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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowReports of a Hulman-George family feud proved dead-on accurate when matriarch Mari Hulman-George issued a statement June
30 confirming the ouster of her son, Tony, as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the family business empire. Shortly
thereafter, Tony George also resigned as CEO of the Indy Racing League.
Since the split between Championship Auto
Racing Teams and the IRL—which George hoped would evolve into a predominantly American, all-oval-track series—George
has been condemned for single-handedly bringing second-class status to open-wheel racing while diminishing the status of the
month of May and the Indy 500.
A year ago, there was sincere hope that the reunification of open wheel under the
IndyCar Series banner would finally be a platform on which to rebuild the sport. But as the economy tanked, the other George
siblings no longer accepted Tony’s diversion of the family fortune to underwrite the series in general and his Vision
racing team in particular.
Thus, a palace coup.
No one can deny that the CART-IRL split did irreparable
damage to open-wheel racing, especially as it coincided with NASCAR’s rise to prominence. I am not among those who believe
that open-wheel surrendered American motorsports dominance as much as NASCAR capitalized on a changing culture to seize it.
NASCAR reflects the dumbing down of the motorsports audience. As I have written in this space before, it represents
both inferior technology and an inferior form of racing (although, with regard to the latter and with increasingly rare exceptions,
both the stock cars and open-wheel series have become repetitive and tedious).
NASCAR also became the (almost)
all-American series, (almost) all-oval track series, appealing to a fiercely loyal audience that in turn was fiercely loyal
to the sponsors’ products.
I digress, but merely to bring perspective to the blame heaped upon George for
open-wheel’s diminishing popularity.
Of course, George abetted NASCAR’s rise—to the benefit of
both the city and the Hulman-George family coffers—by revamping the Speedway to accommodate the Brickyard 400 in 1994.
At the same time, George set out to bring a more wholesome atmosphere to his crown jewel, the Indianapolis 500. First,
bleachers, and then the road course, replaced the infamous Snakepit and lessened the anything-goes drunkfest. He built family
viewing mounds along the backstretch and came up with more family-oriented activities.
He made the sport less dangerous
throughout America by spearheading the creation and installation of the SAFER barriers.
Then, in 2000, he took
a gigantic leap, again at considerable benefit to the city but this time at considerable cost. The revamping of the Speedway
for Formula One, with a reported price tag of $50 million, left the facility as the undisputed Auto Racing Capital of the
World, even though it did require making a deal with the devil, also known as F-1 czar Bernie Ecclestone.
It deserves
to be noted that, with no infusion of public funds, Tony George created an economic engine that roared more loudly than 33
Indy cars, 42 stock cars or 20-some F-1 cars. It resonated to the sound of $700-million-plus being infused into central Indiana,
the equivalent of three-plus Super Bowls.
And when F-1 bailed—for the time being, anyway—George &
Co. was there to find a terrific replacement in Moto GP. Guaranteed, the motorcycle event will do nothing but grow and prosper.
So, for modernizing the Speedway into the undisputed finest racing facility in the world and for adding two events
that generate hundreds of millions of dollars locally, we castigate the man? Sorry. I refuse to be part of that crowd.
Besides, Tony George’s legacy is still being written. Yes, there are real concerns about the future of motorsports,
open wheel in particular. The IRL certainly needs the Indy 500 more than vice versa, but the health of both is essential.
Let’s hope the Hulman-George siblings and their progeny will safeguard the sacred grounds of the Speedway.
Much is at stake, as much for Indianapolis as for the Hulman-George family. It’s not a stretch to say that, if the Speedway
sneezes, we’ll all catch a cold.
___
Benner is director of communications for the Indianapolis
Convention & Visitors Association and a former sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star. His column appears weekly.
Listen to his column via podcast at www.ibj.com. He can be reached at bbenner@ibj.com. Benner also has a blog, www.indyinsights.com.
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