FBI agents investigate Rahal Letterman Lanigan IndyCar team complex

Graham Rahal of IndyCar’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted an on-site investigation of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s facilities in Zionsville, Indiana on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 18.

FBI officials confirmed to local Indiana news channel FOX59/CBS4 that there is no current threat to the public, and that agents were indeed investigating the team’s racing complex.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing faces FBI investigation

The FBI have not yet provided an additional information about the nature of the raid, aside from stating that there is no threat to the public.

Zionsville Mayor John Stehr confirmed to the Indiana Business Journal that the FBI “requested assistance” from Zionsville police for investigative activity.

“The FBI called our Police Department and said, ‘We’re going to do a raid in this building. Can you send some cars?’ Which we did,” Stehr told the Indiana Business Journal. “But they did not give us any information on what the nature of the raid was.”

Employees at RLL were instructed to leave behind electronic devices like laptops, then leave the building.

Authorities arrived at the team’s headquarters at 8:30 a.m. to begin the investigation. By 4:55 p.m., an Indiana Business Journal found the headquarters locked.

Per Marshall Pruett at RACER, “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.

According to Pruett, the FBI is also alleged to have visited Andretti Global’s headquarters in August, potentially regarding the aforementioned transfer of intellectual property.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a team owned by former racer Bobby Rahal, talk show personality David Letterman, and Mike Lanigan, co-owner of the Mi-Jack brand.

RLL operates in both IndyCar and the IMSA series, and the 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art complex serves as both a workshop and an operations facility for RLL. On the lower level, the team can service its racing machinery and conduct pit stop practice, while the second level of the building holds offices and a “mission control” room where engineers can monitor on-track action.

While IndyCar’s 2024 season ended on Sunday, Sept. 16, RLL is entered in the Battle of the Bricks this weekend, a six-hour IMSA endurance race taking place on the road course inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This is a developing situation. The article will be updated as information becomes available.