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Tony George - Requiem For a Lightweight

Posted by Troy Harrison at 09:44:00 AM

Well, it’s official now.  Tony George has “resigned” as President and CEO of the Hulman Family of Corporations, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League.  The man who was perhaps the most polarizing figure in the world of big-time motorsports is now toothless and reduced to being the owner of a struggling one-car team in the Indy Racing League (Vision Racing).  George’s nearly 20 year reign at the head of IMS will be dissected for years to come, or at least as long as it takes to repair the damage he caused.

George’s supporters (of which it must be said, I was initially one) praised him as a “visionary” when in 1994 he announced the creation of the Indy Racing League, a new series that would reestablish IMS’ control over the destiny of big time open wheel racing in this country, and specifically the Indy 500.  As George noted, there was a significant fanbase that had been alienated by the 500’s severed connection with grassroots Sprint Car and Midget racing and the drivers therein.  Excessive ridebuying, street racing, a lack of focus on ovals, and “closed shop” engine leasing programs had created a sport with little resemblance to the Indy car racing of the ‘50s, 60s, and 70s.  George told the world that his Indy Racing League was designed to fix those problems, and rules such as those mandating open access to equipment were hailed by supporters as steps in the right direction.

Unfortunately, over the intervening 15 years, those principles were discarded one by one as the series that was designed to fix CART’s ills looked like nothing so much as a lower-rent version of CART.  Sprint car drivers?  Prominent in the early years, they were nearly all gone by 2001 despite the strong performances of drivers like Tony Stewart, Billy Boat, Davey Hamilton, Donnie Beechler, and others.  Open equipment access?  Gone with a single sentence by Lee White when Toyota’s participation was announced, and quietly removed from the rulebook shortly afterward.  Ridebuying?  Pervasive at the beginning, and nearly mandatory now.  Foreign drivers?  The last two Indy 500’s have featured the fewest American drivers in the history of the race.  At times, the IRL seemed less a racing series and more an exercise in fanbase alienation.

In the meantime, George funded the IRL to the tune of a reported $600 million dollar loss between 1995 and the present.  Where did the money go?  Much of it went to funding individual teams in order to fill grids.  The practice became so prevalent that IRL detractors and supporters alike settled on the word “Tonybucks” to describe the sudden funding that allowed a preseason anticipated grid of 12 cars to swell to 18-20 by the season opener.

Too, the IRL seldom profited on individual races.  To put together a schedule, IRL management routinely signed races at sanction fees that either lost money or barely broke even for the weekend – leaving ongoing costs unpaid.  For instance, for the first several years, IRL purses were an advertised $1 million per race (in fact, they were less; from the beginning, the IRL deducted a 10% “administrative fee” from purse payments – this fee went to 20% a few years ago), but many races were sanctioned for fees as low as $500,000, with the IRL paying the entire purse.  The IRL also engaged in track rental and co-promotion arrangements that pushed losses for certain races (reportedly) over $2 million.  Despite efforts to push sanction fees higher in recent years, the IRL still loses an estimated $20 million per year.

The total damage to the sport of open wheel racing in this country is hard to calculate – but adding together the $600M lost by IMS, the $250M lost by stockholders in CART, and the money lost in trying to run the Champ Car World Series, it’s likely that direct economic losses have totaled over a billion dollars.  That doesn’t even begin to include the devastation to the various support industries, parts and fabrication shops, engine shops, etc. that have shut down, laid off employees, shrunk, or otherwise suffered as the sport has suffered.  While Tony George has certainly had help devastating the sport, CART was turning a profit in 1995.

That’s not to say that Tony’s time at IMS has been empty of accomplishment.  He fulfilled a long time ambition of John Cooper, his predecessor, by bringing NASCAR to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He also brought Formula 1 back to these shores (at considerable expense that’s likely not been recouped), and has hosted motorcycle and IROC races at the Speedway.  The facility itself is certainly light years ahead of where it was in 1990, as well.  He also funded the initial development of the SAFER barrier, for which racers owe a debt of gratitude.  When all is said and done, however, his legacy will be the utter devastation of the sport of Indy racing.

It was once said by his supporters that one should not criticize Tony without talking to him.  Talk to him I did, at some length, back in 2000.  I came away recognizing that he was essentially heir to Tony Hulman’s throne with a desire to carve his own legacy, but little idea how to go about it.  From that meeting, it was clear to me that Tony George was over his head nearly from the beginning of the IRL, and that he failed to do what he needed to do – surround himself with quality people.  Instead, IRL management was filled with old college buddies of his and others with little connection to, or knowledge of, the sport.  IRL management has distinguished itself by its incompetence and inability to create a brand and value.

It’s a fitting coda to Tony’s reign at the helm of IMS that his final race ended with drivers apologizing to the fans for the sad quality of Saturday night’s Richmond race.  There are those who feel that apologies from the IRL have been due for many years now.  From here, the sport will attempt to rebuild.  How it happens, and who does it, are open questions.  But healing had to begin with the removal of Tony George, and now it can begin.

 

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