“That’s wild”: NASCAR driver touches on FBI raiding IndyCar team’s facilities

NASCAR driver Conor Daly has touched upon the recent FBI raid at the IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s HQ, in Zionsville, Indiana. The team’s facility came under the Federal department’s scanner for an alleged breach of intellectual property rights.

RLLR is a co-owned venture of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, businessman Mike Lanigan, and renowned talk show face, David Letterman. The Zionsville-based outfit fields IndyCar and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) teams. They started their operations in 1992 with Honda as their manufacturer.

The fateful moment for the team, which opened their new HQ before the 2023 season, began an afternoon preceding the raid. The employees were directed to prevent using computers and electronic gadgets, and on Thursday, September 19, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reached the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's door.

Conor Daly, recently seen in the Xfinity race at Indianapolis and the Truck battle at Indianapolis Raceway Park, grazed upon the unexpected turnaround of events. He said (via Dirty Mo Media on X).

"I like the RLL group, they're a great group and I don't want to get too deep into it but pretty wild to have the FBI go in. I know that it was after a bit of information. There was some information, intertangling, maybe some information that was used," Daly said (0:10).

The NASCAR driver then outlined Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's new hire and his connection with the rival Andretti Global IndyCar team.

"There was a human being, that RLL hired, who worked at Andretti (Global IndyCar team). I know this guy very well, great team guy and I don't know what the situation was but apparently there's some more information that was brought that should not have been brought," he added.

Even though the town's Mayor, John Stehr was involved in proving the local police for the raid, he wasn’t told about the nature of the surprise visit.

Exploring Andretti Global IndyCar team's connection with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's raid

Andretti Global is a huge motorsports organization housing multiple disciples under its umbrella. This includes IndyCar, Australian Supercars Championship, IMSA, Formula E, Extreme E, and Indy NXT. Being in the same sport as RLLR, the team are rivals on the track.

Recently, Bobby Rahal's team hired Andretti's former employee for the post of senior engineer at Zionsville HQ. However, the organization has found itself in turmoil after the recent appointment. The former employee is not being explicitly blamed for the suspected breach that resulted in an investigation.

But as per Marshall Pruett of RACER, Andretti's former employee is under the scanner for his likely involvement in the alleged intellectual property right infringement.

"The source of the investigation is alleged to involve a former employee of the Andretti Global IndyCar team.” That team member joined RLL in a senior engineering role, and there are current allegations of a transfer of intellectual property," Pruett's report read.

The motorsports insider also mentioned that the FBI allegedly visited Andretti's HQ, near Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's place in Zionsville.