IndyCar
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
INDYCAR: Andretti Technical Director Returning To Schmidt
SPEED.com confirms Allen McDonald, technical director for the championship-winning Andretti Autosport team, is leaving to re-join Sam Schmidt.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted January 03, 2013  
After completing his second stint with Michael Andretti's team, Allan McDonald will begin a second stint with Sam Schmidt's promising IndyCar program. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
The first major personnel change of the 2013 IndyCar season has taken place with Allen McDonald, technical director for the championship-winning Andretti Autosport team, opting to re-join the Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports program, as multiple sources confirmed to SPEED.com.

McDonald was on his second stint with Andretti, having worked for most of the 2000s for Team Green/Andretti Green Racing. Of his notable achievements with the outfit, McDonald earned a win at the 2007 Indy 500 and the 2007 IndyCar Series championship with Dario Franchitti.

He would leave Andretti to become Alex Tagliani's race engineer at the FAZZT Race Team, which was purchased by Schmidt just weeks before the start of the 2011 season.

Under the Sam Schmidt Motorsports banner, McDonald and Tagliani earned pole position for the 2011 Indy 500, but just after the 500, he left to re-join the languishing Andretti Autosport team in an expanded role as race engineer and technical director.

Coming off of a disastrous Indy 500 that saw multiple Andretti cars fail to qualify for the series' biggest event, McDonald's return coincided with an immediate change in fortunes as the 4-car closed the season in impressive fashion.

For 2012, and with brand-new cars and engines to master, the McDonald-led Andretti engineering corps stole the march on rivals Ganassi Racing and Team Penske, earning the championship with driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. McDonald also looked after Marco Andretti's car after Eddie Jones moved over to KV Racing to engineer Rubens Barrichello just before Indy.

McDonald was a big component in helping the Andretti team to jell, contributing to its chemistry in his over-arching role, but it's believed a desire to return to having a more direct race engineering role led to his second departure.

He'll join one of the strongest young teams in the paddock, where driver Simon Pagenaud and race engineer Ben Bretzman combined to place fifth in the championship and earn Rookie of the Year honors for the Frenchman.

McDonald's intended role within the Schmidt organization's Honda-Powered No. 77 entry is currently unknown, as is the direction Andretti will take to replace McDonald within the organization.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, and covers the IndyCar Series. Before joining SPEED, Pruett worked in open-wheel racing for 20 years as a mechanic and engineer. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.
MPruett's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marshall Pruett

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.