Michael Andretti tells AP 'timing was right' for a restructuring of Andretti Global

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Michael Andretti tells AP 'timing was right' for a restructuring of Andretti Global

2024-09-30 03:54 Last Updated At：04:20

Motorsports icon Michael Andretti told The Associated Press on Sunday he's at a point in his life where he no longer wants to run the day-to-day of his global operation and that’s why he turned over leadership to his business partner.

No, Dan Towriss did not steal Andretti Global out from under one of the most successful racers in American history.

Towriss, owner of Gainbridge and holding company Group 1001, has slowly grown from a sponsor of one of Andretti's IndyCar teams to one of the biggest spenders in motorsports. But at least two years ago, Towriss bought an ownership stake in Andretti Global and became part of the entire organization.

And no, Andretti said with firm denial, he was not pushed out of IndyCar by series owner Roger Penske. “Absolutely not. I would not give Roger that much credit,” Andretti told AP.

Andretti and Penske were at odds the entire season when Andretti opened the year by calling on Penske to sell IndyCar if Penske wasn't willing to spend the capital to properly market the series.

The real reason for him stepping away, Andretti told AP, is that he turns 62 next week and has spent his entire life in racing. His father, Mario, is a Formula 1 world champion, Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time IndyCar champion.

Michael Andretti has twin 10-year-old children, two weeks ago became “Nonno” for the first time when son Marco welcomed a daughter, and has multiple business entities to fill his time.

For reasons Andretti, who is a bit of introvert, couldn't even explain, it was simply time for him to take a step back. He will still have some sort of role — he doesn't know what or how many races he'll even go to — but the name Andretti Global will remain intact.

“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," Andretti told AP. “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.”

Andretti Global fields cars in IndyCar for Colton Herta, who won the series finale and finished second in the final standings, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood. It fields teams across seven total series and on Monday will give female driver Jamie Chadwick a test in an Indy car. Andretti Global also supports the two teen young sons of the late Dan Wheldon.

Both Andretti and Towriss declined to discuss their efforts to join F1, which has been an ongoing battle in which the owners of F1 and the majority of the teams have been vehemently against expansion. Part of the issues seemed to be personal in that the leaders of F1 simply don't like the Andretti's.

With Towriss now in charge and Andretti more window dressing, it is not clear if that changes F1's opinion of Andretti Global's hopes to join the series. Neither would even say if they are still pursuing F1.

Towriss told AP that in his role leading a global financial firm, he doesn't envision himself running the day-to-day operations of Andretti Global and that the current leadership team is likely to stay in place. Andretti still holds an ownership stake in the organization, Towriss said, and no drivers have contracts that are voidable if Andretti Global restructures leadership.

The two spoke to AP on Sunday before they've even had a chance to speak to the Andretti Global employees in an attempt to get ahead of salacious rumors and unfounded reports that Andretti was pushed out of the team he's run since 2002 by Towriss.

The duo had planned to announce the restructuring in the coming months but were beat to it by a Friday report in Sportico, a publication owned by Roger Penske's son, Jay. The dots began to be connected, Andretti and Towriss figure, once IndyCar team owners agreed to a new charter agreement and it was Towriss who signed on behalf of Andretti Global.

The two denied the Sportico characterization that Andretti relinquished “his ownership stake” in Andretti Global.

“We didn't say that he doesn't own our team. There's all kinds of speculation,” Towriss said. “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's 42 career victories rank fifth on IndyCar's all-time win list, but he'd long ranked third behind A.J. Foyt and his Mario Andretti until active drivers Scott Dixon and Will Power passed him on the list. Andretti drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 five times — Mario Andretti is the only family member to achieve the accomplishment — and has not won the IndyCar title since 2012.

The team this past season scaled from four cars to three, lost sponsor DHL to rival Chip Ganassi Racing, and Herta's two victories were the only two wins of the season for Andretti in IndyCar. It took Herta's season-ending victory to surge him to second in the final standings.

Despite the results and the longtime slump, Towriss remained adamant that Andretti Global can still compete with Team Penske, Ganassi and Arrow McLaren. Ganassi just won his third championship in four years, while Penske has won back-to-back Indianapolis 500s.

“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,” Towriss said. “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."

