CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)– Seven- time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson is currently the bulk proprietor of Legacy Motor Club under a restructuring in which financial investment advisor Knighthead Capital Management purchased right into the Cup Series group.
Knighthead handles $9 billion of properties with a profile that consists of financial investments in Hertz, World Endurance Championship cars group JOTA Racing, Singer Vehicle Design, Revology Cars and a managing risk of English football group Birmingham.
Johnson informed The Associated Press that the offer revealed Monday makes Knighthead “a significant minority partner” because the exclusive equity company purchased a lot of the possession risk held by Legacy co-owner Maury Gallagher.
Gallagher preserved some shares in the NASCAR group yet will certainly tip down from daily procedures and sign up with Hall of Famer Richard Petty as an ambassador for Legacy.
Johnson, that has actually been residing in England for greater than a year, will certainly go back to Charlotte to be hands-on in his bigger duty withLegacy His partner and 2 little girls will certainly adhere to at the end of the academic year.
“I thought I was going to have three more years to understand ownership more,” Johnson informed the AP of his initial strategy when he purchased right into the NASCAR group in advance of the 2023 period.
Legacy is basically the reconstruct from the bones of what was as soon as Petty Enterprises, among NASCAR’s earliest and winningest race groups. Gallagher, the chairman of Allegiant Air, possessed GMS Racing and in 2021 gotten Richard Petty Motorsports and rebranded it as Petty GMS Racing.
Johnson joined at the end of 2022 and the group was once more rebranded right into Legacy as it increased to 2 full time Cup autos in advance of the 2023 period. The strategy was to enable Johnson to expand in his duty as NASCAR group proprietor over concerning 5 periods, yet the timeline altered when he established a connection with Knighthead and Gallagher chose to go back.
“I’ve had an open eye to the private equity world and trying to understand what’s out there,” Johnson stated. “I know that there are some other teams with PE involvement, and I just started to get to know people. I had a head start and a few friendships out there, but ultimately the opportunity and access to Knighthead and the friendship I built was done socially, and when it was time to really engage in the PE world, we just clicked and got together to see where we could go.
“We wanted to move quick. And here we are, it’s only been a couple of months, it’s been very, very quick.”
The partnership begins immediately and Knighthead will be part of Legacy when the NASCAR season begins this weekend with the preseason race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem.
