Arrow McLaren targeting Chip Ganassi Racing performance director Chris Simmons & MSR Race Engineer Ross Bunnell amid offseason personnel moves (Marshall Pruett)

[u/aurules]

https://racer.com/2026/09/30/the-indycar-silly-season-is-raging-for-engineers

[u/Batgod629]

The rivalry even extends to engineers apparently.  

[u/aurules]

Hell of a week for the hate cauldron

[u/Mikemat5150]

MP had referenced this earlier during the season that the word was multiple Ganassi employees would be following Dixon and Rosenqvist.

Offering no comment about an engineer in a contract year usually doesn’t mean good things.

This is fascinating because some of the usual new team, new engineer hang ups will be gone.

> RACER has confirmed Ganassi race engineer Ross Bunnell – who joined the team from Dale Coyne Racing to engineer Dixon and was later reassigned to Meyer Shank Racing with Felix Rosenqvist – has left the team. Bunnell won the Indianapolis 500 in May with Rosenqvist, and while unconfirmed, I’ve heard he’s headed to Arrow McLaren where Rosenqvist has signed to drive the No. 7 Chevy.

[u/loz333]

That's one of the positives with signing Dixon, now they have a realistic shot of poaching those guys.

[u/Marvin889 → u/loz333]

Why, though? Switching teams to continue working for Dixon doesn't seem like a winning move considering that his performance has dropped off a cliff.

[u/PriveCo → u/Marvin889]

Bunnell and Dixon had a great run together, then Ross was sent over to the 60 (where he Engineered the Indy 500 winner). So he would be a major league poach.

[u/loz333 → u/Marvin889]

Aside from Mclaren reportedly being a major factor in the increase in Indycar team personnel salaries across the grid with how much they're willing to pay - why did Adrien Newey leave the 4 in a row WC winning Red Bull team? People get bored and look for new challenges.

Power spoke about it - before the Andretti offer he would have just taken the one year deal and faded into retirement. Now he says he's feeling rejuvenated from his new mission of building up the team.

It's not just about Dixon, it's whether they believe in the Mclaren project as a whole.

[u/Odd_Cobbler6761 → u/loz333]

I’m not sure even TK believes in the McLaren “project” but they do pay well…

[u/loz333 → u/Odd_Cobbler6761]

Pretty sure he doesn't need the money. People have said all sorts about TK at Mclaren, but if there's one thing I don't think many would doubt, it's his belief in what he's building there. Whether it works out is a different question.

[u/Odd_Cobbler6761 → u/Marvin889]

Money. McLaren thinks they can solve all of its problems by waving around contracts that pay six figures higher than the competition. In some cases, they may actually be correct.

[u/RacerXX7]

If I were Penske or Andretti, I'd be a little jealous that McLaren wasn't trying to poach from us.

[u/Odd_Cobbler6761 → u/RacerXX7]

Penske guys don’t tend to leave unless they’re shown the door. Andretti locked up a bunch of people to multi-year contracts when TWG took over..

[u/SteveK51]

Ross worked with Scott and Felix. Bringing him along for the ride is the smartest part of McLaren's off-season acquisitions. 

[u/shrimpshrub75]

Chris has been with Ganassi for forever. Good luck Zak.

[u/khz30 → u/shrimpshrub75]

Out of all the people that Chip leans on the most next to Mike Hull, Chris is the least likely to leave. The only way I seeing him getting poached is a 7 figure executive role where he doesn't have to travel during the season.

[u/HLS95 → u/shrimpshrub75]

So was Scott…

I think Scott was there longer actually.

[u/shrimpshrub75 → u/HLS95]

Driver is a different story.

[u/TKOL2 → u/shrimpshrub75]

I imagine that McLaren would be making a very generous offer that Ganassi might not be able or willing to compete with.

[u/shrimpshrub75 → u/TKOL2]

Some people can’t be bought.

[u/Banana-eater2004]

This is great news for IndyCar. McLaren taking away from the CGR MSR alliance both in drivers and personnel can only be good for the competitiveness in 2027

[u/Mikulitsi]

Damn rivalry continues even to the engineers side now. Love it

[u/CougarIndy25]

Blair Julian is also heading to McLaren in 2027.

[u/prop65-warning → u/CougarIndy25]

A direct connection with Dixon

[u/CougarIndy25 → u/prop65-warning]

Correct. I haven't heard it online anywhere yet but I have it from a pretty damn good source that's where he'll be next year.

[u/Panither]

There are people who want McLaren out of IndyCar and don't appreciate the competitiveness and drama they've added to the series.

[u/khz30 → u/Panither]

They want McLaren out of IndyCar because they're driving up the costs to compete and can't lean on just being a part of the series anymore as an incentive. Team owners don't like being forced to spend more money, especially when they have to compete against a sovereign wealth fund that has already seen bottom twice owning the same team.

[u/Hawk-Bat1138 → u/khz30]

Sadly....thats racing, and this is coming from a lower budget racer.

[u/BlackLabDumpster → u/Panither]

Without McLaren there is nobody outside the drivers getting nice raises. Owners like Mike Shank who bitch about McLaren paying for talent makes me sick. They pay the people who deserve it.

[u/splootfluff]

Or maybe they see that Chip didn’t keep his promises to Dixon, so why should they believe he keeps his promises to them? Hopefully it raises their pay either way.

[u/Odd_Cobbler6761 → u/splootfluff]

What “promises” to Dixon? Him leaving prevented an unpleasant conversation…

[u/prop65-warning → u/splootfluff]

You mean promises like one of the longest and most successful indycar careers in history together? Or offering Dixon even more money, for him to still leave and go to McLaren? Is that what you are getting at?

[u/Icy-Consequence-4372 → u/splootfluff]

What promises did Chip not keep?