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Tony George is still the CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
How much longer he holds the title remains unclear.
Yesterday afternoon, track officials denied
a report that the board of directors voted to oust the 49-year-old CEO and said
that George has instead been asked to create a more efficient plan for spending
time running the family’s businesses. George, the Indy Racing League founder,
must report back to the board later this year.
“Contrary to published reports, I
continue to serve as CEO of IMS,” George said in a statement issued by the
speedway. “Our board of directors met yesterday, and we did discuss how to
best confront challenges and exploit opportunities facing our businesses. But
no changes in leadership or responsibility have been made.”
Yet.
The board wants George to focus on the area
that needs the greatest attention. The Hulman-George family has run the
speedway for six decades and also owns the IRL and Clabber Girl, a
baking-powder company based in
Haute
Tony’s mother, Mari Hulman George, made it
clear which part of the company that should be.
“The Indy Racing League represents our
greatest growth opportunity and therefore deserves the most attention at this
point,” she said in the statement.
But throughout the day, confusion reigned in
SpeedTV.com, in a story by veteran
auto-racing reporter Robin Miller, reported yesterday morning that the board,
which is comprised of George, his mother, his three sisters and attorney Jack
Snyder, had removed George as the speedway’s CEO after 20 years in the
position.
The report was picked up local and national
media outlets, including Sports Illustrated.
credence to the report by refusing to deny it for much of the day.
Series regulars were shocked by the news.
They were even more confounded when George
later appeared outside the 100-year-old track to deny the report.
“I think a lot of people were wondering
what exactly was going on,” longtime IndyCar team owner Dennis Reinbold
said. “The whole thing was confusing. It didn’t seem to make any
sense.”
Clearly, the economy has put a premium on
the company finances.
George has spent hundreds of millions or
dollars in the past 13 years to make track renovations and keep the IRL afloat.
Construction for a road course, new press
tower and new Pagoda cost about $100 million. Those facilities were built for a
Formula One race that is no longer held in Indy.
He also broke with tradition by bringing
NASCAR and Grand Prix motorcycle to a track that had only hosted one race each
year, the
500, until 1994.
But the cost to keep the track in good
condition can be astronomical.
“This place wakes up every morning and
eats money,” George told local TV reporters yesterday. “We spend a
lot of money keeping it in the condition we do. Certainly the Indy Racing
League has in the past required a lot of capital to keep it going when there
was two competing series – and a lot of money was spent last year trying to
unify.”
The statement indicated the family
businesses are not in trouble, but the speedway and IndyCar series have been
cutting back.
Over the past six months, about 60 staff
jobs have been eliminated, and George’s wife Laura, who co-owns Vision Racing
with her husband and actor Patrick Dempsey, lost her job as an adviser. George
said she had not been fired.
Throughout the series’ signature May event,
the 500, there were noticeable differences, such as a reduced practice schedule
and fewer staff members around the track.
At Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting,
one of the topics was efficiency.
“There was a general discussion about
the challenges and opportunities facing all of our companies and where most of
our energies need to be spent,” Hulman George said. “All of our
properties are doing well, given the challenges of the current economy.”
That could put George in the position of
determining where his energy is best spent – at the track, with the series or,
perhaps, finding a way to still do both.
Reinbold prefers the third option.
“He’s done a lot of innovative things
that have been good,” Reinbold said. “We in the IndyCar series are
growing and that’s directly under his watch and his responsibility. I’ve made
mistakes in my business, and I think there’s been a few mistakes in the IndyCar
series as well, but you live and learn. I think to be growing in times like
this, that means our positioning is pretty good.”
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