Michael explains his actions...

[Jay]

Here are a few excerpts from an interview done on Michael Andretti's website. The first part of two parts are posted there now. I thought it would be a good idea to post, just so that you guys knew where some of the players in this whole AGR deal stood for sure.

What prompted your decision to enter the IRL?

Well, we wanted to stay involved with Honda but our decision was not 100% based on that alone. However they were a big part of it. We wanted to stay associated with them. Everyone has got the rumor that Honda is financing the whole thing and that just isn't true. We have major sponsors that arereally ultimately the ones responsible for keeping this team going and they are the ones that we had to sit down with and discuss where they wanted to be. They unanimously voted to go to the IRL.

Did the sponsorship have a lot of impact on your decision to go into the IRL?

100%! If our sponsors said they wanted to definitely be in CART, then we would be there, or whatever. But ultimately, they are the driving force and they all agreed this is where they want to be. And we can't disagree. We feel, business-wise, it makes sense for everybody involved. We feel it is definitely the right move.

What do have to say to the CART fans out there who have supported you all these years?

I am very appreciative of all of the support I’ve received throughout my career. I hope they can understand and appreciate what I am doing and hope they will continue to support me. I hope the fans who have been behind me will continue to do so in the IRL – because of what I have brought to racing and their enjoyment of the sport and not just because of a decision to change series.

Regarding your relationship with CART, you spent most of your racing years there. Do you find it a little tough, knowing some of the comments going around?

Well, emotionally it's tough. This whole decision was tough, but it wasn't based on emotion, it was based on business. We as a team have to go with what we feel is best for the whole team. There are 80 other people and their families that I have to worry about besides myself and we feel this is where we need to be going for the team. We feel the IRL is doing a lot of really good things, did a lot of good things this year, but talking to them and seeing their programs and seeing their direction, we feel like they are on a real upswing and that they have a real future and we want to be a part of that.

What do you think it will be like being a lame duck guy for the next four races?

I hope I'm not! I have the utmost respect for everyone at CART and I hope they aren't going to ruin it (the last four races). If it was an emotional decision it could have turned out differently, but this is totally a business decision.

With you and Dario and Tony leaving CART do you think it will be a huge blow to the organization?

Well, it won't help losing names like Dario and Tony, as they are the young guys up front all the time. It's not going to help but at this point it's not why the decisions were made. At this point the momentum of open wheel racing is with the IRL. We all understand that. Dario understands and Tony understands it. We feel that is where the future is and that is why they are on board to go with us.

Have you talked to your father about any of this?

I did a little. He is committed to CART. He has his views and I have mine and business is business. We don't let it affect our relationship.

So this hasn't interfered with your relationship with your dad?

No, it hasn't.

What is the status of your Dad's proposed team?

I don't know. We've had some discussions and he said he has some things going and I said "Hey, I'm open to anything." I'll always listen and see, but at the moment the reality is all we have right now are these three cars and that is where our main focus is.

How much influence did your father have on you in purchasing this team?

I wouldn't say he had any influence on me purchasing this team. This is something I have been wanting to do and when Barry (Green) presented the opportunity to me, I just jumped at it. It is such a great opportunity and I guess it was nothing influenced by Dad in any way.

[Speedworx]

Poor excuses!

[Jay]

I knew I should have called this topic the excuse parade...

[Lee Janotta]

Yep.

Fing little leach... I saw his interview on ESPN... Saying it's time to heal the rift in open wheel racing... Tony George opened the fing rift, it's his job to close it!!!

Like either he or Mario is going to say there's a fallout between them. That's family, you don't discuss that with the public. But you can bet the old man just looks and him and thinks "If only I'd been home more... Or if I hadn't gotten him that ride with McLaren..."

The worst part is that Michael just plain came out and said that he views racing as a business, not a sport.

Well way to be part of the problem, you greedy souless.... Gah!!!

[StuiE]

I am very appreciative of all of the support I’ve received throughout my career. I hope they can understand and appreciate what I am doing and hope they will continue to support me. I hope the fans who have been behind me will continue to do so in the IRL – because of what I have brought to racing and their enjoyment of the sport and not just because of a decision to change series.

He had fans?

