The war was over with a handshake, but for the man that started the war, the costs proved too much to bear. A year later, he'd find himself stripped of his power and the IMS pocketbook. (LAT)
If Tony George had a good support system 19 years ago instead of butt kissers, guys with grudges and people with agendas, he might still be in charge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
If he had apprenticed under Joe Cloutier and learned the ropes of daily business and the tenuous formula of the Indianapolis 500, the month of May might still be booming.
If he had been seriously embraced by CART and made to feel his opinion mattered, open wheel racing might never have been divided and conquered by NASCAR.
If he chose to be keeper of castle instead of king, his legacy might be on-going and preserved in glowing tributes instead of ravaged by controversy and finished off by a family feud.
Despite all of the positive things he did like bringing NASCAR, Formula One and MOTO GP to town and financing the safer wall, he will also be remembered as the man who murdered May and did irreparable damage to Indy-car racing.
That’s not opinion, its fact.
But, looking back, the grandson of Tony Hulman was totally unprepared to run the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” or preside over any kind of a series. He had no experience working with budgets, schedules or people.
His godfather, the late Dave Cassidy, always tried to get Mari Hulman George to send her son to one of their television stations for a couple of years to learn management skills, the value of a dollar and to interact with a staff. The least they should have done was make TG birddog Cloutier, who was Mr. Hulman’s savvy right-hand man for 50 years.
When Mari gave TG the keys to 16th & Georgetown in 1990, he had zero business acumen and a checkbook with seven figures: a dangerous combination.
TG’s attempt to purchase CART in 1991 at Houston was, by his own admission, very unprofessional and ill-prepared as his $1 million offer was rejected by the owners in less than civil tones.
That meeting was the genesis of the Indy Racing League and CART wasn’t clever enough to consider George’s age, inexperience and clout. He had Indy-car racing’s crown jewel and all they needed to do was ask his opinions on rules, car changes, etc., put their arms around him and make him part of the club. Sure, he did have a spot on the CART board for a while but nobody really cared to hear what he thought, according to a couple owners back then.
This was a critical time for young George and he needed some wise advisors. Instead, he supposedly listened to USAC officials and a former IMS boss who all loathed CART and Bill France Jr., who understood that CART was matching stock cars almost stride-for-stride in sponsorship, visibility and popularity.
I believe George thought France, NASCAR and ISC were his allies until a few years ago when he realized they had no interest in seeing his IRL succeed.
Anyway, at that time CART had Nigel Mansell, 28 full-time, sponsored cars, record attendance and good TV ratings in 1993-94-95. It was the worst possible time for George to start another series. He needed somebody with common sense to reason with him that the Indy 500 was the second toughest ticket in sports (behind the Masters) to get and CART may have been run by the greedy and pompous, but it was succeeding on all levels.
He needed somebody to remind him of Cloutier’s quote from the early ‘80s when the IMS boss said: “I don’t know why Indy became such a phenomenon but I do know it’s a fragile formula that we don’t want to mess with.”
Instead, when Tony announced 25 of the 33 spots for 1996 Indy 500 would be reserved for IRL point leaders and suddenly we had Racin’ Gardner and Bronco Brad Murphy competing instead of Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi, May took a credibility hit that it’s never recovered from.
Instead of following that tried and true tradition of just counting the money in May, George began spending it on purses, races, teams, promoting and marketing. He spent millions without consequence because he really didn’t value it and it came to him so easily.
His three sisters, also members of the IMS board, were reportedly vehemently all against funding another open wheel series and mother Mari was the only one who could check his power and shut down the revolution but she declined.
TG used the façade the IRL was for American drivers and manufacturers (and it was for a couple years) and to preserve the traditions of IMS when, in reality, it was only for control.
