This article is part of ours Origin Stories series, an inside look at the stories of clubs, drivers and people who drive this sport.
Zak Brown never grew up expecting to become one of the most powerful figures in Formula 1.
He doesn't come from a racing background or have a college education. Motorsports weren't even his “first love.” It was baseball. At one point in his career, he slept on an air mattress on the floor of a friend's sister's dining room in England, working for £75 a day.
Brown, born in Los Angeles, California, but considers himself British given how long he has lived in the UK, got his start in racing thanks to winning an episode of Teen Week, one of the longest-running game shows on American television, and some advice from Mario Andretti .
Now Brown is CEO of McLaren Racing and one of his teams leads the F1 constructors' standings for the first time since 2014.
“I didn't come from a racing background. I don't come from a privileged background. We weren't poor, but by racing standards, we were poor,” Brown said Athlete. “So I think I've been lucky to get where I am with a lot of help, a lot of luck, but also a lot of hard work. I think what I have achieved can be replicated by others if you put in the time, effort and passion.
“Wheel of Fortune” was created in 1975 as a daytime game show on NBC by Merv Griffin, who also designed “Jeopardy!” Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford were the original hosting duo before Pat Sajak and Vanna White joined in the early 1980s.
Tonight's game show is like a pen-and-paper guessing game called Hangman. Participants spin a colorful wheel filled with possible prizes, such as various amounts of cash, and danger signs such as “Lose” and “Bankrupt.” They then try to win by correctly guessing, letter by letter, what the answer is on the board.
It was on this iconic American show that Brown began to build his motorsports career.
In 1981, he took part in his first F1 race with his family and was fascinated by the cars, sound and speed. Although he “fell in love with racing”, he had no connections with the F1 world. “It seemed very out of reach,” he said, “and I didn't even know how to get into racing, where baseball is pretty easy because everyone plays it.”
His father continued to take him and his brother to local races, but baseball continued to capture Brown's attention until high school, when the sport became more serious. He couldn't continue playing because he didn't attend school much. He said, “You won't stay on the baseball team if you don't get good grades.”
It was around this time that Brown finally connected with racing: a friend's family was involved in motorsports. But this world still seemed unattainable. He was still in love with America's favorite pastime.
In 1984, a huge game show came to town. Children were able to apply and interview to take part in the 'Wheel of Fortune' competition as part of Teen Week. Brown recalls that about 50–75 students from each school came to the “hanging mannequin competition – do a short interview to see if they thought he could handle being on TV and so on.” The number per high school was then reduced to 15. The top 15 finalists from each high school then underwent more “simulation tests and games”, ending with a waiting period. “We'll call you. Don't call us because we might not call you,'” Brown recalled.
As a longtime fan of the show, Brown has been following the process (and the wait for the game) avidly. He called a week later and it worked. “Wheel of Fortune” attracted 20 children, recording an entire week of performances in one day. But there was a twist: Only 15 teenagers could participate in the program.
“They need 15 people, but you can get disqualified if you talk to the audience or do something you shouldn't,” Brown said. “So even though now you know you're in the top 20 and you're actually going to go to the taping, you don't know if you were one of the 15 or one of the five reserves.”
He was one of 15 competitors and he behaved — ihI won the first two rounds. “The Smurfs and Wild Bill Hickok, I have no idea who that was.”
Those familiar with today's “Wheel of Fortune” know that participants win money and sometimes vacations. But when Brown was on Teen Week, they picked the awards. A sort of prize carousel rotated and participants were lined up to choose their winnings.
“They show this big board where everything is listed by cost, and they take out what you can't afford,” Brown said. “And like most 13-year-olds, the first thing you do is look at the board and just ask: What's the most expensive thing I can afford? They must have been watches.
The watches had been lying around his house for some time and he planned to sell them someday. A career in motorsports was so far from his mind that when Sajak asked on the show what he wanted to do, Brown referred to his favorite sport.
“Baseball Player.”
Several years have passed and the watches have still not been sold.