Grrrr Motorbusiness

[Tailwind]

So is Motorola going to sponser him in the IRL or are they staying with Champ Cars? I've heard Kool sees the IRL as better market for their brand. They feel that CART is an international market and they are marketing their Kool brand in the U.S. Their position is that advertising Kool in Mexico or the U.K is waisting their funds. Motorola is into a lot of high tech stuff, but it means pagers and cell phones to me. That would seem to fit the high tech image of Champ Cars as well as fit the demigraphics of the CART fan base. I haven't heard as of yet, if Motorola is going to sponsor anyone in 2003. Has anyone else heard anything?

[Liz]

Translation: "I grabbed the cash with both hands and I hope that all the people whose heroes are Enron and WorldCom and Tycho will understand that it's all about grabbing the cashola and will admire me because I grabbed it all ... although I understand that I have done enormous damage to CART, I hope everyone will realise that it's not my fault because I am weak and greedy, and will not compare me with my father who is a man of principle and a true fan of CART ... In my heart I am ashamed of myself but after all, it's all about cash, cash, cash, and Ken Lay, my idol, would back me up 100%, 100%, 100%."

And to that Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker say "Amen, brother, Amen! and Pass the collection plate!"

=======

Thanks for posting that, it shows just what a veinal and weak man he really is.

[Jordi]

Motorola, Klein Tools and I think Archipelago were the ones following Andretti, I think. No KOOL.

[macdaddy]

Wish I did know. There's been speculation that KOOL is going to pull out of motorsport altogether. There's also been IRL speculation, and CART speculation. As far as Motorola is concerned, again I've got no idea. This silly season has changed my hair from being 60% gray to a respectable 75%!

[Liz]

The word is that Kool is getting totally out of racing, because of the tobacco nannies, and this is an excellent excuse.

If he had any big sponsors he would have had a press conference with them in attendance. Clearly his real sponsor is You Know Who. (And I don't mean Lord Voldemort.)

[Russfeld]

You guys are amazing. The amount of 'business sense' in this thread wouldnt fill a pink slip.

How can you compare Andretti's decisions to that of Enron and Worldcom? He hasnt done anything illegal. What you call greed I call business. The point of a business is to provide a service for maximum profit within the context of the laws in which it operates. If CART isnt economically viable for the teams and the IRL is, why are the teams to blame? They dont create the situations, they respond to them.

And its madness to think this will have an effect on the Andretti family. They're clearly more intelligent than some of you lot are and wont let this hyperbole irrational stupidity affect a family's love. Its only racing, get over yourselves.

[Crash Test]

Fully agree there Russfeld- if someone paid me more money to race in one series over another, I'd jump at it...

[Russfeld]

I dont even think its about being paid more to run one or the other. Its about making the best decision for his company and if that opportunity is greater in the IRL per sponsors requests, he'd be a stupid businessman to not follow them.

[macdaddy]

Hey... I've got no qualms with Andretti. Business is business, always has been, always will be. But who is Michael referring to when he says this his sponsors had much to do with the decision? Of that much I'm curious. You'd think that both announcements would be made at the same time.

If I do have any qualms, they are with Franchitti and Kanaan. Franchitti has been quoted in the past as not enjoying ovals, so what other excuse than money? And as for Kanaan, I guess that he feels as if he has no bridges to burn.

But perhaps I'm wrong and only speaking through emotions. I've worked for the same guy for many years, but if somebody offered me a new job where I'd make considerably more money, I'd have to take it. Even if it meant relocating our family's roots.

Of course, Franchitti and Kanaan each have already made probably ten times as much money in their careers than I could ever hope to make in my lifetime.

The IRL is like a casino. There's a new game in town. Sort of like roulette, but with a twist. Slap your money down on a number, and if it DOESN'T come up, you win! Odds are you're going to get rich at this game! The catch is, if your number DOES come up, they give you a concussion and break your back.

I don't think I'd like to play that game.

[rush1]

I agree Russfeld. Money is everything in auto racing. It is the lifeblood of the sport. That is one of the reasons I find it so interesting. Michael is going to the IRL because the sponsors are going to the IRL. He is not dumb enough to pay out his own pocket because he likes turo-charged engines or racing on streets.

Hass, Andretti, Ganassi and Penske like money more than they hate Tony George. That is one of many reasons CART will soon cease to exist.

[macdaddy]

At our house we have this "system". If you gotta pee, and somebody's in the bathroom, you yell "Rush3!"

Gotta pee REALLY bad? Yell "Rush2!" and whoever's in there is gonna hurry it right on up for ya!

In the worst-case scenario, if you gotta poo really, really bad, and you risk the chance of making a complete fool of yourself, we yell "Rush1!"

