Before the McLaren CEO got a $50 million payday from his team’s F1 championship, he was a high-school dropout who got his start on Wheel of Fortune

McLaren Racing Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line at the Miami Grand Prix last week in second and third place respectively, marking the team’s first double podium of the year following its second consecutive Constructors’ Championship season in 2025.

One of the oldest teams in F1’s 76-year history, McLaren has reportedly reached an estimated worth of a record $5 billion under the leadership of CEO Zak Brown, topping Ferrari’s estimated $4.8 billion valuation in 2024. Since joining McLaren in 2016, Brown has not only capitalized on F1’s meteoric growth in the U.S. to grow the team’s sponsorship spending, but has also helped McLaren take its first constructors’ title since 1998.

Given the team’s success, Brown’s payday for 2025 did no doubt rival that of his 2024 compensation worth more than $50 million (£37.3 million). But before the McLaren boss was making eight figures in the rubber-burning world of F1, he made his first fortune spinning different wheels. 

Born in Los Angeles, Brown was a high school dropout with aspirations only for a career in baseball, which fizzled alongside his formal education.

“I was not a good student. I didn’t go, and then when I did go, I got in trouble—a lot of fighting,” Brown said in an episode of The........

© Fortune