Andretti said he'll for sure be at the Indianapolis 500 this year, where son Marco has a contract to run for the team. Beyond that? He doesn't know.

“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.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Trump escalates attacks on Harris' mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted

2024-09-30 04:17 Last Updated At：04:20

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump escalated his personal attacks on his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, on Sunday by repeating an insult that she was “mentally impaired” while also saying she should be “impeached and prosecuted."

Trump's rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, took on similar themes as an event one day earlier that he described himself as a “dark speech.” He told a cheering crowd that Harris was responsible for an “invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border and "she should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.”

“Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired,” he added. “Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There’s something wrong with Kamala. And I just don’t know what it is but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.”

With just over a month until the election, Trump is intensifying his use of personal and offensive attacks, even as some Republicans say he'd be better sticking to the issues.

His suggestions that political enemies be prosecuted are particularly notable for their departure from norms in the U.S. in which the judicial system is supposed to be protected from political influence. In recent weeks, he has threatened prosecutions of Google for allegedly giving priority to “good stories” about Harris, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and anyone he deems to be “involved in unscrupulous behavior” related to the coming election.

Trump has long threatened legal action against his rivals, including President Joe Biden and his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. This month he threatened to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, including election workers, lawyers, political operatives, donors, and voters, yet again sowing doubt about the integrity of the election, even though fraud is very rare

But he also has many legal problems of his own. He was convicted in May of falsifying business records in a hush money case in New York, with a sentencing scheduled for Nov. 26. Three other cases are pending against him, including one tossed out by a federal judge following a Supreme Court ruling granting presidents broad immunity. The Justice Department is appealing. The other cases are on hold.

If he wins the election, he could potentially pardon himself or order the Justice Department to shut the federal investigations against him.

On Sunday, he acknowledged he might lose in November: “If she wins, it's not going to be so pleasant for me, but I don't care.”

His derision of the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket as “stupid,” “weak,” “dumb as a rock” and “lazy” is also a sign of how nasty and personal the final stretch of the campaign may be.

His allies have pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other issues.

“I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on CNN's “State of the Union" Sunday when asked about Trump's comments. “They’re crazy liberal.”

When asked whether he approved of the personal attacks on Harris, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., sidestepped during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think Kamala Harris is the wrong choice for America,” said Emmer, who is helping Trump’s running mate JD Vance prepare for Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate. “I think Kamala Harris is actually as bad or worse as the administration that we’ve witnessed for the last four years.”

When pressed, Emmer said: “I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again. Those are the issues.”

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, running for the Senate as a moderate Republican, brought up Trump's false claims that Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, had previously played down her Black heritage. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college, and has identified as both Black and South Asian consistently throughout her political career.

“I’ve already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity, and now he’s questioning her mental competence," Hogan told CBS' “Face the Nation.” “And I think that’s insulting not only to the vice president but to people who actually do have mental disabilities.”

Harris has not commented on Trump’s recent attacks but has said when asked about other comments that it was the “ same old show. The same tired playbook we’ve heard for years with no plan on on how he would address the needs of the American people.”

Ahead of the rally on Sunday, some of Trump's supporters said he often makes offensive remarks. Still, they support his proposals to restrict immigration and said he would have a better handle on the economy.

“He says what’s on his mind, and again, sometimes how he says it isn’t appropriate,” said Jeffrey Balogh, 56, who attended the rally with two friends. “But he did the job. He did very well at it.”

Tamara Molnar said she thinks Trump is very strong on immigration. As for his insults, Molnar said: “I think everybody has to have some decorum when speaking about other candidates, and I don’t think either side is necessarily innocent on that. There’s a lot of slinging both ways.”

At the rally in Erie, Trump said the “invasion” would end and deportations begin if he took office.

“Thousands of migrants from the most dangerous countries are destroying the character of small towns and leaving local communities in anguish and in despair,” he said, talking about communities in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Last month, the GOP leader said he was “entitled” to personal attacks against Harris.

“As far as the personal attacks, I’m very angry at her because of what she’s done to the country," he told a news conference then. “I’m very angry at her that she would weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her. I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed from New York.

Michael Andretti tells AP 'timing was right' for a restructuring of Andretti Global

Sport

Michael Andretti tells AP 'timing was right' for a restructuring of Andretti Global

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