LOOK out IndyCar: the lightning bolt is back.
Reigning series champion Scott Dixon took the covers off the Target-sponsored, Chevrolet-powered Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar he will pilot in the 2016 season.
This year marks 20 years since Ganassi’s team took its first title, the team marking special anniversary with a return to its most famous livery.
The lightning bolt harks back to the beginning of the Ganassi team’s time at the top of the sport.
The yellow streak first appeared on Ganassi’s cars in 1995, when they still wore black in their sidepods.
The bolt stayed when the cars went all red for 1996, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya streaking to four championship wins on the trot and a string of victories.
The colours also have a winning history at the Brickyard. Montoya came home the winner in Ganassi’s smash-and-grab dominance of the 2000 Indianapolis 500.
“It’s very exciting to have the lightning bolt paint scheme back on the car,” Dixon said.
“I think it first showed up in 1995 on (Jimmy) Vasser and Bryan Herta’s car, actually, and then it went through 2001 with Memo (Gidley), I think, being the last one.
“I went to see my very first IndyCar race in 1997 in Vancouver. It brings back a lot of great memories, but also of a lot of legendary drivers like Alex Zanardi, Vasser and (Juan Pablo) Montoya.
“When I came in (to the Ganassi team) in 2002, the paint scheme had changed at that point.
“But to me, it’s good to see it. It’s an amazing ride and in this year, with the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, bringing back this iconic paint scheme, we’re obviously hoping for good things.”
Dixon will have a new teammate this year with former F1 driver Max Chilton slotting into the four-car Ganassi line-up, replacing Sage Karam in the No. 8 car.
The reveals came on a day when Chevrolet’s engine rival, Honda, pledged to continue their commitment in the IndyCar series.
Honda, who has been a fixture in IndyCar racing since 1994, signed a multi-year agreement to be an engine supplier to the sport.
The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series gets underway at the St Petersburg street circuit on March 13.