Brown attended the 1987 Long Beach Grand Prix and one of his friend's families knew Andretti, who won the 1978 F1 world championship. He met Andretti that race weekend and asked him the question that would shape the next chapter of his life: “How do I get started in racing?”
Andretti's answer was karting. It so happened that the race program included an advertisement for a kart racing school. Brown then sold the watches he won on “Wheel of Fortune” to a pawn shop in Van Nuys, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He used this money to pay for a go-kart racing school and he loved it.
Brown began to progress and win in karting, competing for almost five years in California before making the jump to Europe in 1991, although it was not a permanent move. In 1984, he competed in both the British Formula 3 and the Formula Opel-Lotus Benelux Series, as well as the North American Toyota Atlantic Series. The following year he made his Indy Lights debut and started his own company, Just Marketing Inc.
“When I was racing in Europe from 91-94, my big sponsor was TWA Airlines. I kind of got homesick and got a deal to come back to the States. So I went to TWA and said, “Hey, I'm out of here.” I'm going to come back to the States and race. And at this point the sponsorship became very successful for them. So they said, “It's a pity you're leaving.” But you have to know all the guys and girls in the pit lane. Can you sponsor with someone?”
Brown agreed and accepted the commission after the sponsorship was submitted. He realized, “Not only should I pursue sponsorships for myself, but it's actually much easier to sell some of the more famous people.” Brown spent years networking and building relationships, and also asked his contacts about expanding sponsorships to various motorsports series such as IndyCar, NASCAR and F1.
“Because they trusted me and I had the credibility that I knew what I was doing on the racing side, people started going, actually, yes, we don't want to sponsor you, Zak, because you're not famous enough. But if you could introduce us to Jeff Gordon or Nigel Mansell, we'd be interested. And so the business was born.”
His company grew along with his reputation, which earned him sponsorship deals. But he needed help. Brown hired his first employee and created the company name – Just Marketing Inc. Brown stated that he did not want his name on the company and wanted “a bit of intrigue”, so he decided not to include motorsports. To this day, he calls Just Marketing “a bit of a crazy name.”
Zak Brown took part in the Legends Parade during the 2024 Austrian GP weekend. (JOHANN GRODER/APA/AFP via Getty Images)
Brown was unable to pursue a full-time racing career, although he still hops in a car from time to time and in 2009, he founded United Autosports with racing driver Richard Dean. However, Brown continued to thrive in the business industry, developing his skills and knowledge of the commercial and business world of motorsports. JMI became one of the largest motorsports marketing agencies in the world when Brown sold the majority of it in 2008. Seventy percent of the company went to Spire Capital and Credit Suisse.
Chime Communications bought JMI in 2013 and hired Brown as group CEO for three years, “about two years and 11 months longer than I would have liked.” The role focused on a variety of sports, but he loves baseball, hockey and racing.
“I was playing a sport that I wasn't passionate about and I was always motivated,” Brown continued. “My work ethic has always been driven by fun and passion. So when I got involved in other sports that didn't meet that criteria, I felt like I had a job.
At the end of 2016, he had a choice – work in F1 or McLaren. Ultimately, he decided to join the papaya family and joined them in 2017 as CEO, while McLaren was in midfield (it finished sixth in 2016). Not only did he help rebrand the F1 team, but he also took the company to a global level, with the latest chapter being this year's World Endurance Championships.
“It was always my favorite racing team and I wanted to be not only on the commercial side of the business, which I loved, but also on the competitive side of the business,” Brown said. “So that was something that McLaren could offer me that Formula 1 as a sanctioning body couldn't.”
The same qualities that F1 fans see today were evident in each of Brown's chapters. Passion has been the basis of his work ethic, and he doesn't hesitate to show his excitement, just as he did when he was 13 years old standing on the “Wheel of Fortune” stage.
But to think that the story of the outstanding F1 leader began with a multi-colored wheel, a Hangman-style game and watches that he sold in a pawn shop.
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Top photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images
