McMurray gives Ganassi historic win

Last weekend was an historic one for Chip Ganassi's ultra-successful racing team.

Jamie McMurray's NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at the Brickyard 400 means that the veteran team owner is the first man to see his cars win the USA's big three oval races in the same year.

McMurray's result added to his victory in February's Daytona 500 and to Dario Franchitti's Indianapolis 500 triumph in May.

To make the weekend even better, Scott Dixon inherited an IndyCar victory at Edmonton a few hours later, after on-the-road winner Helio Castroneves (driving for Ganassi's big rival Team Penske) was penalised a lap for blocking.

The success story for Ganssi began in 1994 in Champ Car when Michael Andretti - back after a disastrous year in Formula 1 - opened the season with a victory at Surfers Paradise.

Its maiden title came a little under two years later as Jimmy Vasser triumphed in 1996. Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya made it four consecutive drivers' titles for the team up to '99 and the Colombian also took an incredible Indy 500 victory on a one-off appearance in the IRL the following season.

With Champ Car's appeal dwindling, a one-car IRL effort got the go-ahead in 2002 and laid the foundation for Scott Dixon's title in his debut campaign the following year.

A number of lean years followed, but back-to-back championships from Dixon and Dario Franchitti over the past two seasons have re-established Ganassi's squad as the only true opposition to Team Penske in the IndyCar Series.

While single-seaters remain the lifeblood of Ganassi's operation, the team has had considerable success in both stock car and sportscar racing over the last decade.

In 2001 a tie-up with Felix Sabates' NASCAR squad was established and wins from Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. However, it was not until this year (following another merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc), that the team became a real front-runner.

McMurray's Daytona 500 victory this year - for the renamed Earnhardt Ganassi Racing squad - was his and the team's biggest in the Sprint Cup. Morally, his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya should have joined him as one of the year's winners. His inability to do that is more down to luck than judgement though.

Sportscar competition, and in particular the Grand-Am series, has been an unlikely source of success over the past few seasons.

Scott Pruett and Max Angelelli claimed the squad's first title in 2004 in a Riley-Lexus while Memo Rojas joined up with Pruett to take the '08 crown.

During that time, 29 wins has made the squad the undisputed top team in the class, while four of those victories have come at the historic Daytona 24 Hours.

The only big prizes that still elude Ganassi's squad in US Motorsport are the Sebring 12 Hours and the United States Grand Prix.

While an F1 entry (complete with a USGP to compete in) looks like a highly unlikely step, you wouldn't bet against an American Le Mans Series programme in the future, would you?