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 and currently co-owns Ed Carpenter Racing.
George is the grandson of Tony Hulman, who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of World War II, and Mary Fendrich Hulman. He is the son of Mari Hulman George. George is a former driver, having competed in the 1989 Indy Lights championship, finishing 12th in points and capturing five top-tens.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Leadership
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.
thumb|right|Tony George at the [[2007 Indianapolis 500]]
In 1998, the IROC series came to the track, to little fanfare, and less success.
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. 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. 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.
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.
"The Split"
In the 1990s, CART IndyCar Racing faced several criticisms. Costs to field an IndyCar team had risen tremendously. The high costs meant drivers were often paying to obtain a place in the series, leaving talented drivers unemployed. Talented sprint car racers like Jeff Gordon had long competed in Indy car racing but were now choosing NASCAR instead. The CART board of directors was composed of car-owners and excluded other stakeholders in their decision making. The process to obtain engines for a team was increasingly political and cost upwards of $1 million.
Shortly after resigning from the CART Board of Directors, George announced in March 1994 the creation of the Indy Racing League, which began racing in 1996.
George was successful in increasing the visibility of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indy 500 remains one of the highlights of the IRL race season and maintained a strong attendance. George also attracted NASCAR and Formula One (from 2000 to 2007) to Indianapolis. In 2008, the MotoGP series added the oval circuit to its schedule. However the IndyCar series had trouble drawing fans, plus it lost IndyCar drivers to NASCAR such as Sam Hornish, Dario Franchitti, and Danica Patrick. Despite the absorption of the Champ Car World Series (the successor to CART) to IndyCar series, the merged series is nowhere as popular or commercially successful as CART in the early 1990s.
On February 22, 2008, the IRL and Champ Car World Series signed a deal to unify the two open-wheel American circuits, bringing them under the umbrella of the IRL IndyCar Series. A statement was released by the two sides, saying, "Owners of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League completed an agreement in principle Friday that will unify the sport for 2008."
Champ Car liquidated its assets and the IRL bought almost all of them, thereby allowing the unification of IndyCar and Champ Car on track for 2008, as well as officially unifying the history of American Championship Car Racing.
Many commentators, such as Gordon Kirby, suggest that George's actions at the head of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in creating the IRL to rival the then-dominant CART led to a sharp decline in popularity of open-wheel racing in the United States as it split the fanbase, and gave a significant boost to the national popularity of NASCAR.