Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Mailbag is taking its final scheduled break of the year next week, but keep sending your questions and we’ll save them for when it returns on Oct. 16.
Q: Is the charter system really just a grid spot guarantee (except for Indy) plus maybe the rights to sell your grid spot guarantee to the highest bidder down the road if you want to exit IndyCar? And did any of the team owners take exception with the fact that there is no merit-based payout to the leader’s circle award and that the Leaders Circle does not cover all charters?
Andy, Detroit, MI
MARSHALL PRUETT: The Leaders Circle continues to be a merit-based system where the members with the 25 charters have equal opportunities to earn one of the 22 $1 million LC contracts.
According to those who told me about it, Michael Andretti/Dan Towriss pushed Penske to expand the LC to cover all 25 charters — an annual increase of $3 million in prize money outlay by the series’ owner — and he took umbrage at the idea.
Penske’s response was that he would not increase the LC to cover all 25 by putting in the extra $3 million, but if Michael really wanted it to increase from 22 to 25, he’d do it and just divide 25 into the $22 million and dilute everybody’s deal to $880,000 to pay for the extra three LCs. To the surprise of nobody, it has stayed at 22 LCs at $1 million apiece.
Q: Please explain Andretti Global to me. My understanding is Andretti Global is (was) owned by Michael Andretti. Does Andretti Global include all Andretti race teams (IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E …). Does it also include the attempted Formula 1 effort? What does the recent change mean to the Formula 1 plans?
Who is Dan Towriss? Was he a part-owner all along? Does he have any motorsports background and/or knowledge? Can the fans expect a different look from the team? or will it be business as usual? And the big question: Why?
Shocked and confused, Buffalo, NY
MP: Michael Andretti and Dan Towriss formed a new parent company a few years ago named Andretti Global which, I believe, houses all of the teams we know of, including, and especially for, the F1 program. We’ve written about Towriss for many years — you’ll find some of those pieces here, here and here.
He arrived in IndyCar in 2018 as a newcomer and sponsor of Zach Veach at Andretti with Group 1001/Gainbridge. The F1 plans are going forward and have experienced no planning or financial interruptions. No changes are expected with anything that I know of, except for seeing less of Michael.
As for why, the team, and Andretti, and Towriss, are working hard to present this as a happy and welcome development. I don’t buy it. To push this hard, and to get this close to restoring the team’s greatness in IndyCar and to getting the nod to make it into F1 as an entrant, and then all of a sudden, this is the time to step away? Nobody I’ve spoken to believes this went down in the gosh-and-golly manner it’s being sold.
Q: What’s the real reason Michael is relinquishing ownership? I don’t buy any of what is being reported. Make no sense as his racing enterprise has been expanding, along with a huge new headquarters being built.
Anthony, Wellington, FL
MP: Same. I’ve heard some interesting theories floated from F1 insiders about Cadillac wanting to move forward without the Andrettis — but not without Towriss and his giant funding via the Andretti Global team he controls — with its desired F1 program, and this is the expression of that organizational play. We’ll see what the future reveals.
Q: Trying to make sense of some of the Andretti Global news. On Sept. 5, RACER reported that WTRAndretti is changing its name to WTR, according to Wayne Taylor, “at the request of Cadillac to both simplify the name and to honor the longstanding, championship-winning heritage that exists between Taylor and General Motors in endurance racing.” That didn’t smell right, since decoupling the Cadillac and Andretti names would not seem to help the duo’s ongoing mission to enter F1 together.
Then on Sept. 24, as it relates to IMSA GTD class with Lamborghini, a press release appeared on the IMSA website announcing, “Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti will return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2025 in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class.”
So Lamborghini wants to be associated with the Andretti name, but Cadillac wants nothing to do with it?
Subsequently, RACER reported that Michael Andretti is transitioning to a “strategic role” at Andretti Global, while SI reported that McLaren’s Zak Brown has joined the board of directors for Andretti Acquisition Corp. II.
Any insights into how this all adds up to the future of Michael Andretti’s involvement in racing, or the future of Andretti Global, would be much appreciated.
Lifelong Andretti Fan
MP: The GTP program is a factory deal where Cadillac foots most of the bills. In GTD with Lamborghini, that’s not a factory deal, so there’s no linkage.
I don’t know what we’ll see from Michael in the coming years, but I’m not a fan of him being almost entirely on the outside looking in.
Q: I was very surprised to read the article about Michael Andretti stepping back from his ownership role in Andretti Global.
Any inside details you can share? The article notes Michael stepping back to “focus on a more strategic role,” whatever that means. Is this the only was to get the F1 team truly approved, by having Michael out of the picture operationally?
Do you see Cadillac ultimately taking over full control in the years to come and perhaps set up a team with both IndyCar (switching to Chevrolet power) and F1 interests in the way McLaren has?
I wonder how much longer the Andretti name will be associated with the teams (IndyCar, F1, IMSA) going forward.
Rob Pobiega, Lemont, IL
MP: Continuing from the last question, I’ve heard there’s a desire for something closer to a Cadillac Racing F1 program than an Andretti Global+Cadillac situation, and considering all of the money that can be made by being the entrant/team behind the program, there’s a valid reason to do whatever it takes to get accepted.
I don’t foresee GM approving a massive budget to do it all on its own with Cadillac, not with huge investments coming across its move to going electric by 2035.
If we look to next year, Chevy is up from 12 cars to 14 out of the 27 full-timers. Honda has 13. For Chevy to take on three more from Andretti, who gets dropped? A.J. Foyt? Arrow McLaren? Ed Carpenter Racing? Juncos Hollinger Racing? PREMA Racing? Team Penske?
Juncos and PREMA are the two newest members of the Chevy family, so that’s the only place that makes sense with Penske and Foyt in an alignment, plus the strength of Arrow McLaren, and the patriotic angle with Carpenter in mind.
The question here is whether Chevy is truly motivated to make everything at Andretti Global a GM product or whether it only cares about F1. The WTR/GM link existed long before Andretti/Towriss bought WTR, so it would be smart to look at that as more of a reunion of former partners than some giant Andretti initiative. I think WTR and GM would have gotten back together with or without it being part of Andretti’s portfolio.
Q: I just read that Michael Andretti is stepping back at Andretti Global. Reading between the lines, it sounds like he was pushed out by the big money man he brought in to fund all of his expansion. What’s the full scoop?
Josh, Erlanger, KY
MP: The story they’re telling is this is something Michael has wanted. Racing is the centerpiece of his life, as it has been since he was a child. To suggest he wants to step aside, become a special advisor and, comically, an ambassador for his own team, is a reminder that we live in a free society where and have freedom of speech, which includes saying silly and insulting things and trying to pass them off as the truth.