For a while now, there’s been a widespread belief that Tony George was looking to retake control of INDYCAR for himself. But it appears that the grandson of Tony Hulman had something else in mind.
The Associated Press has managed to get hold of a proposal made by George to the Hulman & Company board of directors earlier this month that called for a new management team to take over INDYCAR operations, the separation of the series from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a sanctioning agreement with IMS to run the Indianapolis 500.
The AP’s Jenna Fryer also writes that according to the document, George and his group, ICS Acquisition, offered $5 million in cash and $25 million in reserves for stabilizing the series. But the proposal expired on Oct. 15 and four days later, George resigned from the Hulman board (citing a conflict of interest).
In addition, the document states that Just Marketing International’s Zak Brown would be the CEO and commissioner under George’s plan.
Call it all another chapter in a wild saga that appeared to have reached its climax with Randy Bernard stepping down yesterday as INDYCAR CEO following a three-year run (IMS CEO Jeff Belskus is currently serving as CEO of the series on an interim basis).
One could also argue that it’s a rather strange one, especially considering that George was looking to take INDYCAR out of the IMS/Hulman sphere of influence; as you’ll likely remember, he spent a lot of IMS/Hulman cash to help his then-Indy Racing League along during his time as leader of the sport.
