Although born in Brisbane, Dixon holds New Zealand citizenship. His parents raced various types of cars and owned a dirt speedway in Townsville, North Queensland. The family returned to Auckland, New Zealand after a major accident involving his father. Dixon attended Manurewa Central Primary, Green Meadows Intermediate, and James Cook High School. He married former British and Welsh 800 metres champion Emma Davies in February 2008; they have three children.
Dixon began karting at age seven, and over the following years won thirty major Australian and New Zealand karting championships in his age group, including the 1992 New Zealand Junior Restricted Championship. At thirteen he began car racing on a junior competition licence. He took the 1994 New Zealand Formula Vee Championship at his first attempt, becoming its youngest champion. He then won the 1995–96 New Zealand Formula Ford Class II Championship with thirteen victories in fourteen events.
With support from manager Ken Smith and funding raised through the Scott Dixon Motor Sport (SDMS) company, Dixon moved to the Australian Drivers' Championship Formula Holden class. He achieved five wins, five second-places, and seven pole positions in the twelve-round 1998 series to claim the Australian Gold Star Drivers' Championship after a season-long duel with Todd Kelly, and was named Rookie of the Year.
In late 1998 Dixon moved to the United States to enter Indy Lights with Johansson Motorsports, tested at Sebring International Raceway by Stefan Johansson. He finished fifth in the 1999 season with one victory, second to Jonny Kane in Rookie of the Year. In October 1999 he tested a Formula 3000 car for the Gauloises Junior Team in France. After Smith left Dixon's management team, Johansson became his manager and arranged a move to PacWest Racing for 2000. Dixon won the Indy Lights title with 155 points, six victories, and eight top-four finishes, becoming the series' second-youngest title winner behind Greg Moore.
Dixon was promoted to CART by PacWest in 2001, replacing the retired Mark Blundell in the No. 18 Reynard 01I-Toyota. He won the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway on his third career start, becoming the youngest winner of a major open-wheel race at twenty years, nine months, and fourteen days. He finished eighth in the championship with 98 points and won the Rookie of the Year award.
In 2002, financial trouble forced PacWest to disband. Chip Ganassi Racing signed Dixon to drive its third car for the rest of the season, where he achieved nine top-ten finishes including a season-best second at the Grand Prix of Denver.
Dixon and CGR moved to the IndyCar Series before the 2003 season. He won his debut race, the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, after leading the final 53 laps. He took successive wins at Pikes Peak International Raceway and Richmond International Raceway. At the season-ending Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Dixon finished second to win the championship with 507 points, tying on points with Hélio Castroneves who needed a victory.
Dixon was winless in 2004, finishing tenth overall. In 2005 he won at Watkins Glen after leading 25 laps, finishing thirteenth in the championship. CGR switched from Toyota to Honda engines for 2006 after Toyota left IndyCar for NASCAR. Dixon won at Watkins Glen in a wet race and at Nashville Superspeedway by 0.1176 seconds over Dan Wheldon, finishing fourth overall.
In 2007 Dixon won three consecutive races at Watkins Glen, Nashville, and Mid-Ohio, tying a series record, and won at Sonoma. He entered the season finale trailing Dario Franchitti by three points but ran out of fuel on the final lap to finish runner-up.
In 2008 Dixon won five races including the Indianapolis 500 from pole position, leading 115 laps. He won at Texas from pole, and at Edmonton and Kentucky — leading 151 laps in the latter — to win his second series title, finishing 0.0033 seconds behind race winner Castroneves in the season finale.
In 2009 Dixon broke Sam Hornish Jr.'s all-time series wins record with his nineteenth victory at Mid-Ohio and won five races total, but finished championship runner-up to teammate Franchitti. He won two races in 2010, including a second consecutive Kansas victory, finishing third overall.
In 2011 Dixon won at Mid-Ohio and Motegi, finishing third in the championship. In 2012 he won at Detroit's Belle Isle and Mid-Ohio, again finishing third. He signed a three-year contract extension with CGR in mid-2012.
In 2013 he won four races — including both races of the Honda Indy Toronto doubleheader and the first Houston race — and claimed his third series title with 577 points. CGR switched to Chevrolet engines for 2014; Dixon won at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma for third in the final standings.
In 2015 Dixon won his first Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach after leading 44 laps, and won at Texas and in the season finale at Sonoma. He tied Juan Pablo Montoya on 556 points but was declared champion on a count-back of victories: Dixon three, Montoya two.
In 2016 Dixon broke a series record with wins in twelve consecutive seasons. He took three wins including victories at Phoenix and Watkins Glen, finishing sixth in the championship for the first time since 2005 — CGR having returned to Honda engines in 2017.
In 2017 Dixon qualified on pole for the Indianapolis 500 but crashed airborne on lap 53 after contact with Jay Howard; both were unhurt. He finished third in the championship.
In 2018, racing with a new universal aerodynamic car package, Dixon led 119 laps to win at Texas, won the first Detroit race and the Honda Indy Toronto, and won his fifth championship with 678 points, finishing second at Sonoma.
In 2020 — a shortened season of fourteen events — Dixon led 157 of 200 laps to win the Genesys 300 at Texas, matching A. J. Foyt's record of eighteen seasons with a victory. He went on to win at the Indianapolis road course, the first Road America race, and took his 50th career win at Gateway, winning his sixth championship by 16 points over Josef Newgarden.
In 2021 Dixon surpassed Foyt's record by winning a race in his nineteenth season, at Texas, finishing fourth in the standings. In 2022 he won at Toronto and Nashville to finish fourth. In 2023 he won the Gallagher Grand Prix and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway, finishing runner-up in the championship. In 2024 he won at Long Beach and Detroit through fuel-saving strategy, and surpassed Mario Andretti's record for most career IndyCar podiums with his 142nd, finishing sixth. In 2025 he won at Mid-Ohio after teammate Palou ran wide with six laps remaining, finishing third in the standings.
Dixon made his endurance debut at the 1999 Petit Le Mans in a Ferrari 333 SP. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2006 with CGR's No. 2 Riley-Lexus (shared with Dan Wheldon and Casey Mears), in 2015 with Kanaan, Larson, and McMurray completing 740 laps, and in 2020 with Wayne Taylor Racing in a Cadillac DPi-V.R shared with Ryan Briscoe, Kamui Kobayashi, and Renger van der Zande, completing a record 833 laps. Dixon, Bourdais, and van der Zande won the 2024 Petit Le Mans coming from two laps down after two drive-through penalties.
Dixon raced Ford CGR's No. 67 Ford GT alongside Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook in the 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class for three years, with a best Le Mans class finish of third in 2016 and a 2018 Daytona GTLM category win.
Dixon was named New Zealand's Sportsman of the Year in 2008 and 2013. He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009, a Companion in 2019, and appointed Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2026 New Year Honours, all for services to motorsport. He is an inductee of both the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. Autosport magazine named him in July 2013 as one of the 50 greatest drivers to have never raced in Formula One. Joe Hogsett, the Mayor of Indianapolis, declared 24 September 2018 "Scott Dixon Day."
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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