There’s been a change in motorsport over the past few years, tied to where money comes from. In the old days, it was tobacco and booze. Today, sponsors are crypto-, cyber-, or AI-related, as these sectors hold more GDP and cash.
At the amateur level, tech CEOs have replaced dentists as privateers. This past weekend’s Petit Le Mans included co-founders of GitHub, Crowd Strike, Shopify, and the creator of Ruby on Rails. Beyond bank transfers, sponsors offer tangible benefits, as Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) and OpenAI have shown in Indy Car this year.
Ganassi’s team is not the most well-resourced but is the most dominant, winning the championship 13 times in two decades. Drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and now Álex Palou have brought home trophies. Palou sealed his fifth title in six seasons in 2026, winning a third of 18 races, twice as many as anyone else.
OpenAI and one of its researchers have worked with CGR and Palou on optimizing car setups. This collaboration is the subject of a documentary series on YouTube, with the second episode just released.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing