George to be replaced as head of Indy speedway

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Tony George has been asked to step down as president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his family's business, Hulman & Company, to spend more time running the Indy Racing League.

The board of directors of both the speedway and Hulman & Company announced Tuesday that a new management team will take over the Hulman-George companies effective July 1.

The Hulman-George family has run the speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, for six decades and also owns the IRL and Clabber Girl, a baking-powder company based in Terre Haute, Ind.

Speedway board chairman Mary Hulman George, Tony George's mother, said it is in the best interests of everyone that her son concentrate his efforts on the IRL, which oversees both the IndyCar Series and the second-tier Indy Lights.

"Our board had asked Tony to structure our executive staff to create efficiencies in our business structure and to concentrate his leadership efforts in the Indy Racing League," she said in a statement. "He has decided that with the recent unification of open-wheel racing and the experienced management team IMS has cultivated over the years, now would be the time for him to concentrate on his team ownership of Vision Racing with his family and other personal business interests he and his family share."

Tony George was reportedly asked by the family-dominated board of directors to step down in May, the week after the 500. But he said at the time, "Contrary to published reports, I continue to serve as CEO of IMS."

The reprieve was short-lived.

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 Indianapolis 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 said in May. "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 were 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.

Longtime IMS executives W. Curtis Brighton and Jeffrey G. Belskus will take over the leadership roles, with Bright, currently executive vice president and chief legal counsel, becoming president and CEO of Hulman & Company and Belskus, currently executive vice president and chief financial officer for the companies, becoming president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp.

"Tony will remain on the board of directors of all of our companies, and he will continue to work with the entire board to advance the interests of all of companies," Mary Hulman George said. Our family and the entire racing community are grateful to Tony for the leadership and direction he has provided since 1990.

"We are pleased that he will continue to be an important part of the Indy Racing League as a team owner and as a member of our board of directors, and we wish him every success."

Updated June 30, 2009