Michael Andretti recently announced his decision to step back from the daily operations of Andretti Global. His business partner, Dan Towriss, will now take on the leadership role.
Setting the record straight, Andretti insisted that Towriss had not taken control unfairly and that the decision was a result of him wanting to take more time out for his personal life. Andretti explained during an interview with Associated Press:
“We’ve been working on this for a few months now. For me where I am in my life and what I want to do, the timing was right for me to take a little different role with the team.
“A role where I don’t have to be on it every day and I can still stay involved because I’ll be involved as an advisor as well as an ambassador. We were able to come to a deal between myself and Dan and I think we are both happy with what we came up with.”
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He added:
“I’m 62 years old and you know, you only have so many years left to do things,” Andretti said. “I’ve got a lot of great things happen for me in my life, and now is the time to enjoy some of them.”
Despite stepping back, Andretti will maintain an advisory and ambassadorial role within Andretti Global. He and Towriss have agreed on a mutually satisfying deal to restructure the company’s leadership. Towriss clarified:
“We didn’t say that he doesn’t own our team. There’s all kinds of speculation.
“We certainly have restructured the ownership. Michael still has a financial interest. This got leaked in a way that put us on our back foot in terms of responding to things.
“People are going to always look to try to fill a vacuum with stories that sound great and are super interesting. This one is not super interesting. Michael said this was a time to take on a different role from the daily grind.”
Andretti Global continues to field competitive drivers like Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, and Kyle Kirkwood in IndyCar and operates across seven different racing series. Their plans include giving female driver Jamie Chadwick an IndyCar test and supporting the development of the teenage sons of the late Dan Wheldon.
Towriss continued:
“Colton came in second in points, Kyle had a great year, it was a transition year for Marcus, but I’m really confident in how he’s going to do next year.
“In terms of the number of championships won, they have been Penske and Ganassi drivers, and that’s a target to shoot for. But I would bristle at any notion that Andretti Global is a “B Team” in IndyCar.”