The charter system has been a major talking point – and a divisive one – throughout the entirety of the IndyCar offseason, which reaching a boiling point on the first day of the season on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“I think it's healthy for 10 owners to have 10 different things they want,” Ganassi told a small group of reporters, including Motorsport.com.
“I think that means the series is doing good because nobody can pinpoint exactly what we need, so I think that's a good thing…
“I think part of that is the offseason. I think it gives guys time. It's always good to come back racing and it kind of stops a lot of the bullshit.”
How the charter proposal is dividing IndyCar owners
The intent is to have a charter system similar to the one NASCAR implemented in 2016, allowing owners with possession of a charter to have a guaranteed spot in each race and collect more prize money.
Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles confessed late last month there have been “a couple of different concepts for charters in previous team owner meetings, and frankly, not been very close to a consensus on what it might look like.”
Ganassi and Roger Penske – owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar Series – are the only current team owners in North America’s premier open-wheel championship that have experience with NASCAR’s model.
Although Penske continues to have a team in NASCAR, Ganassi left at the end of 2021 after selling his operation that also included a lucrative pair of charters at $10 million each. It was posed to Ganassi by Motorsport.com that if other IndyCar team owners lack the education to understand the equity due to the fact that only he and Penske have experience with NASCAR’s model.
“I think partially that, and partially they weren't involved the first time we had a franchise system back in the CART days,” Ganassi said.
“I remember the CART days it was like $25,000 a race. And it there were 16 races and that was $400,000. That's what the franchise value of your franchise was worth. That's a lot of money then.
“You know, it's like your team was worth a minimum of $400,000. You were guaranteed 400,000 worth of income. So, your team was guaranteed some multiple of that in terms of its value. And that was a great thing. Can you imagine where we'd be today if we just stuck with that? We would be pretty far down the road if we just stuck with that.”
In a report by the IndyStar on Friday evening, Andretti suggested Penske, who has a net worth of $3.2 billion, spend his own money instead of collecting from the team owners. Additionally, if Penske wasn’t up for doing that then he should “sell the series.”
“There's people out there willing to do it,” Andretti said. “I think there's a lot of people on the sidelines thinking, 'This is a diamond in the rough if you do it right.' But what you need is big money behind it to get it to that level, and if he's not willing to do it, I think he should step aside and let someone else buy it.
"I told him, why don't you sell part of the series to somebody to use that money, as an equity stake. You still keep that control, but take that money and invest it, but he doesn't want any partners."
When those words were provided to Ganassi, he came to the aid of Penske.
“Maybe if Michael was a billionaire, he'd see the view a little differently,” Ganassi said.
Ganassi further stressed that considerations should be made considering what Penske has endured since purchasing the series late in 2019, including the coronavirus pandemic.
"Anybody that can run the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with no fans in the stands, he's got my vote,” Ganssi said, noting the 2020 edition of the Indianapolis 500 run in August.
“I'm okay with that. He coughed up the money to buy the place and he coughed it up during COVID, kept the series going and kept it running. I'm sorry, but I'm going to give him a pass for a couple years. Let him get back on his feet.
"I don't want to forget about COVID so quickly. It had effects on everything, not just IndyCar racing. Let's not forget that small point."
Ganassi further shared of spending his own money “from time to time and it’s paid off for me in the long run.” He also cautioned, though, that Penske could be “keeping races propped up that we need.”
With all of that, though, that isn’t to say Ganassi is in full agreement with the current concepts of a charter system presented by IndyCar’s leadership.
“I think they were responding to some people, and they came out with an idea that wasn't fully baked,” Ganassi said.
“I'm like, 'Wait, have you guys thought about this? Have you thought about that?'
“There were just too many unanswered questions. I think you have to start with the fact of what do we try to accomplish by a franchise system? Oh, by the way, every other major sport has one. Okay. Wonder why, why do they have 'em? Okay, what's the point of a franchise system? Okay.
“Start with that. And if you can all agree on that, then you can agree on how to go forward. But I think you have to start with why. What are we trying to accomplish by having this as a franchise? That's what needs to happen first.”
Although every team owner within the sport has different needs relevant to their own agenda, Ganassi believes there’s a chance to have everyone come away satisfied when everything is resolved.
However, he admitted he was taken aback when asked to provide payment to join.
“My attitude was I've been paying for that for 20-30 years,” Ganassi said.
Additionally, considering how challenging of a process formulating an agreed concept has proven, Ganassi isn’t opposed to having something similar, but perhaps not as formal, to the Race Team Alliance (RTA) utilized by NASCAR teams. The RTA is a forum of open dialogue among the team members over shared issues and then provides a point of contact to engage in the affairs with the sanctioning body.
“I think the one thing that it's the same old thing with the owners, we need to get one voice talking for the owners and one full-time person on it and then it would get done instead,” Ganassi said.
“You know, everybody sits around, and this guy has this to say, that guy has that to say. What about this? What about that?”
Another issue that was brought up by Andretti was for IndyCar to develop an engine package that could also be implemented in IMSA, aiding team owners to get into two series with minimal cost. Ganassi did not seem keen to that same idea.
“I think manufacturers come into formulas of racing because the sanctioning body goes to that manufacturer and says, 'How can we interest you in our formula?' Okay,” Ganassi said.
“I don't know that engine formulas are dictated by some owner that wants a particular type of engine. I think historically that's how engines have gone into series, when you look at it historically. Now, that's like a good idea. But so far, I don't hear any manufacturers saying, 'That's a good idea.'
“I mean, it's a matter of the sanctioning body going and sitting down with the manufacturer. ... You know, what else IMSA has? BoP (Balance of Performance). So, I don't know that changing the rules every week is what the series needs either.
“I think there's a forum for that. And I don't know that Michael blurting out his ideas in the media is the right way to go about that.”
