This weekend in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, Scott Dixon again proved why he’s among the most incredible racers in the world. Saturday morning he went out first and set the fastest four-lap run of the field, grabbing him a spot in the Fast Nine shootout on Sunday. When Sunday rolled around, he was the last driver to cross the yard of bricks with another blisteringly fast four-lap run. And he makes it look effortless.

If you were to ask a group of race fans who the best racer on the planet is, some might say their favorite undiscovered dirt tracker, some might say Lewis Hamilton or Jimmie Johnson or Sebastien Loeb, and I could make an argument for Romain Dumas (Who else has won Le Mans and Pikes Peak in back-to-back weekends?) but right now I’m going to commit to the bit and place Kiwi Ice Man Dixon at the top of the heap.

There aren’t many racers in any discipline who can claim six championship victories. Scott’s six IndyCar championships — and he’s well on his way to a seventh — put him up there in rarified air with the all time greats. Just for good measure, also toss in an Indy Lights championship from 2000, and four victories (three overall) at the 24 Hours of Daytona, plus a class podium at Le Mans.

That’s the genuine joy of watching Dixon deliver week after week. He’s smart enough to know when it’s time to settle back and collect some good points for the weekend, and he’s fast enough to be able to deliver when the chips are down. If things had gone slightly different for Scott’s career trajectory, he might have ended up in Formula One, and he would have deserved it.

Considering the man has spent twenty years racing with Chip Ganassi’s team, it’s easy to say that Dixie owes all of his success to the organization, but considering the team has kind of done its best work when it rallied around a single impressive driver, be it Scott or former teammate Dario Franchitti, it’s tough to say CGR would be anywhere without Scott. As of this season, Dixon has earned at least one win in 17 consecutive seasons of open wheel racing, which is just flippin’ bonkers when you think about it.

Plus, like, who else can say they got robbed going to Taco Bell after racing all day at Indy? This story alone makes Scott the G.O.A.T.

In all seriousness, Scott and by extension IndyCar deserve a lot more of your respect. The dude is 40 years old, has been racing professionally more than half his life, and still has what it takes to methodically deliver for himself and his team. I think he’s got at least a few more championships in him.