Meet Mike Shank, the realest team owner in motorsports

Spend a fewer minutes pursuing the never-ending volley of insults, accusations and conspiracy theories leveled betwixt Red Bull squad main Christian Horner and Mercedes-AMG brag Toto Wolff, and you could get the content that folks successful complaint of large open-wheel racing teams are smug, self-righteous clowns.

As the caller Formula One play reached its crescendo, incessant squabbling betwixt the 2 zillionaires during and pursuing each play became exhausting. In the midst of their toxic jousting -- verbal pillow fights -- I recovered myself thanking IndyCar squad proprietor Michael Shank, idiosyncratic who has ne'er been progressive successful F1, for being everything they aren't.

Say hullo to the realest squad proprietor successful centrifugal racing.

Shank's arms are filled with tattoos. His ears were made for listening to Van Halen -- he's really much of a Van Hagar feline -- and is prone to emptying bottles with the antheral himself, Sammy Hagar. Sipping vino and picking astatine charcuterie plates doesn't jibe with his Midwestern sensibilities; knocking backmost shots of tequila with the Red Rocker successful Cabo San Lucas is much of Shank's style.

Along with his presumption arsenic a enactment legend, Shank's racing bona fides are arsenic impressive. Splitting his efforts betwixt IndyCar and IMSA's SportsCar Championship, the Meyer Shank Racing squad helium co-owns with erstwhile SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer has been connected an epic tally successful caller years.

Signed arsenic a mill squad by the American part of Honda and its luxury/performance marque Acura, MSR promptly won the 2019 IMSA GTD people title wielding a racing mentation of the Acura NSX supercar. Going back-to-back arsenic GTD rubric winners with Acura successful 2020 was a precursor to MSR's motorboat into the stratosphere. Making his debut with the team, surviving fable Helio Castroneves went connected to triumph his 4th Indianapolis 500 with MSR successful 2021. What a mode and what a spot to present Meyer and Shank's archetypal triumph arsenic IndyCar squad owners.

Crowned arsenic winners of IndyCar's biggest race, MSR matched the accomplishment 8 months aboriginal successful IMSA by scoring the wide triumph successful January astatine the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Their occurrence successful Daytona was capped successful October arsenic MSR secured its 3rd IMSA rubric successful 4 years, this clip successful the top-tier DPi category. Yes, bully guys bash decorativeness archetypal sometimes.

"I'm afloat biased connected Mike Shank," NASCAR prima A.J. Allmendinger, who was portion of MSR's archetypal statement-making triumph astatine the 2012 variation of the Rolex 24, told ESPN. "You privation to tally done a partition for him, and that's due to the fact that helium puts his bosom and psyche into everything helium does and due to the fact that helium besides genuinely cares astir you, too. He's gotten everything present that helium deserves, and helium deserved it mode earlier helium got it."

Shank's communicative is among the champion successful the sport. Born successful the tiny Ohio municipality of Gahanna, helium grew up wrong the affluent amateur racing civilization fostered by the Sports Car Club of America. Dreams of driving successful the Indy 500 steered his absorption successful life. Figuring retired however to wage for specified lofty exploits was the archetypal occupation to solve, and that's wherever a section heating and ventilation concern proprietor inspired the instauration of Michael Shank Racing successful 1989.

Shank would usage his talented hands to hole the contention car owned by the HVAC businessman and determination those profits into getting retired connected way successful immoderate nine racing car helium could find to research his interior Mario Andretti. As his estimation arsenic a mechanic grew, much amateur racers dropped their cars disconnected astatine MSR. As his contention mentation and trackside enactment concern began to grow, helium ran himself successful bigger and faster cars, bringing MSR to the aforesaid open-wheel grooming bid that produced IndyCar champions and Indy 500 winners alike.

The prime of Shank's squad attracted large endowment and important sponsors; aboriginal Indy Racing League triple champion and 2007 Indy 500 victor Sam Hornish was MSR's astir celebrated postgraduate successful the precocious 1990s. And successful that aforesaid play of time, Shank came adjacent to realizing the imagination that launched MSR. The car was dilatory and the Nienhouse Motorsports squad helium drove for was a mess, but the grounds books bash corroborate that Michael Shank competed successful 1 IndyCar race.

The 1997 Las Vegas 500K, tract of the IRL's play finale, saw Shank thrust nether the checkered emblem successful a respectable 16th spot wrong a tract of 31 starters. It wasn't taking portion successful his beloved Indy 500, but it was capable for Shank to marque bid with ending that section of his life. Although helium wasn't destined to thrust astatine the Speedway, bringing MSR to the Brickyard arsenic an IndyCar squad would go the caller extremity to acceptable successful motion. Two monolithic leaps of religion would follow.

Looking backmost to 2021, Shank and his woman Mary Beth were capable to basal connected the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's start/finish line, kneel down and buss the bricks, and airs with Castroneves and the Borg-Warner trophy due to the fact that of a gamble the husband-and-wife tandem made 17 years anterior to their top time successful the sport. With MSR's inferior open-wheel squad losing momentum successful the aboriginal 2000s, immoderate thoughts of graduating to IndyCar were abandoned.

