Tony George

His mother (Tony Hulman's daughter), Mari Hulman George (1934–2018), formerly served as the speedway's Chairman and delivers its famed "ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" public address before every Indianapolis 500 from 1997–2015 and the Brickyard 400 from 1997, 1999–2015.

Anton Hulman "Tony" George (born December 30, 1959) is the former Chairman, President, and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company, serving from 1989 to 2009.

He was also formerly on the Board of Directors of both entities.

He founded the Indy Racing League and co-owned Vision Racing.

Tony George's grandfather, Tony Hulman purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of World War II.

George is a former driver, having competed in the 1989 Indy Lights championship, finishing 12th in points and capturing 5 top-tens.

Tony George became president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation after the death of Joe Cloutier in 1989.

During his first few years as Speedway head, he oversaw new projects such as an infield road-circuit, Tower Terrace Suites, pit lane reconstruction (including the addition of a warm-up lane requested by many influential Speedway alumni), and a control tower.

Before George's arrival, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (or "the Speedway") traditionally had only one race: the Indianapolis 500.

He changed that with the announcement that a NASCAR race would be held at the Speedway.

The Brickyard 400 made its debut on August 6, 1994, with Jeff Gordon taking the checkered flag.

Many Indianapolis purists despise stock car racing at the most famous circuit in North American open-wheel lore.

Some fans believe the configuration of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as well as the diamond cutting of the track surface makes it a poor facility for stock car racing, traditionally exhibited on high banked ovals.

Shortly after being removed from the CART Board of Directors, George announced the creation of the Indy Racing League, which began racing in 1996.

He claimed to create the IRL to challenge the already established CART series, and to encourage a more even playing field in open wheel racing.

He claimed he wanted a series to run entirely on oval tracks, making it distinct from CART, which raced on road and street courses in addition to short ovals and superspeedways.

George angered many CART participants by requiring 25 of the 33 spots in the Indianapolis 500 to be occupied by drivers in the IRL circuit.

This meant that CART could not hold the Indianapolis 500 as a points scoring event on their calendar as not enough teams would be allowed to compete and earn points.

CART decided to stage their own race on the same day, the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway.

Due to the lack of participation from the established CART teams, most of the biggest names did not enter the Indianapolis 500 for several years.

Tony George became a figure of derision among some racing fans, and he is blamed for open wheel racing losing fans, sponsors and drivers to NASCAR.

In 1998, the IROC series came to the track, to little fanfare, and less success.

Later, George helped bring Formula One back to the U.S. with the United States Grand Prix held at the Speedway in 2000.

This project involved building a road course inside the oval.

The inaugural event in 2000 set an F1 attendance record.

However the IRL has been said to be continually losing money, and after the estimated $60 million overhaul of the Speedway to accommodate Formula One in 2000, George's sisters, Nancy George, Josie George and Kathi Conforti-George, voiced their concern to their mother over the spending habits of their brother, finally convincing Mari Hulman George to take unchecked power away from him in June 2009.

Controversy surrounded the 2005 United States Grand Prix, where only 6 of the 20 cars took the green due to problems with Michelin tires, which likely damaged the reputation of the event and the F1 in general in the American market.

Michael Schumacher became the first driver to win five races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning the 2006 race on July 2.

Lewis Hamilton won the 2007 event, which turned out to be the last running.

George and Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone could not reach an agreement to continue the US Grand Prix at the Brickyard for 2008 and beyond.

The Speedway hosted its first MotoGP event in 2008.

The motorcycles could not safely race through the banked turns at high speed, so a portion of the infield was plowed and paved to provide a bypass to Turn 13 of the original road course.

George resigned on June 30, 2009 as President and CEO of IMS and Hulman & Company claiming it to be so he could focus more time on the Indy Racing League.

It has been reported that while George's mother Mari Hulman George (who is also chairman of the board) supported him, his sisters (who are the other directors) wanted him out.

The board also rejected George's request to continue funding Vision Racing.

George had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on IRL teams, drivers, entry fees, marketing plans, airplanes, personnel and his own team.

In January 2010, George resigned from the board of directors.

In February 2011, however George again became a director of Hulman & Company when the board was expanded.

At a July 2016 NASCAR event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony George was described as Chairman of the Board of Hulman & Company, which owns IMS and the IndyCar Series.

He delivered the command for the 2017–2019 Indy 500s.