Ganassi team closing in on team-record win streak
The current streak has been accomplished on a 2.5-mile superspeedway (Pocono Raceway), temporary street course (Toronto, doubleheader) and a 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course (Mid-Ohio) by Scott Dixon and Kimball. Next up is Sonoma Raceway, where both Dixon (2007) and Dario Franchitti (2009) have won.
"When you're consistently running close to the top five you'll get podiums," Kimball said. "When you're (on the podium) every now and again, then you're going to pick up a win. And we have sort of taken that next step, not just me as a driver, but us as a team. I think we came into the weekend ready to win, and when the situation arose, we took advantage of that."
The Ganassi team record for consecutive victories is six from May 26 to July 19, 1998, by Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi, who went on to win seven races and the CART championship.
The last team with a four-race winning streak was Team Penske to start the 2012 season (Helio Castroneves at St. Petersburg followed by Will Power at Barber, Long Beach and Sao Paulo).
The Indy car record is seven by Ansted-Thompson Racing in 1964 (A.J. Foyt winning the first seven races during his USAC championship year) and matched in 1994 by Marlboro Team Penske (Emerson Fittipaldi starting it at Phoenix, followed by three consecutive victories by Al Unser Jr., a victory at Belle Isle by Paul Tracy and two more wins by Unser).
At Mid-Ohio, Dixon missed on being the first IZOD IndyCar Series driver to win four in a row. The last to do it was Sebastien Bourdais to start the 2006 Champ Car season. The record is seven in a row by Foyt (Phoenix on March 22 to Springfield on Aug. 22) during that '64 season in which he won a record 10 races (matched by Al Unser in 1972).