Jim France, portion of NASCAR's founding family, was starting a caller sports car endurance racing championship, the GRAND-AM Rolex Series, and with its creation, a caller benignant of low-tech cars dubbed Daytona Prototypes would pb the way. Hurting for cash, Mike and Mary Beth were near with 1 drastic determination to make: they mortgaged their location to rise the funds and bargain a Daytona Prototype.

The small inferior open-wheel squad that participated successful races that lasted 45 minutes oregon little knew thing astir sports cars oregon racing for 24 consecutive hours without sleep. Joining GRAND-AM arsenic an entrant successful 2004, visions of joining the IndyCar paddock were tabled arsenic MSR made its archetypal foray into high-level nonrecreational racing with its Daytona Prototype. It was a gutsy determination that came with nary guarantees MSR would past its sports car racing experiment, overmuch little get backmost connected way and find a mode to IndyCar.

The archetypal fewer years successful GRAND-AM were unsmooth for the Shanks; with stiff owe payments owed each month, miserly surviving was required arsenic immoderate leftover income was enactment backmost into the team. It's present wherever we larn wherefore Allmendinger is Shank's No. 1 fan.

"I emotion him due to the fact that what's ever stood retired the most, particularly erstwhile helium was struggling conscionable to support the squad going, was each the MSR unit guys were ever there," helium said. "The aforesaid guys. I'd amusement up to contention for Mike astatine the Rolex [24] each year, and I knew each the unit by sanction due to the fact that it was ever the aforesaid guys, due to the fact that adjacent erstwhile him and Mary Beth were struggling to adjacent wage for energy successful their house, helium didn't privation those families that helium employed to struggle.

"So helium ever kept them, whether helium really could spend them oregon not erstwhile times were hardest for the team's finances. He made definite they were there. Whatever it took, immoderate sacrifice helium and Mary Beth had to make, they made it and enactment his radical first, enactment successful the small wealth they were making, truthful his unit weren't going without a job. That's the benignant of idiosyncratic that helium is. I'm a grown-ass man, and I'm getting misty-eyed conscionable reasoning astir it."

The rerouting to GRAND-AM would wage disconnected arsenic MSR continued to turn and became a mill Daytona Prototype squad for Ford earlier receiving a transformational recruitment telephone from Honda. MSR would correspond the American limb of the Japanese shaper successful IMSA, archetypal nether the Honda banner, and later, for Acura. Thanks to Honda's dense engagement successful IndyCar, Shank besides recovered his mode into the Indy 500, wherever MSR made its debut successful 2017 utilizing Honda engines.

In the process, the Shanks met Jim Meyer, and by 2018, Michael Shank Racing had go Meyer Shank Racing. Same initials, thankfully. And done Meyer's web of relationships, Liberty Media, which owns F1, was introduced to the Shanks.

Soon after, Liberty was sufficiently impressed by what it recovered wrong MSR to bargain 30% of the Pataskala, Ohio-based team. Not atrocious for an aged nine racing mechanic.

Perhaps the astir compelling facet of Shank's property is his unpretentious attack to life. He's the lone IndyCar oregon IMSA squad proprietor I cognize of whose fans devise plans to portion brew with the man. A precise circumstantial beer. Busch Light.

There helium was, caller from climbing the obstruction with Castroneves astatine the Indy 500, and successful his backmost pocket, Shank's favourite brew was poking out, waiting to beryllium consumed. With cameras capturing the infinitesimal for millions of viewers, Shank cracked it unfastened and crushed it. Our guy. Man of the people. But the communicative didn't extremity there.

Renowned for his devotion to Busch's low-calorie swill, the section distributor successful Ohio made definite the Indy 500 festivities would proceed erstwhile helium and Mary Beth returned home. Neighbors began sending Shank photos arsenic the cases of Busch Light began to stack up connected his beforehand step. And past those neighbors and household friends got successful connected the regular and kept adding and adding to the partition of beer. Shank stopped counting erstwhile the tin number approached 500.

"He yet got that large interruption with [Meyer] and Liberty and Honda, and helium and Mary Beth enactment truthful overmuch effort into it and had truthful galore hard knocks on the way," Allmendinger said. "So past helium wins the Indy 500, wins the biggest contention of his life, and should beryllium retired partying for the remainder of the year. And astir radical don't cognize this, but helium decides to amusement up astatine Mid-Ohio for a [NASCAR] Xfinity contention conscionable to travel bent retired and ticker me. That was unbelievable.

"I adjacent conscionable half-heartedly threw it retired determination like, 'Yeah, you should travel implicit to Mid-Ohio,' but I ne'er thought I would spot him. I really forgot astir inviting him. He should beryllium retired there, freaking connected apical of the world, celebrating the top triumph he's ever had. But nope. There helium was, conscionable hanging retired with maine astatine an Xfinity race. I volition ever emotion that guy."

In a satellite of petty Horners and Wolffs, beryllium a Mike Shank. Find him astatine the adjacent IMSA oregon IndyCar contention and inquire if helium has immoderate acold Busch Lights to share. Trust me, helium volition -- and afterward, you'll person 1 heck of a communicative to archer astir the realest squad proprietor successful racing.