Neil Micklewright 1956-2026

Veteran open-wheel mechanic, team manager, and team leader Neil Mickelwright has died at the age of 69.

The Briton spent 11 years working in Formula 1 for teams ranging from Lotus, Ensign and Hesketh before moving to the United States, where he’d spend the rest of his life. The shift to the U.S. with Doug Shierson’s CART IndyCar team provided Micklewright with the first of many grand achievements that would follow as he won the Indianapolis 500 with Arie Luyendyk in 1990 as Shierson’s team manager.

“I only spent that year working with him, and I really liked him a lot,” Luyendyk told RACER. “Typical British racer – no nonsense, doing a good job with what he had. He was really good at what he did, and that I think that really came through a lot more with Player’s than it did when I was working with him, because I just know of all the limitations we had financially.”

Micklewright and Paul Tracy struck gold together with Forsythe in 2003. Mark Horsburgh/Getty Images

It was at Forsythe Racing, which became known as Player’s Forsythe Racing, where Micklewright earned major and sustained success with 33 CART and Champ Car World Series wins from 1994 through 2009. Among the numerous highlights, Micklewright’s role as the team’s general manager and VP of operations was a central component in Paul Tracy’s 2003 Champ Car title.

“I can remember the first conversation I had with Neil after I had signed with Player’s Forsythe and it was not an easy one,” Tracy told RACER. “He said that they had a lot of great updates for the Reynard chassis and had budgeted about $1 million to make new parts. I said, ‘Well forget it, just get me a Lola and I will win a lot of races.’

“We debated back and forth for a while and in the end he said, ‘If that’s what you need, let me make it happen.’ Neil was a pure racer, fiercely competitive; if you were going into war, you would want Neil on your team. Sure, we had a few disagreements, but the great times far outweighed a couple of disagreements. He was an instrumental part of my championship year with him guiding the ship as the captain. God speed.”

Micklewright is survived by a daughter Rachel, son Neil Jr., his former wife, grandchildren, and family in the U.K.