keeps me competitive as well, but I can also switch off and say, 'Hey, let's stop talking about that and move on to next week.'"

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