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If you’ve been paying attention to the IndyCar offseason shenanigans, you know that one of the best IndyCar engineers in the paddock is on the move again. Eight days after an impressive launch for IndyCar newcomer PREMA, Michael Cannon announced he had split with the new team.

Many on social media piled on Cannon, labeling him an eccentric or even a flake. On the surface, it was easy to come to that conclusion. It’s probably easier to name 5e teams Cannon hasn’t worked for. Aside from working for Gerry Forsythe in Champ Car, Michael Cannon has had stints at Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing, AJ Foyt Racing and very briefly – PREMA.

I’ll concede that Cannon might be a little eccentric – most geniuses are. But there is no denying his talent and skills.

I was not expecting any statement from Cannon or PREMA. There was no explanation when Cannon left Foyt back in November. More than anyone else – even the association with Team Penske – Cannon has been credited for the turnaround at Foyt over the past two seasons; especially for the Indianapolis 500.

But just a day or two after Cannon’s split with PREMA, Cannon let loose with both barrels (see what I did there?). He let it be known that he was not being listened to at PREMA. His statement said in part; “In very short order, I felt that the majority of my advice and counsel was being disregarded or simply ignored. It was my opinion that my time at PREMA was not going to be used wisely and I thus resigned my position.”

I don’t understand that reasoning. Why hire someone with 25 years of experience, and is one of the most respected engineers in the paddock, if you are not going to listen to him?

When I divorced that evil person I had been married to for ten years, I hired an attorney, who immediately gave me a list of dos and don’ts. Some were common sense, but others were eye-opening that made sense when he explained them. I followed his plan and my divorce went exactly as I had hoped. That’s because I hired an expert who told me what I needed to do, and I listened to him. A few things were head-scratchers, but I put my faith in the expert and did what he said.

Why would I have paid out all that money to him, then disregarded everything he advised me to and went rogue? It probably would not have ended well for me,

Without knowing the details, it sounds like that was exactly how PREMA was approaching what Cannon was telling them to do. PREMA has never turned a wheel in competition or even practice, yet they think they know more about this car that Cannon has mastered over the past thirteen seasons?

This reminds me of when McLaren partnered with Carlin in 2019, for the Indianapolis 500. Fernando Alonso had crashed early in the week of practice and they were behind. They were more concerned about getting the correct shade of papaya orange on the car, than getting the car set up correctly.

I’ve shared this story more than once. That was the first year that I spent the entire week of practice up there – something I would recommend to anyone who has the vacation time to do it. That Thursday, I was in a conversation with a couple of the mainstream IndyCar media types in the garage area. One of the McLaren team members came over to join the conversation (because of the others, not me). He was asked if he was concerned if they were going to miss the race. I’ll never forget his response. He chuckled and said “It’s four identical corners. How difficult can it be?” Three days later, Alonso and McLaren were sent home by Juncos and Kyle Kaiser.

F1 arrogance convinced McLaren that IndyCar and the Indianapolis was a watered down version compared to what they had been dealing with. They found out the hard way that there was more to figuring out the car and the track than what they thought. I also thing Carlin was guilty of that when they came to IndyCar in 2018.

By hiring Cannon and the others with vast IndyCar experience, PREMA gave the impression that they had benefitted from the lessons learned by McLaren and Carlin. Now that we know they were not putting any value into how Michael Cannon was advising them, I can’t help but wonder if history is repeating itself.

There are many from across the pond that are regular readers of this site, so I say this at the risk of insulting them – but it sounds like European arrogance has convinced them into thinking they know more about this chassis than Michael Cannon does. Maybe they do, but I seriously doubt it.

If Cannon was making what he considered sound recommendations and they were discounting his suggestions and doing things the PREMA way; I don’t blame him for leaving.

If Cannon was an up and coming engineer trying to prove himself, he might be well-served to stay and do battle with PREMA. I’m not sure of Cannon’s age, but I would think he and I are close to the same age. At this age, we aren’t real tolerant with things we feel we shouldn’t have to put up with. That probably explains why I’m retiring from my day job at the end of this year. I’m figuring once he realized they weren’t doing what he said, he figured life’s too short, and he hit the door.

Unless he has a non-compete clause in his contract, I have an idea that Michael Cannon will re-surface somewhere before the season starts. I think Foyt has taken steps to replace Cannon, so I don’t see him going back there – especially after leaving in November. Rahal and Coyne could benefit from his experience and experience probably more than any other team. If I had to guess, I’m guessing he might end up for another stint at Dale Coyne’s team – but that’s only a guess.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote how interesting it will be to see how well PREMA does this season. I was fairly optimistic on how they would do as a brand new team. That was then, this is now. By ignoring Michael Cannon and letting him walk, PREAMA’s outlook for this season is not near as bright, in my opinion. We’ll see.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on January 27, 2025 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.