MVN: Most Valuable Network

I took a few days off from the blog after word broke out that Tony George had resigned as CEO for the Indy Racing League and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to digest everything and also for personal reasons. Considering that we have a race coming up this weekend at Watkins Glen, I figured now would be the proper time to re-emerge.

In my opinion, this has the look of a force-out by George's three sisters Josie, Nancy, and Kathi. It couldn't have come at a worse time in terms of public relations for the series, which is still getting slammed for markedly poor racing last week at Richmond International Raceway.

If the goal was for a smooth transition from George to Curt Brighton and Jeff Belskus, the new men in charge of the Speedway, that was not reached by any stretch of the imagination.

Consider the fact that Brighton and Belskus were the track's chief legal counsel and chief financial officer of the Hulman-George companies respectively. I don't care what the IMS board was thinking, it's going to look like the track has been taken over by Legal and Finance. And automatically, some people are gonna think, "They're setting up for a sale."

That may not be the truth. I'm betting it isn't the truth. But perception is just as powerful as truth nowadays.

At the same time, I understand where the sisters were coming from. IMS is a cash cow, but the recession has forced the folks at 16th and Georgetown to re-think things. The IRL had won the open-wheel war, so it was natural for somebody to come to George and say, "Tony, good work. But it's time for your league to show it can stand on its own."

And if George had been pushing the alleged half a billion dollars to make this league work in a 14-year span -- well, look at the returns and you could see why the sisters would be wanting to draw the purse strings, especially in this current climate. They may or may not know about racing, but if you were entitled to an inheritance, you'd certainly like to have it, right?

But -- and this is where I really wish we knew the whole damn story -- what exactly set George to give up his post at the IRL? By all accounts, that was the one job the IMS board wanted him to keep and focus on. Is this all just a matter of "You think you can do it better than me, well here's your chance"?

I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Or maybe, George finally got sick of all the drama, all the politics and all the B.S. that infects major-league sports' every nook and cranny these days, which can become amplified when family is involved.

I read Bruce Martin's take on the situation for Versus and I keep coming back to this passage:

"For anyone who knows the history of the Hulman George family, it can be rather contentious - probably not much different than other families around the globe. But most of those families aren't rich and money often outweighs family loyalty. So the sisters turned on Tony. Reports of screaming and shouting in board meetings and family gatherings began to surface.

One report that was never substantiated was Josie threw her checkbook at Tony in the May 26 board meeting and screamed, 'You've spent all my money so here, go ahead and spend the rest of it.'

George had already lost his power as CEO after that meeting but when news leaked out that he was ousted, even the sisters had to be surprised at the backlash that followed. George's mother, Mari Hulman George, issued a statement saying her son was still in power and George met television reporters to say he was still in charge but as the days went on, it became obvious while he still had the title, his decision making power had been stripped."

And then Tony decided to give up the IRL job as well, creating even more surprise for Mari. It's as if any future plans had been geared to see George as the CEO of the IndyCar Series with Mari and the sisters as the watchdogs. And now, unless the two-president system of Brian Barnhart and Terry Angstadt works out fine, those plans need to be recalibrated.

Who would want to deal with a situation like this? Not many. If you told me that you had talked with George after the decision came down and you said you felt a sense of relief around him, I'd believe you. He still has his millions and he can fully focus on his Vision Racing operation now. Considering where the team is, that's enough for his plate.

Still, the handling of this whole situation would make the IRL the biggest soap opera in professional sports -- if it had a higher stature. Instead, it's in big trouble. Everyone expected 2009 to be a tough year with the recession involved, but it's gone from tough to almost unbearable.

At least the league's come out with a plan to make the product better. That's priority one. Priority 1A? That's obvious: Find a leader. One that knows racing and perhaps even more importantly, knows how to market it. I'd nominate Eddie Gossage for the position, but he's in a good spot with his Texas Motor Speedway. I'm not sure if he wants to give that up for the headaches of running an entire racing series.

In the meantime, we've still got a bunch more races to cover and this next one is at a track that's near and dear to my heart. It's the first place I went to see an open-wheel race and it's a beautiful place. This stuff, even with all of its flaws and foibles, still makes me happy.

And that's what counts. We're still gonna watch. We're still gonna root for our favorite drivers. We're still gonna get angry at blocks and chops. And if we're lucky, we'll still yell, "Fight, Fight, Fight" if another pit road brawl breaks out.

While that all occurs, I'm gonna be like George Phillips and give the doom and gloom a rest for now. Leave that for all the numbskulls on Crapwagon that can't let things go.

They can rant and rave. I'll just watch the race.

And remember, folks. It's always darkest before the dawn.

