Do we like Scott Dixon?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record, a name for honesty and giving back, and a knighthood; it stops short of a 9 because little is on record about wider causes.
Scott Dixon is a 45-year-old New Zealander and one of the great IndyCar drivers. He has six series titles (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020), ranks second all-time in IndyCar wins with 59, and won the 2008 Indianapolis 500. That is a long run at the top of a brutal sport.
The big story is the move. After a long stint at Chip Ganassi Racing, he told the team he would not return in 2027, then signed with Arrow McLaren. He called it an “exciting next step in my career.” It's a business move, not a scandal, though it will sting Ganassi fans.
Dixon's only real brush with officialdom is old. In September 2013, IndyCar fined him $30,000 and put him on probation through the end of that year. Officials found his post-race comments after the Baltimore Grand Prix disparaged series officials and other competitors. He could work off the fine with public appearances for the series. That's a bloke venting after a bad day, not a pattern.
His reputation for straight talk shows up in the 2022 saga over his Ganassi teammate Alex Palou's contract. Dixon said “For me, honesty is key, man; loyalty as well.” He added that he was disappointed in how it was handled. Some will call that blunt, but it fits the picture of someone who says what he thinks.
On the harm check, we searched for his words and acts on LGBTQ+ people, women, climate, vaccines and politics, and nothing harmful turned up. Nor did anything strongly positive on trans rights or the climate. He has no culture-war record, and the teams he drives for are racing teams, not campaign vehicles. That's a pass on what we found, with a gap where the wider causes would be.
The good stuff is real. In 2019 he spent a morning reading to a class of preschoolers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through a PNC Bank programme, and said “We have to look out for the next generation and the next generation of racers.” At the end of 2025 New Zealand made him a Knight Companion of its Order of Merit, and his reaction was to say it was more about the people who helped him.