Driving Sports

Sometimes when you get canned, it's a big blowup. There's yelling, weeping, recrimination, maybe even the odd coffee cup thrown through a window.

And sometimes it's just the sad epilog to a sadder story.

That seems to be the case with Tony George and yesterday's announcement that he's been canned from his position as President of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Pitched off the throne of IRL, now out of the race track business, George is down to being just another IRL team owner.

Of course, he's still on the boards of all those organizations and he's still heir to the Hulman-George fortune, so it's not like he'll be on a streetcorner with a cardboard sign  - "Will crater your company for food" - any time soon, but apparently some adult supervision has been brought in to the Brickyard:

"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,” said Mari Hulman George, IMS chairman of the board. “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 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. 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.”

Ooh. "We wish him every success" - the unkindest cut of all. Especially when you consider that his mother is the Chairman of the Board.

Still the question remains, if open wheel racing falls on its face and there's no one there to hear, was it worth the 15-year IRL experiment in boosting Tony's ego?