Motorsports icon Michael Andretti told The Associated Press on Sunday he's at a point in his life where he no longer wants to run the day-to-day of his global operation and that’s why he turned over leadership to his business partner.
No, Dan Towriss did not steal Andretti Global out from under one of the most successful racers in American history.
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Towriss, owner of Gainbridge and holding company Group 1001, has slowly grown from a sponsor of one of Andretti's IndyCar teams to one of the biggest spenders in motorsports. But at least two years ago, Towriss bought an ownership stake in Andretti Global and became part of the entire organization.
And no, Andretti said with firm denial, he was not pushed out of IndyCar by series owner Roger Penske. “Absolutely not. I would not give Roger that much credit,” Andretti told AP.
Andretti and Penske were at odds the entire season when Andretti opened the year by calling on Penske to sell IndyCar if Penske wasn't willing to spend the capital to properly market the series.
So why now?
The real reason for him stepping away, Andretti told AP, is that he turns 62 next week and has spent his entire life in racing. His father, Mario, is a Formula 1 world champion, Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time IndyCar champion.
Michael Andretti has twin 10-year-old children, two weeks ago became “Nonno” for the first time when son Marco welcomed a daughter, and has multiple business entities to fill his time.
For reasons Andretti, who is a bit of introvert, couldn't even explain, it was simply time for him to take a step back. He will still have some sort of role — he doesn't know what or how many races he'll even go to — but the name Andretti Global will remain intact.
“We've been working on this for a few months now. For me where I am in my life and what I want to do, the timing was right for me to take a little different role with the team," Andretti told AP. “A role where I don't have to be on it every day and I can still stay involved because I'll be involved as an advisor as well as an ambassador. We were able to come to a deal between myself and Dan and I think we are both happy with what we came up with.”
Andretti Global fields cars in IndyCar for Colton Herta, who won the series finale and finished second in the final standings, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood. It fields teams across seven total series and on Monday will give female driver Jamie Chadwick a test in an Indy car. Andretti Global also supports the two teen young sons of the late Dan Wheldon.
What happens to the F1 efforts?
Both Andretti and Towriss declined to discuss their efforts to join F1, which has been an ongoing battle in which the owners of F1 and the majority of the teams have been vehemently against expansion. Part of the issues seemed to be personal in that the leaders of F1 simply don't like the Andretti's.
With Towriss now in charge and Andretti more window dressing, it is not clear if that changes F1's opinion of Andretti Global's hopes to join the series. Neither would even say if they are still pursuing F1.
Towriss told AP that in his role leading a global financial firm, he doesn't envision himself running the day-to-day operations of Andretti Global and that the current leadership team is likely to stay in place. Andretti still holds an ownership stake in the organization, Towriss said, and no drivers have contracts that are voidable if Andretti Global restructures leadership.
The two spoke to AP on Sunday before they've even had a chance to speak to the Andretti Global employees in an attempt to get ahead of salacious rumors and unfounded reports that Andretti was pushed out of the team he's run since 2002 by Towriss.
Hand was forced
The duo had planned to announce the restructuring in the coming months but were beat to it by a Friday report in Sportico, a publication owned by Roger Penske's son, Jay. The dots began to be connected, Andretti and Towriss figure, once IndyCar team owners agreed to a new charter agreement and it was Towriss who signed on behalf of Andretti Global.
The two denied the Sportico characterization that Andretti relinquished “his ownership stake” in Andretti Global.
“We didn't say that he doesn't own our team. There's all kinds of speculation,” Towriss said. “We certainly have restructured the ownership. Michael still has a financial interest. This got leaked in a way that put us on our back foot in terms of responding to things. People are going to always look to try to fill a vacuum with stories that sound great and are super interesting. This one is not super interesting. Michael said this was a time to take on a different role from the daily grind."
Where does Andretti go from here?
Andretti's 42 career victories rank fifth on IndyCar's all-time win list, but he'd long ranked third behind A.J. Foyt and his Mario Andretti until active drivers Scott Dixon and Will Power passed him on the list. Andretti drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 five times — Mario Andretti is the only family member to achieve the accomplishment — and has not won the IndyCar title since 2012.
The team this past season scaled from four cars to three, lost sponsor DHL to rival Chip Ganassi Racing, and Herta's two victories were the only two wins of the season for Andretti in IndyCar. It took Herta's season-ending victory to surge him to second in the final standings.
Despite the results and the longtime slump, Towriss remained adamant that Andretti Global can still compete with Team Penske, Ganassi and Arrow McLaren. Ganassi just won his third championship in four years, while Penske has won back-to-back Indianapolis 500s.
“Colton came in second in points, Kyle had a great year, it was a transition year for Marcus, but I'm really confident in how he's going to do next year,” Towriss said. “In terms of the number of championships won, they have been Penske and Ganassi drivers, and that's a target to shoot for. But I would bristle at any notion that Andretti Global is a ”B Team" in IndyCar."
Andretti said he'll for sure be at the Indianapolis 500 this year, where son Marco has a contract to run for the team. Beyond that? He doesn't know.
“I'm 62 years old and you know, you only have so many years left to do things,” Andretti said. “I've got a lot of great things happen for me in my life, and now is the time to enjoy some of them.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing