MILLER: Out With The New, In With The Old?

IndyCar

MILLER: Out With The New, In With The Old?

Will the 11-member board of directors of Hulman & Company accept Tony George's IndyCar takeover proposal, or keep Randy Bernard in place?

Robin Miller | Posted October 18, 2012

Will the IMS board keep its current administration in place, or bring Tony George back? (Photo: LAT)

Tony George never quoted Ahhhnold and said “I’ll be back,” at least not publicly, when he resigned from the Hulman & Company board of directors and IndyCar presidency a few years ago after being removed from ultimate power by his family the year before.

But when George was reinstated to the Hulman & Company board of directors in 2011 many of us figured that would set the wheels in motion for his desired return to the cockpit.

Last June, after a car owner tipped me that TG was trying to put together a group of owners and investors to buy the IndyCar series and get rid of Randy Bernard, it seemed illogical yet plausible considering the dysfunctional history of open-wheel racing.

And now it appears some kind of offer has been dangled in front of the board, despite the continued contention from IMS boss Jeff Belskus that “IndyCar is not for sale.”

Of course why would it be for sale? The Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar are joined at the hip and why in the name of Joe Cloutier would IMS ever want to answer to somebody else after the 13-year war over that very subject?

Yet isn’t it ironic that the guy who resented CART so much--a series where the car owners controlled the series, that he started the Indy Racing League is now proposing a plan where some car owners and other outsiders own the series?

One also must wonder what kind of conflict of interest question is raised when a board member wants to lead a takeover of that company.

I truly don’t think TG wants to call the shots on a day-to-day basis and that’s where a pal like Zak Brown might be positioned. But having the keys and checkbook taken away by his family back in 2009 has always stuck in his craw and this is a way to get back inside the control room.

He’s been anti-Bernard since sister Josie George brought the former Pro Bull Riding savior into the family to replace her brother. TG was miffed that Terry Angstadt wasn’t embraced and that Brian Barnhart has been reduced to a buck private. He’s upset that Bernard is considering replacing Firestone. He’s unhappy with the number of oval tracks on the schedule and the price of car parts.

He’s undoubtedly pissed off that the role he was born into is now managed by his college roomie (Belskus) and a cowboy who had never seen a race before 2010.

And he can’t be real thrilled that Bernard is pretty popular with Indy car fans.

But forget all that and consider the facts, as we know them.

Because of supporting IRL teams with free cars and engines, paying purses, numerous marketing deals, a fleet of airplanes, Gene Simmons, helicopters, Vision Racing, tearing up IMS to accommodate Formula One, a mammoth in-house payroll, and repairing The Split he caused, George spent hundreds of millions of dollars from 1996-2009.

He also made good money for more than a decade with the Brickyard 400 and first few F1 shows were packed but NASCAR at IMS isn’t half full these days and F1 is long gone.

Tony’s IRL and all its excesses were bleeding money and that’s why his sisters finally convinced their mom to take away his unchecked power.

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