There is a situation slowly percolating out there, that we have been told is a non-story. Suddenly, we are learning that there may be some fire related to the smoke. If so, that has the potential to affect the status of IndyCar’s more prominent teams. I’m talking about the financial mess regarding Mark Walter.
Does that name not ring a bell? He was a co-founder and is the current CEO of Guggenheim Partners. Is that still not sounding familiar? While CEO of Guggenheim Partners, Walter founded an investment vehicle and holding company for various multinational investments including insurance companies, named TWG Global. Maybe that name brings things slightly into focus.
Of the seven different divisions, one of the main core businesses of TWG Global is sports and entertainment. As you can imagine, there are several different companies created under the sports umbrella. We aren’t talking about a professional lacrosse team or anything under the radar. In 2012, the group bought the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2.15 billion. In 2025, Walter bought a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for a reported $10 billion team valuation. Those two franchises are just some in TWG’s sports portfolio.
Also in February od 2025, TWG Motorsports was created to run the TWG Global Motorsports properties – Spire Motorsports in NASCAR, IMSA’s Wayne Taylor Racing. Dan Towriss, CEO of Guggenheim subsidiary Group 1001, was tabbed to be CEO of the new subsidiary. What else fits under the TWG Motorsports banner? IndyCar’s Andretti Global and the fledgling Cadillac Formula One program, which is currently in its first season of competition.
Don’t ask me to get more involved in what all fits under the Guggenheim and TWG Global umbrella. It’s way too complicated for this old brain to comprehend. Suffice it to say that it in very involved and intertwined.
To be honest, I had never heard of Mark Walter until about a month ago. The only name I knew from TWG was Dan Towriss, who is in charge of Andretti Global. Not so coincidentally, TWG happened to be the sponsor on Will Power’s car during the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season.
Sometime last year, the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Walter and TWG Global for tax fraud and other criminal activity involving their business practices. In September of this year, Walter was sued for failing to disclose the investigation to insurance policy holders.
I am not going to pretend to understand what all is involved here. It is way over my head. But it doesn’t sound good. In 2025, Walter denied any wrongdoing and this was described as nothing to worry about and that none of his sports franchises were in jeopardy. In August of 2026, Walter sold his majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion, turning a tidy $2.5 billion profit in just one year. He has also sold off some of the smaller sports franchises he owns, in what some are calling a fire sale.
Walter still owns the Dodgers, the Cadillac F1 team and Andretti Global, as well as smaller stakes in other sports franchises around the globe. While denying any interest in selling the F1 team earlier this summer, It has been reported in the last couple of weeks that Walter would sell the team for $3 billion. I know the economics in F1 are off the charts, but that figure sounds astronomical to me – for a team that has struggled mightily and has failed to score a single point all season.
Right now, the official stance is that Andretti Global is completely unaffected by this. I know of no reason to think otherwise.
Dreyer & Reinbold paid a reported $13 million to Rahal Letterman Lanigan for a single charter. Andretti Global holds three charters. Does that mean that their charters alone are worth around $39 million? Andretti Global has recently moved into their enormous new facility north of Indianapolis. I have no way of putting a value on that, but let’s call it $200 million, which is probably being generous. Their inventory of race cars, engine leases pit equipment, fire suits and paper clips – lets put a total value at $400 million for the team. While that amount is staggering to you and me, it appears to be a drop in the bucket, compared to the $12.5 billion that the Lakers brought.
But if Walter is found guilty of wrongdoing, and has to either pay a huge fine or restitution; or worse yet – forced to become a guest of the government for a while – I can see a scenario where no stone would be left unturned in the search for available cash. Andretti Global could be put up for sale to the highest bidder.
That’s not all bad if the highest bidder has pockets as deep as Walter seemed to, before his legal problems started. But what if the highest bidder has questionable finances? Does IndyCar have to right to veto a sale, especially for a ream that might potentially be seized by the government, whose only goal is to salvage as much money as possible without worrying about who the buyer is.
Motor racing has always had its share of sleazy people. Rich Energy comes to mind, when they sponsored the Haas F1 team but failed to come up with payments halfway though the season. Fans could not even find the energy drink on store shelves, calling into question if the product even existed. Sarah Fisher is still waiting on her check from primary sponsor ResQ Energy Drink, from the 2008 Indianapolis 500. Motorsports has a long history of sleazy individuals and companies trying to get something for nothing.
What if that happened in a fire sale potentially involving Andretti Global? One of the premiere teams with two Indianapolis 500 winners and one of the most promising drivers on the grid could be sidelined while tied up in court. That would be disastrous right when IndyCar is in a growth period. Three charters would be tied up. Under current IndyCar rules, that would be three cars removed from the grid and none to replace them with.
Even if things didn’t get tied up with court, it’s quite possible that a new potential owner of the team had eyes bigger than their bank account. We always think of Dale Coyne Racing as the small budget team, but at least they are solvent. Back during The Split, it seems there were teams on both sides that struggled to make it from race to race and sometimes had to park their transporter due to financial woes. We don’t want to go back to those days.
I hope I am merely speculating about what might could happen if things go south with Mr. Walter. Most likely, the cash raised over the last few months from the sale of his stake in the Lakers and the other sport franchises were more than enough to satisfy any burden Walter might encounter.
It would be a shame for Andretti Global to even have to cut back on spending. They had a really good season with Kyle Kirkwood winning two races, including the Freedom 250, and finishing second in the championship. Marcus Ericsson had a comeback season that saw him win at Markham. Will Power took a while to find his footing after changing teams for the first time in seventeen seasons, but he had a much better second half of the season. Now that they have had a couple of seasons with added resources, it would be a shame to see that cut back or put in jeopardy.
I’m normally not one to worry over something that might happen, and I don’t think anything will happen with this. But I did want to let fans that were not aware of any of this, know what’s going on. And for those that were aware of something they heard a year ago, but were told there was nothing to it – I wanted to let them know that even though they were told a year ago that the Cadillac F1 team was not for sale – that may have changed. It could go the way of Walter’s majority stake in the Lakers.
Hopefully this will all go away with a slap on the wrist, and Dan Towriss and all of the folks at Andretti Global can focus on the immediate task at hand – winning races in 2027.
George Phillips
