Tony George
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- For the American actor, see Anthony George
Tony George (b. December 30, 1959) is the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is also the president of Hulman & Co.
Born as Anton Hulman George, Tony George is the grandson of Tony Hulman, who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after the end of World War II. He is a former racer, having competed in the 1989 Indy Lights championship, finishing 12th in points and capturing 5 top-tens.
His mother (and Hulman's daughter), Mari Hulman George (b. 1934), serves as the speedway's Chairman and delivers its famed "ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" before every Indianapolis 500.
Tony George became president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation after the death of Joe Cloutier in 1989. During his first few years as Speedway head, he oversaw new projects such as Tower Terrace Suites, pit lane reconstruction, and a control tower.
Before George's arrival, the IMS traditionally had only one race: the Indianapolis 500. He changed that with the announcement that a NASCAR race would be held at the Speedway. The Brickyard 400 made its debut on August 6, 1994, with Jeff Gordon taking the checkered flag.
In 1998, the IROC also came to the track. Later, George helped bring Formula One back to the track with the United States Grand Prix held in Indianapolis in 2000. This project involved building a road course inside IMS's oval. Despite the controversy surrounding the 2005 United States Grand Prix, the event continued. Michael Schumacher became the first driver to win 5 races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning the 2006 race on July 2. the UK's Lewis Hamilton won the 2007 event, but the speedway was unable to negotiate a contract with Formula 1 sanctioning body FIA for 2008 and beyond. The speedway will however host a MotoGP event beginning in 2008.
George created a new open wheel series to challenge the established series at the time, CART. Shortly after being removed from the CART Board of Directors, George announced the creation of the Indy Racing League, which began racing in 1996. He created the IRL to encourage a more even playing field in open wheel racing. He also wanted a series which ran mostly on oval tracks, making it distinct from CART, which was dominated by road and street courses. However, he angered many CART figureheads by requiring 25 of the 33 spots in the Indianapolis 500 to be occupied by drivers in the IRL circuit. His allegedly abrasive personality didn't help matters either. CART decided to boycott the race and stage their own race on the same day, the U.S. 500.
Due to the CART boycott, most of the biggest names didn't enter the Indianapolis 500 for several years. Tony George became a figure of derision among some racing fans, and he was blamed for open wheel racing losing fans and drivers to NASCAR, while other racing fans supported his IRL.
Tony George added road courses to the originally all-oval circuit in 2005, and it became more expensive to field a team in what used to be a relatively cheap racing league. George has helped lead the IRL to greater fan attendance, media attention, and relative better finances than CART (which went bankrupt and became Champ Car World Series).
In 2005, George stepped down from operations of the IRL to start his own team, Vision Racing, with his wife Laura George. The team was formed from the remnants of Kelley Racing, which disbanded after the 2004 season. George's stepson, Ed Carpenter, drove for the team in 2005.
On February 22, 2008, the IRL and Champ Car World Series signed a deal to unify the two open-wheel American circuits, bringing them under the umbrella of IRL. A statement was released, saying, "Owners of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League completed an agreement in principle Friday that will unify the sport for 2008.
"Gerald Forsythe, co-owner of Champ Car, signed an agreement in principle in Chicago, joining his partner Kevin Kalkhoven and Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George who had signed late Thursday in Indianapolis."
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