Scott Dixon's quiet run to 17th place in the GoPro Grand Prix on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway brought to an end one of auto racing's most enduring and successful partnerships between a sponsor and a team.
Target and Chip Ganassi joined forces in 1990, when the former Indy car driver bought out Patrick Racing to establish his name as a team owner in the CART-sanctioned IndyCar championship, running a single car for ex-Formula One driver Eddie Cheever.
Since then, Target Chip Ganassi Racing has become synonymous with success. Michael Andretti delivered the team's first win in 1994, and Jimmy Vasser followed with a CART championship two years later. That kicked off a remarkable streak of four consecutive CART titles, with Alex Zanardi taking the honors in 1997 and '98 and hotshot 23-year-old rookie Juan Pablo Montoya stealing the crown a year later.
The accomplishments kept coming when Target Chip Ganassi Racing switched from CART to the then-IRL IndyCar Series in 2003. All told, Target/Ganassi cars have won 10 Indy car championships under CART and IndyCar Series sanction, most recently in 2015 with Dixon's fourth crown.
In all, Ganassi cars have won 102 Indy car races and 11 series championships, most in the colors of Target or highlighted associate sponsors. But Target recently underwent top-level management changes, and Ganassi was informed that the Indy car sponsorship program would not be renewed. Target colors will continue to appear on the No. 42 car that Ganassi campaigns in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for at least one more year.
On Friday night, Ganassi, Target and the team celebrated their long association with a party at a winery near Sonoma Raceway that featured entertainment from actor Jeff Bridges and his band.
"Not a dry eye in the house," revealed Dario Franchitti, who won three of his four IndyCar championships while driving the No. 10 Target/Ganassi car.
But while the party was held in honor of Target, the Sonoma IndyCar weekend also was important to the Ganassi organization for another reason: It marked the first time all 14 of Chip Ganassi's cars competed on the same weekend.
Aside from the four Indy cars at Sonoma, Ganassi entries racing this past weekend included NASCAR Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series cars at Chicagoland Speedway, IMSA and FIA WEC sports cars at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), and Global Rallycross Championship cars in Seattle.
Ganassi cars have scored 10 race wins across all six platforms the team competes in this year.
"When you look back to where Chip's business all started back in 1990 with a one-car Indy car operation, it's very impressive to see the racing empire he's built," said Franchitti, who joined the Ganassi organization in 2008 to pursue a NASCAR career before successfully switching back to Indy cars for the most successful era of his career a year later.
"Running 14 cars in six series across the globe doesn't just happen overnight -- you have to have strong partners like Target and first-class team personnel supporting you along the way. Decent drivers don't hurt, either!
"It's one thing to just field that many cars, but I think Chip would be most proud of the fact that he's won this season in each of those series," Franchitti added. "That is no easy feat by any means."
Ganassi spent most of his weekend at Sonoma, but he did fly to COTA on Saturday for the rare opportunity to see his U.S.- and Europe-based sports car teams competing at the same track on the same weekend -- albeit in different races. He was back with the IndyCar program on Sunday.
"This [IndyCar] is what gets him up and running in the morning," said Franchitti, who continues to work with the Ganassi team as a driver coach and engineering advisor following his retirement as a driver at the end of 2013.
Unfortunately, Dixon was unable to repeat as the Sonoma winner. He struggled with braking issues in practice and qualifying and was affected by problems with his radio during the race.
Dixon won the 2003, '08, '13 and '15 IndyCar Series championships for Ganassi.
"Racing with Target for the last 27 years has been fantastic," said Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull. "We've had some great ups and some great downs together, but what has made them terrific as a partner is they lived through both of those with equal support. They haven't moved from team to team, they haven't moved from series to series and they have been extremely important to us.
"I wish we could have gone out a little higher today, but some days it just isn't your day."