IndyCar: Liberty Media was finalist to buy IMS and IndyCar – Miles
Apparently, Roger Penske was offended by our April Fool’s Article that rumored Penske would sell IMS, IndyCar and the Indy 500 to Liberty Media.
It seems he thought we were serious.
Penske took the time to say that his succession plan for IMS and IndyCar would be his family and that he had no plan to sell it to Liberty Media when he finally retires.
We have reported for years that Liberty Media was in the running to buy IndyCar and IMS back when Penske bought it, but the Hulman George family felt more comfortable selling it to Roger.
Little did they know how huge IndyCar would be today had they sold it to Liberty, but Roger Penske was someone they knew and could trust.
This is understandable.
In an interview with The Race, IndyCar CEO Miles said, “The reality is that I think it’s pretty widely known that Liberty Media was one of the finalists to buy this whole company [in 2019/20].
“And so we spent a lot of time with Greg Maffei, Chase [Carey] and his team. And still stay in close touch.
“I saw Greg in Miami, then I saw him recently at a sports conference, and it’s very friendly.
The two series have a friendly relationship, and Miles does not feel threatened by F1’s surge in popularity.
“So we’ll learn from each other and we’ll compete sometimes, and we’ll help each other sometimes. We’ve had conversations, for example, deeper in the organizations about sustainability, what they’re on, what they’re thinking about, what we’re thinking about.
“Again, it’s sort of sharing best practices.”
IndyCar President Jay Frye also had good things to say about their relationship with Liberty and F1.
With F1 about to embark on a blockbuster F1 movie with Apple, Brad Pitt, Lewis Hamilton and the writers and directors from Top Gun, F1 is certain to continue its meteoric rise in popularity.
And when it does come time for Roger to someday walk away from the sport, perhaps he will look at what Liberty Media has done for F1 and think, well, maybe I should hand over the reigns to them.
If not, we’re sure the Penske organization will take good care of the sport.
Mark C. reporting for AutoRacing1.com