Ownership gives a new adrenalin rush
Michael Andretti develops a fresh perspective wearing a headset instead of a helmet
With seven Molson Indy wins from 1989 through 2001, Michael Andretti is still the most successful racer on the streets of Toronto. But when he comes to the track for this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto, it will be as a team owner, and his success as that may be even more impressive.
His 42 career Indy car wins is third all time, but since replacing his helmet with a headset in 2003, his drivers, in a variety of series, have won more than 160 races, 56 of those on the Indy car circuit. Is it possible that one of Indy racing’s most successful drivers may one day be better known as one of the sport’s most successful owners? If so, credit Chip Ganassi and Carl Haas, two of the owners who employed him as a driver.
“I learned something from everybody, probably the most from Carl Haas because that’s where I was the longest. Those were great experiences,” Andretti says.
Those experiences planted the seed to becoming a team owner a few years before he left the cockpit.
“A couple of years from the end of my career I started thinking about what I was going to do beyond my driving years. Then I started looking into the opportunity of ownership.”
That first opportunity came with Kim Green and Kevin Savory at Andretti Green Racing. The group was also involved with event management and purchased the rights to the Toronto race in 2009 after the civil war that split IndyCar racing into two camps was settled and the sport was unified.
“I love going up to Toronto,” he said in an interview. “I think it’s one of the highlights of the year on our schedule. And the Canadian fans are just awesome. They follow our series and I’ve felt great support up there.”
But at the end of that first year together, Andretti parted ways with his partners to form Andretti Autosport.
“It’s been fun actually, I really enjoy it,” he says. “It’s a different type of pressure. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning; it keeps me motivated. It still gets the adrenalin up, but in a different way — obviously — than driving. You still have the competition. But most importantly, it keeps me involved with the sport I love.”
He added, “Some ways are more fun as a driver, some ways are more fun as an owner. I think, as a driver, you always feel like you’re more on edge. Your mind is never at ease. Even when you’re at home during the season, you have to stay on it. You have to be working out, you have to put in (the) running, you have to put in the gym and all that stuff. So it’s much more disciplined and it was much more pressure in that way. So that wasn’t the fun side of it.
“And on the ownership side, I enjoy the business aspect of it. But I also enjoy when I come into work, there are so many different parts of it, it’s not just one thing. I go from an engi- neering meeting to a management meeting to a PR meeting to a marketing meeting, so there are so many more different aspects that I deal with from an owner’s standpoint that I enjoy.”
If there’s one aspect of the operation that has caused some anxiety, it’s when Andretti has to decide between being owner or dad when it comes to one of his drivers, son Marco.
“It’s evolved over the years and I think we’ve come to a good place with it. There are times when it was probably a little tough on both of us; it actually wasn’t working. But through experience we’ve been able to make it work. It’s been good. There’s still always that fine balance between being the dad and being the boss. It’s still always a balance but I think we’ve gotten pretty used to it because we’ve been doing it for 10plus years.”
While Toronto was his most successful venue as a driver, as an owner his team has only won here once. But at the Indianapolis 500, it’s the complete reverse; heartbreak as a driver, tears of joy as an owner.
“One of the things that I am very proud of is that we’re tied for second on the all-time wins list at Indianapolis. And that’s a race that has 101 years of history and I’ve only been in the game since ’03 and we’re already second on the all-time list, so that’s pretty cool.”
But does it make up for not winning the 500 as a driver?
“I don’t think anything will ever make up for not winning it as a driver because that’s something that I’ll always definitely miss,” says Andretti, whose best finish as a driver was second place behind Rick Mears in 1991. “But it’s sure great. It’s an awesome thing. It’s so cool that I am able to continue in this sport and be able to still be winning races in a different way.
“Will it ever replace it? No. I’ll always miss not having that (500 victory), but I was just never meant to win it for whatever reason, and I accept that. And I’ve said it that maybe I was just meant to win it a lot more as an owner.”
Andretti is tied for second all-time at the Brickyard, but still many milk showers away from matching Roger Penske’s total of 16. So will he be around long enough to make a run at it?
“This is a sport I love,” he says. “I hope it continues to go and be the way it is when I am 80 years old.
“I mean, what else would I be doing? I’m involved in the sport I love and why would I want to retire from it?”
“It’s a different type of pressure. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning; it keeps me motivated. It still gets the adrenalin up, but in a different way — obviously — than driving.” MICHAEL ANDRETTI ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT OWNER