Where Palou stacks up against the American racing greats

When people talk about Alex Palou’s recent run of success in the IndyCar Series in historic terms, it’s not hot air or hyperbole. What Palou has achieved in his first five years racing in America – 19 wins including an Indianapolis 500, and four IndyCar championships, with the last three coming consecutively – stacks up with the all-time series greats.

Since AJ Foyt won 27 of 60 races and four United States Auto Club-sanctioned National Championships in a five-year period between 1960-64, long before the term ‘Indy car’ entered the lexicon, only a handful of drivers have achieved the same level of sustained dominance. Foyt’s 1964 season, when he won 10 of 13 races and led 49% of all laps, ranks among the best in American racing history.

Mario Andretti was part of IndyCar’s rear-engined revolution as he snatched the 1965 USAC crown from Foyt in his first full season of competition, and he added two more titles (and two close runner-up finishes) before the decade turned to the 1970s. Rick Mears then went on a four-year heater from 1979-82 that resulted in three CART-sanctioned championships. Mears led 58% of all laps in 1982 for his third title, yet his season is remembered almost exclusively for his close loss to Gordon Johncock at the Indianapolis 500.

Moving into a more modern era, Alex Zanardi took the CART series by storm from 1996-98, running at the front from the very start and romping to the season laurels in the latter two years. The Italian’s epic seven-win, 15-podiums-from-19-starts 1998 campaign is another candidate for best Indycar season of all time.

Zanardi’s most serious competitor in 1998 was Dario Franchitti, who eventually became the man to beat following Indycar racing’s 21st Century reunification. Franchitti won championships every year he competed in the IndyCar Series between 2007 and 2011, also claiming two of his three Indianapolis 500 victories in that span. Dario’s 31st and final Indycar race win came at the 2012 Indy 500.

Perhaps more than anyone else, Franchitti is well-placed to comment on Palou’s career to date. Not only is Dario on the pantheon of Indycar greats, three of his four championships (and two of three Indy wins) came with Chip Ganassi Racing, where he remains employed as a driver coach/engineering advisor. The Scot has therefore witnessed Palou’s skill and progression from up close with the perspective of champion and insider.

Franchitti has seen up close just how good Palou is

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

“He’s driven beautifully,” says Franchitti. “The team gives him fast cars and great pitstops, and he does the rest. He does all the things you need to win. His style really suits the car, and from the moment he got to IndyCar, he’s shown a rare level of intelligence that helps him find ways to find performance from the car when he needs it. He has this ability to see the races from start to finish as a whole and the way he’s able to play the long game is really impressive.

“We’ve all gone on these streaks. And whether it’s me, Zanardi, [Scott] Dixon, Jimmy [Vasser], [Juan Pablo] Montoya, whoever, the constant is Chip Ganassi Racing.”

Indeed, Ganassi’s organisation has taken over the mantle of top IndyCar entrant from Team Penske. Palou’s recent run of championships brought Ganassi’s tally to 17, which matches Penske. Penske still holds the upper hand with 20 Indys 500 wins to Ganassi’s six, an accomplishment far more important to Roger Penske. But Ganassi has achieved all his success as a team owner since 1990, whereas Penske’s Indycar history dates to 1968. Eight of Penske’s championships and seven of his 20 Indianapolis wins preceded the formation of Chip Ganassi Racing.

"We’re just tapping Alex’s talent. We may have just scratched the surface. Unfortunately for everyone else, I don’t think he's hit the ceiling" Chip Ganassi

Franchitti, Ganassi, and CGR managing director Mike Hull are unanimous when they say they first spotted Palou’s potential at the 2020 Indy 500, when he was pitted adjacent to Dixon as a rookie driving for Dale Coyne. Palou crashed out of the race, but the Ganassi group saw him show speed and savvy as he overcame comparatively slow pitstops.

Palou won his first race for Ganassi to open the 2021 season and went on to claim the first of his four IndyCar championships. The key race was Portland, where Palou won from pole to right the ship after a pair of DNFs.

His 2025 championship was his finest to date, as he demoralised the competition with that early string of five wins in the first six races. The Indys 500 triumph was Palou’s first win on an oval, an important career milestone for a lifelong road-racer.

Palou has kept up the run of success for Ganassi in IndyCar

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“That kid is a good driver and he’s on one hell of a roll,” says Ganassi. “He’s become one of the greats. Certainly, we’ve had some great drivers on our team, and he stands shoulder to shoulder with all the rest of them. He’s clearly in that group of champions we’ve had.

“I did say at the beginning of the year we’re just tapping Alex’s talent. We may have just scratched the surface. Unfortunately for everyone else, I don’t think he's hit the ceiling.”

Back in 2019, Palou had no idea his career would take him to Japan, where a near-miss in the Super Formula championship put him on Honda’s radar for the IndyCar ride with Coyne in association with Team Goh. After winning the 2021 title, for Ganassi, he continued to pursue his ultimate dream of Formula 1 by signing a contract with McLaren in July 2022, which led to the protracted and still-ongoing legal dispute between McLaren and Palou sparked by the driver reneging to stay in IndyCar with Ganassi.

Maybe the most impressive aspect of Palou’s American tenure is that he managed to win the 2023 IndyCar championship for Ganassi after announcing his intention to leave the team. His change of heart to recommit to Ganassi and IndyCar culminated in his dominant run to the 2025 title, in which he led nearly a third of all laps and ended the year with eight wins from 17 starts.

“It just keeps getting better,” says Palou. “It’s not that you can compare this one to 2021 or last year, but this is by far the happiest and the best I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s the best. The way I’ve been feeling this year is incredible. Every single weekend it’s been getting better and better. We’ve won so many races. We won the Indy 500. The feeling you get after winning that race is an explosion of amazing feelings. People keep reminding you about that every single day when you wake up, which makes it feel even more special.

“I love the sport. I love working with my team, my mechanics, my engineers, everybody that is involved in racing to go through race weekends and try and be better than everybody else.”

Palou's breakthrough maiden oval victory, at this year's Indy 500 no less, could mean further domination will follow

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images via Getty Images