Indy Racing League founder Tony George will no longer serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Hulman-George companies. George, currently the team owner of the IRL IndyCar Series' Vision Racing, will remain on the board of directors for the Hulman-George companies. A new management team has been put in place at the Speedway with W. Curtis Brighton taking over as Hulman and Company president and CEO, and Jeffrey G. Belskus becoming president and CEO of the IMS Corporation. The change will be effective tomorrow. In a statement, IMS chairman of the board Mari Hulman George said that after the IMS board had asked George to "structure [their] executive staff to create efficiencies in [their] business structure and to concentrate his leadership efforts in the Indy Racing League," the grandson of Speedway savior Tony Hulman has "decided that with the recent unification of open-wheel racing and the experienced management team... Read more

Oldest operating motor speedway on Earth continues to struggle The heat continues to ratchet up for the Milwaukee Mile. As word emerges that its new promoter owes NASCAR nearly $1.9 million for their recent Nationwide and Camping World Truck series events, the IRL is also looking for the full payment from last month's A.J. Foyt Indy 225 at the historic facility. With the league reportedly heading for a 50-50, nine vs. nine split between oval and road/street races, the buzz is centering around Milwaukee getting the axe. But this goes beyond a simple loss of a race date. Nothing less than the fate of the world's oldest operating motor speedway -- a track that has held auto races since 1903 -- appears to be on the line. As Jeff Iannucci at MyNameIsIRL.com mentions, it looks like Eddie Gossage's quest to reclaim the coveted post-Indianapolis 500 race date for his Texas Motor Speedway may finally be ending. Texas... Read more

Graham Rahal notches best oval finish of IRL career Considering that he and his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team went through hell last year on the ovals -- a byproduct of their quick integration into the IRL after unification -- Graham Rahal appears to be catching on to speedway racing. The American driver notched a third-place finish under the lights Saturday at Richmond International Raceway, and while he was unable to catch up to the Target Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, he still felt like it was a big step up for himself and his team. "I should say to come home second to the Target team is like a victory for us," he said. "And especially with the troubles that some others had, obviously far fewer troubles this year than last. "But still for us, the guys did a great job in the pits. To be standing on the... Read more

When Dario Franchitti walked into the press room after last night's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway, he asked the assembled media if they were still awake. One of them chimed, "Not after that one." Franchitti had just finished second in the 300-lap race to his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Even better for the Ganassi gang in terms of the championship, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe crashed out early in a rare double debacle for Team Penske. But as far as the show itself, the fans in attendance at RIR probably got a bigger kick out of the post-race fireworks instead of the race itself. The lack of side-by-side action throughout the field made for a boring affair, with Dixon leading the final 161 laps and Franchitti unable to mount any challenge despite being in striking distance in the final stages. Versus cameras caught Franchitti apologizing to the... Read more

8:40 p.m. ET -- Scott Sims of SunTrust gives the command: "Drivers, start your engines!" Back in a few minutes, checking out the start live! 8:44 p.m. ET -- GREEN! Jaques Lazier spins out going into Turn 2 and crashes into the SAFER Barrier, ending the night before it starts for Team 3G. Lap 8 -- BACK TO GREEN. Lap 16 -- Ryan Briscoe now in the top three. Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Briscoe are opening up a gap over fourth-place Helio Castroneves. Lap 22 -- Marco Andretti has jumped to ninth position, seven up from a 16th place start. Lap 26: Jaques Lazier to Versus -- "We'd been building more and more momentum and this is the last thing we wanted." Lap 27: CAUTION! Ryan Briscoe makes contact in Turn 2 and has heavy rear end damage on the No. 6 car. Lap 31: Leaders head to pit... Read more

The command to start engines has been given! Instead of separate posts, everything will be on one post constantly updated throughout the race. Look for the "SunTrust Indy Challenge Blog" post.... Read more

We're about 25 minutes from the start of tonight's event. Technical difficulties have made Versus botch the Jack Arute/Tony Kanaan "dim light" piece. Ouch.... Read more

The USAC Silver Crown race has been completed and now, we're heading for the nightcap -- the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway! At first glance, this appears to be another chapter in the Penske-Ganassi saga that has basically been the 2009 season so far. But while polesitter Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe will be tough to top, there's a fair share of dark horses including Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Tomas Scheckter and Graham Rahal. Keep an eye on Kanaan and Scheckter, especially on starts and restarts -- they'll be looking to move up rather quickly. I'll be posting updates during the race here and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/estradawriting. Keep on the lookout for photos on my feed there and on my Facebook page. The race starts at 8:45 p.m. ET, with coverage on Versus going on at 8 p.m. ET.... Read more

Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske's dominance of the 2009 IndyCar Series has been either stupendous or boring to watch depending on your point of view. But no matter where you stand, there's one thing that can be agreed on. The "Big Three" has become the "Big Two." Andretti Green Racing has gotten a strong season out of Danica Patrick, but overall, the team has been unable to keep up with the Ganassi gang of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti and the Penske duo of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe. Team leader Tony Kanaan comes into Richmond as the defending race champion, but he's also trying to shake a string of bad luck that has seen him DNF in three of the last four events. Marco Andretti has only grabbed one top-5 finish this season and the same goes for AGR's fourth driver Hideki Mutoh. All four drivers are in the top... Read more

I got to the track around 10 a.m. on Friday morning, ready to get started on a feature for FoxSports.com. As I expected, the media center at Richmond International Raceway wasn't exactly full, so I was kind of left to roam around the place for a little while. At only three-quarter of a mile long, RIR feels like a cage, but at the same time, it finds a way to cram everything in -- including the garages and transporters. Interestingly enough, my media center spot was near Curt Cavin from The Indianapolis Star and RACER magazine's Jeff Olson -- yeah, two of the biggest writers in the open-wheel game. Oh, and Bruce Martin from Versus.com was on the other side -- he's no slouch either.  I ended up picking both Curt and Jeff's brains on what I need to do in order to advance my career even further. They were both easy to talk with, thankfully, and... Read more