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What dawned as a lazy and rainy Friday heading into what was to be an uneventful weekend, suddenly turned upside-down.

It all started when I was on a mundane Zoom call at work to discuss budgets. While some bean-counter had shared his screen filled with a spreadsheet that was giving me a headache, I looked down at my phone when a text popped up with this photo and caption.

I’m sure my co-workers were wondering why my eyes suddenly widened, as someone was droning on about quarterly numbers and projected expenses. The Zoom call couldn’t end fast enough. I texted my friend that sent it to me, asking for more information. Unfortunately, other than the Sportico article that first reported it – there was not much out there. No more news articles, no statements from the team and no statements from the series. Just that headline and the contents of the Sportico article and that was it. Nathan Brown wrote an article for the IndyStar, but it basically cited the original Sportico article and regurgitated what it had said.

Finallly, a statement from the team was released, but it told us very little – other than Michael had been wanting to assume a more strategic role with the team for some time. Now he would be doing it.

It wasn’t until after lunch when David Land recorded a hastily produced video and posted it, that we had something new to chew on. Kudos to him for digesting and dissecting the Sportico article so quickly and posting it so quickly. It was his video that got me thinking about the possibility that Michael may have actually been pushed aside, inside of voluntarily stepping away. Before that – I was thinking this was strictly Michael’s decision to suddenly take a step back. The timing seemed odd, but he’s not getting any younger.

An hour or so later, Marshall Pruett of Racer.com posted his own article. He also hinted at what David Land had alluded to in his video, that this was more Dan Towriss, CEO of Group 1001 and co-owner of Andretti Global since 2022, exercising his financial might. Be careful who you get in bed with. Ed Carpenter should take note.

Since then, I saw a lot of theories come out of the woodwork. Some made sense, while others seemed a little out there. But one thing I’ve learned in this crazy world of IndyCar racing – don’t discount any possibilities.

Some have said there has been a brewing feud between Michael Andretti and Dan Towriss for some time, and it finally bubbled over. Others say this is merely a ploy to give the appearance that Andretti has nothing to do wit the team, in order to finally move into Formula One. These are some of the more benign theories that sound somewhat believable.

Is there any connection between Andretti Global sending the FBI to raid the headquarters of Rahal Letterman Lanigan a couple of weeks ago and this? A reader e-mailed that question to me over the weekend. There is enough of a possibility of that, that I’m not to going to dismiss it.

Even some of the more outlandish theories are believable and cannot be scoffed at. One of the more colorful theories said that Michael was cashing out, and that he will team up with Arrow McLaren’s Zak Brown (who allegedly happens to sit on the board of Andretti Acquisitions Corporation – a newly formed company formed to raise $250Million for business investments and purchases). The theory says that both Andretti and Brown will buy the series from Penske Entertainment, but not IMS.

As crazy as that sounds, that makes some sense. Both Andretti and Brown have been very critical in the way that Roger Penske runs the series. Some owners whine about the way things are. and it never goes past that. Michael Andretti and Zak Brown could be planning to put their money where their mouth is. They may feel they have a much better vision for the future for the series, so they could be planning to take control of things.

By now, I think it’s safe to say that Michael Andretti is not stepping aside just to enjoy life as a grandfather to Marco’s new daughter that was born a couple of weeks ago. Michael Andretti doesn’t strike me as the type to retire to a rocking chair. After all, he’s still relatively young and will not even turn 62 until this weekend.

However, late Sunday afternoon – Jenna Fryer, of the Associated Press, came out with an article with quotes from Michael. It refuted most of what I have just said here, and he flat-out denied what was reported in the Sportico article that he had relinquished his ownership stake in the team. Curiously enough, Michael spoke to Jenna Fryer about the story even before speaking to his own team employees.

I am not usually a conspiracy theorist. I believe that the US put man on the moon in 1969, and that 9/11 was not an inside job engineered by the US. But in this case, I do believe there is more to this story than what is in the AP article.

I don’t know if he lost a power struggle with Dan Towriss, if he still has his eyes on having a Formula One team, or if he plans to own the NTT IndyCar Series someday. Even throughout the weekend, not many people are talking. I don’t think the silence is because this is not a big deal. Personally, I think it’s a HUGE deal – and that’s why people are not talking. I think there are a lot of layers to this story and we are just now seeing the first layer peeled away. It may be a while before we get to the core of this story. I may be wrong, but I think it will be fascinating to follow this story over the next few days, weeks and months. Grab your popcorn! I think this is going to be fun to watch.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on September 30, 2024 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.