[Jay]

Haas is staying in Cart, infact he is a part of Cart, and not just another competitor like Ganassi or Andretti. Even if he's offered to run a team for free in the IRL because Toyota want to have some cars with their engines.

Business is a part of the sport, no question, but business is not the sport. You have to have money to go racing, so if you don't have that money, you go looking for it. There are a lot of guys in both Cart and the IRL that are in this situation right now. If Michael Andretti was more interested in the sport of racing, he would be doing the same right now. I hate to say it, but with a name like Andretti, odds are could have found the sponsorship necessary to remain in Cart. If Forsythe can, I thin Andretti can. But, as Villeneuve put it, Michael was offered a plate of gold and a free team to run and drive for and he took it.

Would he have been stupid NOT to take it? ....if he wants to race in an all-oval series where 3 or 4 drivers will be seriously injured each year, then yes he would have been stupid to reject it. But, if he cares more about his own health, and road racing in North America, he would have taken the time and energy necessary to stay in Cart. He made his choice.

[macdaddy]

How do you put those two beer-glass-cheering icons up?

To you and your last post, Jay!

[Liz]

I have had two offers in my life to throw my principles overboard in exchange for a salary that would make me "wealthy" in current Canadian parlance. In one case I would have gone to work for one of the biggest gun manufacturers in America; the downside of that would have been living virtually behind bars and associating with people that would not have done me a bit of good. The other case was to work for a law firm doing the kind of law that eventually gets people in front of Senate Subcommittees, with a big chance to sell a lot of people right down the river in a very public way. That too would have involved a lot of cashola and some major benefits, and incidentally would have made me a public embarassment to my family and a traitor to everything I had been brought up to believe was right.

In both cases I declined the offer and decided I would rather have my principles.

People have told me I am crazy, and maybe I am. But at the end of the day I can look at myself in the mirror and take great satisfaction in the fact that I did not sell myself, my heritage and my family to the highest bidder, which is just another form of prostitution IMO.

I'm sorry to hear so many people say "I can be bought! Offer me cash!" not only because it demeans you personally, but because other people may be looking to you as an example and you're letting them down as well.

It's just the way I was brought up, and maybe it's old fashioned. But that's the way it is.

[Russfeld]

of course you can be bought. Its business. Andretti's obligation is not to you, its to his sponsors and his employees. Thats principles. And how dare you compare the principles of gun control to something as unimportant as racing. Shame on your hyperbole.

[Jay]

The point was that he did not have to take the cash and go to the IRL. He had a choice. He could have tried harder to convince his sponsors where of where he wants to be, or find sponsors that were willing to stay in Cart. I have no doubts that if he was willing to work a little harder and poke around for interest he could easily have found sponsors willing to back him in a Cart team. But, he was offered a plate of gold to go do something that he may or may not have wanted to do, but offered money and security. He chose the easy way, at the cost of his principles.

Like I said, there is no question that there is a very important business side of the sport, but it is still a sport, not a business. Michael did not have to go racing in the IRL if he did not want to.

[Tailwind]

Good for you Liz. I'm with Jay on this one. He now owns the team and can run it where he wants. He could have found the sponsership money to run in CART and made the choice not to.

[Russfeld]

How do you know? Do you work for Andretti-Green racing? Wtf do you honestly know about what went on in side that team's marketing department?

Michael Andretti himself said "...If our sponsors said they wanted to definitely be in CART, then we would be there..."

"...they are the driving force and they all agreed this is where they want to be."

[Jay]

Yes, he stated openly that he'd go where the money is, reagardless of where the money went. That much we know. Would you go where there was money regardless of what it invovled? If one of Mickey's sponsors happened to make powerboats, would Mickey have gone into Formula One Powerboat racing (very dangerous)? That's where the money was going afterall....

Then there's Barry Green... now, I don't know all of what happened there, but he also had a decision to make. Does he stick with his team and go where the sponsors (and the money) want him to go? NO, he decided he did not want to go that way, and got out of it. Where he's going now, I don't know, but he showed he has some principles.

[Crash Test]

Are you sure that's the true story? Has Green come out and said that he didn't want to go to the IRL, so he sold up?

My thoguhts exactly on the gun control... heck, a heap of these teams have had a foot in both pools this last season- they kno what they are getting themselves into, because they are already a part of it. If sponsors want to be involved with CART, I'm almost certain they could sign up with any number of teams which are wanting to expand for next season...