Daniel Towriss, CEO of the Group 1001 insurance coverage and monetary companies firm primarily based in Zionsville, Indiana, and first investor of Andretti World, has taken management of the enterprise.
Group co-founder Michael Andretti, the 1991 CART IndyCar Sequence champion, will stay hooked up to the group in an advisory and ambassadorial position. Information of the sizable change in management construction was first reported by Sportico.
The rationale for the alleged change was not cited by the sports activities enterprise website owned by Jay Penske, son of NTT IndyCar Sequence and Indianapolis Motor Speedway proprietor Roger Penske. A rising division between Andretti and Towriss has been alleged by quite a few paddock sources in current months, however no proof of the matter has been established.
In an announcement offered by the group, Andretti World suggests Andretti — a lifelong racer — is willingly handing over the reins of the group and firm that bears his identify.
“Michael’s purpose has been to transition to a extra strategic position with Andretti World and focus much less on the operational facet of the race group,” Andretti World mentioned. “Michael and Dan Towriss have been working carefully on growing this new construction, one which Michael is happy to see take form underneath Dan’s steerage.
“Michael stays engaged and can proceed to function a strategic advisor and key ambassador. We can have extra to share within the coming weeks, after Michael and Dan have had a possibility to talk to the group.”
Towriss entered IndyCar in 2018 because the sponsor of driver Zach Veach with Group 1001 and its Gainbridge property represented on the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda. The three-year deal ended prematurely for Veach, however Andretti retained Group 1001/Gainbridge relationship and funding, and by 2021, Andretti and Towriss had been actively trying to find a Formulation 1 group to buy.
Unable to purchase their method into F1 with Towriss’s monetary backing, the duo established a brand new enterprise, Andretti World, in an effort to achieve entry to F1 as a constructor. In 2022, Andretti Acquisitions Company was fashioned and registered with the Securities and Trade Fee with a said purpose of elevating $250,000,000 for business-related investments and purchases.
With Towriss’s rumored and separate funding into Andretti World mentioned to match or exceed that determine, Andretti’s new accomplice is known to have taken a directorial position throughout the expansive racing group, and throughout the IndyCar paddock, is usually characterised as Andretti’s new boss.
Drawing from the alleged nine-figure infusion from Towriss and Group 1001, Andretti’s footprint within the sport expanded at a speedy fee.
Together with its three-car IndyCar group that options major sponsorship with Gainbridge on Colton Herta’s No. 26 Honda and Delaware Life, one other Group 1001 property, on Marcus Ericsson’s No. 28 Honda, Andretti/Towriss additionally bought Wayne Taylor Racing’s two-car IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship group in 2023, maintains a four-car Indy NXT program that received the championship in 2024, has an ongoing effort to launch a two-car F1 effort with Common Motors by means of its Cadillac model, and is constructing an unlimited new base in Indiana because of Towriss’s funding.
Andretti World can be allegedly on the heart of one other storm with final week’s raid of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing IndyCar and IMSA group by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in relation to a former Andretti World worker, who’s alleged to have taken mental property from Andretti to RLL.
RACER understands extra operational adjustments with Andretti World personnel are being thought-about, which may prolong to personnel shifts in its IndyCar program and its F1 initiative.
