Andretti Autosport team owner Michael Andretti and IZOD IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick participated in a Q&A session following the announcement that Patrick had re-signed with the team and will race in the IZOD IndyCar Series in the No. 7 Go Daddy Dallara/Honda.
Michael Andretti• One of the most recognized names in American open-wheel racing who became a full-time team owner in 2003 after stepping away from his championship-winning career as a driver.• Became sole owner of Andretti Autosport in November 2009. The team is one the most successful Indy Racing League entrants with three IZOD IndyCar Series championships, 34 IZOD IndyCar Series races, two Indianapolis 500 wins and the last two Firestone Indy Lights championships in association with AFS Racing.Danica Patrick• 27-year-old native of Roscoe, Ill., who has competed in the IZOD IndyCar Series for the last five seasons.• Will drive the No. 7 Go Daddy entry in the IZOD IndyCar Series full-time in 2010.• Finished a career-best fifth in IZOD IndyCar Series standings for Andretti Autosport in 2009, including a season-best third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
Q. Danica, some very exciting news for you yesterday. You're returning to Andretti Autosport and are sponsored by Go Daddy. How relieved are you to finally have your IZOD IndyCar Series plans finalized? DANICA PATRICK: It's really good. It's a really good feeling to announce our IndyCar program and our new sponsor, which is really exciting. It's always fun when you've got new colors and a little bit of a change. So I'm really excited.
Q. You mentioned the new colors. The No. 7 does have a unique color scheme. How did you like neon green before it showed up on the suit and the car?
DANICA PATRICK: I actually think they're very catchy colors. They show up really well on the track, which is really the most important thing, and I've always known those are the Go Daddy colors. So I think they did a really nice job putting the suit and the car together. There is quite a bit of green on that suit, but people not only won't miss me on the track, but they won't miss me in the pits. Q. Michael, obviously this is one of a series of announcements your team has had recently. First, can you comment on the change to the management structure of what is now Andretti Autosport?
MICHAEL ANDRETTI: Yeah, we're really excited about all the things happening here. A lot is happening the last couple months, and we were finally able to make our announcement where I was able to take over full ownership. You know, we've already started making some changes, and one of them is bringing Tom Anderson on board, who is going to run all of racing operations for us.
We're very excited about Tom and having him involved, because I worked with him back when I raced for Chip Ganassi back in '94. He's a guy that I have a ton of respect for, and I think he's just going to bring so much to our team. I'm really excited about having him involved here. You know, that's the biggest change at the moment there. But I'm also excited that we've been able to finally announce Danica continuing with us. She had a great year last year, and I think there's a lot more to come.
And we're excited about Go Daddy, having them come in and take over the colors of the car. It was great. They've been so great to work with. Bob Parsons, who owns Go Daddy, and everybody there has been great to work with. I can't wait to get into next year. I think we've got a lot of good stuff happening.
Q. This question is for Michael. You mentioned Tom Anderson coming aboard. Can you go into maybe some more detail about bringing him in and the advantages, benefits you're going to have of what he brings to the table here in the future?
MICHAEL ANDRETTI: I think he, for one, brings a ton of experience. He's seen it all. He's won everything. So you have that experience. He's coming in here to add to our talent pool, which we have a ton of talent here, and I think he's just here to just hopefully not change things but just hone things in and make us better than we are now. That's basically what we're hoping to get from Tom. And I'm very, very confident we're going to.
Q. You said you had a chance to work with him over a decade ago back in the mid '90s. With bringing him in, how important was that a goal for you when you restructured this whole team and this whole thing came together?
MICHAEL ANDRETTI: It's always been a goal of mine to work again with Tom. Back when I was searching for teams to actually get involved with, I actually talked with him about getting involved with me, but unfortunately he had already done a deal with Adrian (Fernandez) at that time. So that far back, I've been wanting to get together with Tom.
We've always kept in touch, and it was just one of those things where it seemed like everything just dropped out perfect. Fernandez Racing was getting ready to part ways, and we were having our changes here, so it was perfect timing, and it just worked out good.
Q. Danica, I just wondered if maybe you could share with us a little bit of what your thought process was, because as Michael alluded to, I'm sure you also were amused at times reading all the speculation and the rumors and the things where people had you going. In your mind were you always going to be back in an IndyCar this year, or did you really think about maybe doing something else? How did you make that decision?
DANICA PATRICK: I think that all those things are true. We evaluated our options mid summer as to what was possible and the opportunities, but I really want to win the Indy 500, and I really like driving for Mike, and I like my teammates. I wanted that to happen if it could, so we just had to evaluate. But yeah, it is always funny to read what people are saying. Sometimes they're onto something and sometimes it's completely left field. So it is entertaining. Q. And finally to wrap up with Danica, we all know what IZOD is, clothing, apparel. Are you really looking forward to kind of getting cut in on some of the Calvin Klein swag while you're at it? I'm sure you could do some serious damage to that sponsorship.
DANICA PATRICK: As a girl I'll take all the freebies for sure. But yeah, it's definitely exciting and entertaining. It's cool to have a sponsor that dress for the part that you want, not the one that you have. I think that they've really stepped up, and I think everybody looks sharp, and I think that the company that IZOD is with their real core sort of history of building brands I think is really exciting, and everybody in the IndyCar Series should be excited about that because it's something that we need a little bit of.
