Almost a year after his ouster as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and resignation as CEO of the Indy Racing League, Vision Racing team owner Tony George is going on the record.
In the first of an exclusive two-part interview with Fanhouse’s Holly Cain, George talks about coming to grips with not being a major element of the series he created or the track he led for almost two decades. Some of his more interesting comments come in hindsight; George tells Cain that he should never have stepped away from IMS’ day-to-day operations and that the IMS organization needed to be restructured prior to this past off-season.
But the real eyebrow-raiser is about who he wanted to succeed him as IRL CEO following his dismissal. When Cain asks George about having to turn over the IRL to someone else, he responds:
“It has been very difficult; my decision to not accept the offer to remain as CEO of the league was based on a number of things. Chief among them my belief that [IRL commercial division president] Terry [Angstadt] had done a very good job the last couple of years, at a time when everyone seemed to have an opinion as to what kind of person was needed as CEO to make the IRL successful. He was capable and deserving of assuming the responsibility. In my opinion, he has provided quality leadership as we turned the corner and had us headed in the right direction.”
Angstadt’s gotten both a lot of heat and a lot of praise from the fan base. He seems to have gained the derogatory tag of “Talkin’ Terry” in some quarters and I figure that’s due to events such as him saying last July that the location of the league’s Brazil round would be determined in “a week to ten days” following the 2010 schedule announcement. The league didn’t put out official word about Sao Paulo getting the nod until November. On the other hand, he did help to land IZOD as the IndyCar Series’ new title sponsor — something the league had sorely needed for some time.
That being said, I get the feeling that most folks are happy with Randy Bernard getting the job, even with him being relatively green to motorsports.
Anyway, the second part of Cain’s interview with TG will be up tomorrow on Fanhouse. It should be a very interesting read.
