MILLER: Loyalty And Trust

IndyCar

MILLER: Loyalty And Trust

Andretti and Kanaan were goombahs, fast friends and partners in a treacherous yet exhilarating business.

Robin Miller | Posted November 02, 2010

As Robin Miller sees it, the breakdown between Tony Kanaan and Michael Andretti reminds him a lot of two characters from The Sopranos... (LAT)

The Tony Kanaan Saga illustrates several things:

• Loyalty can be pretty pricey these days.
• Why drivers are selfish (or should be).
• A buyout is better than a freeze out.
• Big sponsors are as rare as American drivers in IndyCar.

In what has stirred a storm of passionate emails and internet rage, Kanaan was cut loose by Michael Andretti last week in a move that was equal parts shocking, sad and bottom line.

The headline on my SPEED.com story called it a divorce and one reader took umbrage with that, claiming I was trying to grab headlines with inane stupidity because it was merely a sponsorship issue and one friend not wanting to hold the other back.

Really? Oh, I know that’s how the press release read but let’s be honest here kiddies, this may not have had the barred teeth of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but it was definitely a divorce.

And it was somewhat amicable because TK really didn’t want to move out and Michael really didn’t want to change the locks. Kinda like when Tony Soprano had to whack Big Pussy – it truly bothered him but he still pulled the trigger.

Andretti and Kanaan were goombahs, fast friends and partners in a treacherous yet exhilarating business. When the second generation star quit driving, he hand-picked the Brazilian, who once slept on the floor of a garage while learning his trade, to lead the IndyCar team he co-owned.

From 2003-2008, Andretti-Green Racing was a bully, part of the Big 3 with Gansssi and Penske as TK, Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti kicked butt, won championships and Indy 500s. Wheldon went on to Ganassi, Dario tried NASCAR and Kanaan stayed to tutor Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick.

The green 7-Eleven car and TK were always up front and when Wheldon turned down Ganassi’s one-year renewal for 2009 in the summer of ‘08, the offer was made to Kanaan, who gave Chip a verbal commitment to join the red army of Target.

When word got out (I’d written a story for SPEED), the Andretti-Green boys confronted TK early the next morning as he drove into Kentucky Speedway. They begged him stay, played the loyalty card and made him a sweetheart deal (five years at $3 million annually).

Even though they brushed off the Ganassi report as rumor in a press conference, Andretti knew he’d almost lost his leader and Kanaan knew he’d secured his financial future.

(That Franchitti guy took the ride with Ganassi and, last time I checked, it’s worked out OK for him with back-to-back titles and this year’s Indy 500).
Of course since that 24-hour period when TK decided to dance with the one who brought him, Ganassi and Penske have waltzed away with 31 of the last 34 races and clearly have distanced themselves from everyone else even though Ryan Hunter-Reay and TK each got a W in this past season.

That two team dominance was already being established in ’08 and a lot of us wondered if Kanaan hadn’t made the worst decision of his career. Last week he said he didn’t second guess making an outside pass any more than staying with a team that depended on him.

“Maybe I screwed up but I was being loyal to my team and loyal to Michael,” he said.

The first signs of trouble came during the Mid-Ohio weekend when it was learned 7-Eleven might not be back, then things looked OK again before the bomb dropped a couple days before the season finale at Homestead, Fla.

Following the IndyCar banquet, John Lopes (marketing man for Andretti) said he spent a week on the telephone trying to find a sponsor without success. Andretti stated he offered to keep TK at a reduced rate but that was refused and there was also talk of possibly running him in selected races if funding could be found.

The other option was to give the 35-year-old veteran a severance package and make him a free agent while some good seats were still available for 2011. He took it.

Now, people ask, why wouldn’t TK sue for all his money? Ask Paul Tracy, whose lifetime contract with Gerry Forsythe was terminated and wound up being settled out of court after some expensive legal fees over a couple years.

Whether TK’s deal was tied to 7-Eleven is moot, the fact is that Andretti Autosport didn’t have the money to keep paying him. Do I think it bothered Michael to lose the guy who won his first pole, first race and first championship? Hell yes it did. Michael isn’t the warmest guy on the planet but he seemed to have a genuine friendship with Kanaan.

This was more like an owner who lost two major sponsors in one week and is scrambling to keep three cars on track than an emotionless call to reduce the budget.

Does it make it any easier for Kanaan and his many fans to accept? Of course not and he’ll have extra motivation to beat a certain team next year, count on that.

The irony of all this is that Hunter-Reay and TK developed some much-needed chemistry for that team and the leader lobbied long and hard to keep his part-time teammate. Now RHR has a well-deserved, new contract and Kanaan is on the street.

It sucks, but that’s the big bad world of professional auto racing.

That’s why I usually side with drivers. They take the chances, on the track as well as the dotted line.

And the real bottom line is that Kanaan delivered on his part of the deal.

Robin Miller became an Indy-car junkie in late 1950s and stooged for his hero, Jim Hurtubise, at the 1968 Indy 500. He went on to work as a vent man and board man on Indy pit crews from 1971-77. Miller bought a Formula Ford from Andy Granatelli in 1972 and raced it in SCCA until 1974 when he purchased a midget from Gary Bettenhausen, competing in the USAC midget series from 1975-82.

Robin flunked out of Ball State College in 1968 and began working at The Indianapolis Star sports department in 1969, covered motorsports there from 1969-2000.

In addition to his broadcast work. Miller's also covered IndyCar racing for Autoweek, Autosport, Car & Driver and On Track magazines over the past 35 years.