Tony George ousted from IMS

[Gluaistean]

Yeah, because full fields of mostly sponsored cars, a 36-race schedule, and competitive passing on oval tracks would be such a horror to endure.

Yes, it absolutely would. It's difficult enough to watch now. Coyne, NHL, KV and Conquest are my draw and nothing else.

[Gluaistean]

OMG Miller ... huge credibility gaff

Echoes of Dan Rather and the Bush debacle. And look what happened to poor Dan

Yes, the Bush debacle that was never proven to be false and Rather thrown under the bus because CBS would not support him.

Miller is fine.

[Chaparral66]

I agree with you, Mark, that what Our Good friend Tony George did at the speedway was good business. Bringing NASCAR for the Brickyard 400, despite what it did to tradition (as if speedway can't evolve and grow) was brilliant, and an instant cash cow. While I was as critical of him as anyone, I applauded him bringing back Formula 1 only to see Our Other Good Friend Bernie Ecceclstone try to screw him any way he could. I'm glad he told BE to take a hike.

The problem is that the money coming in from the Brickyard and F1 (during the first 4 years of profits) went into fighting CART/Champ Car and it was only a matter of time before the family would ask "is this worth it?". TG finally got his way, to an extent, with The Three Amigos but it cost open wheel racing its soul and legions of fans.

Don't anyone believe that any dip in tickets sold or TV ratings dive in 2009 had much to do with this. This has been coming for a long time, ever since the 23 & 8 scandal and the US 500 debacle; along with it the loss of great venues like Michigan, Fontana, Laguna Seca, Cleveland, Mid Ohio, Road America, Montreal, and Australia, just to name a few.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Chap, when I heard the ladies in his family were finally holding him to account, I thought they were a little late to the party. No one with half a brain in business would advocate what he did, yet he did it, and I will credit him only with the guts to keep spending money to keep the IRL afloat until he could wear CART out.

The Speedway has to always be the center piece of this series, as we all learned, but the one thing people have to realize is the series has to make sense for the competitors, the track owners, and still draw fans. In today's economy, I am worried the patient may be too sick to live without that IMS life support.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects keep taking shots at Miller. What they fail to realize is before the summer is out, the gist of his story will be true. He didn't wake up this week and decide to immolate his career on trying to get rid of Tony. A little bird who is reliable told him all this, and then the family reneged in the public statement. They also by the way, didn't leak this to make Robin look bad. I have a sneaking thought they were embarassed by Robin's speed in getting the story out and the heat they were taking for it.

THey are allowing Tony to save face....but his days of spending money like mad are over. Apparently the Speedway owns two corporate jets. WHY? God only knows what else will be sold out the door as time goes on.

[Chaparral66]

My thing about this is the timing. TG's family should have seen the handwriting on the wall about this years ago, before open wheel racing fell into life support. Because of a lack of action, they have some accountability in this mess almost as much as TG does.

[SportscarBruce]

Perhaps Speed Channel should report more on the possibility of GM departing NASCAR and less on RM's latest TG fantasy....

[Hondo]

I haven't watched or cared about the Indy 500 since the split. I continued to watch CART/Champcar for awhile but then gave up on it. Before the split, I believe CART was close to giving F1 a run for it's money.

It seems I recall when the CART teams did decide to field Indy entries for sponsors or other reasons, those CART drivers took the IRL to school on their own showplace track with their own cars. That summed up the IRL product pretty well I thought.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Chap, Fiero, I felt pretty similar to you guys. Tony was in this to get control of the sport, and his product and eventually the whole OW product began to suffer.

The chickens are coming home to roost...but I don't feel any joy in it.

[DBell]

Chap, Fiero, I felt pretty similar to you guys. Tony was in this to get control of the sport, and his product and eventually the whole OW product began to suffer.

The chickens are coming home to roost...but I don't feel any joy in it.

Whether anyone feels joy in it or not would depend on how personal each person has made it for themselves. But that aside, Mark do you have any faith TG and his hand picked organization can lead Indy car back to a prosperous state? For me, I don't. I don't know what the future is going to bring if serious changes are brought about, but at least with change, the possibility of Indycar making a comeback may exist. Under the current organization, I'm pessimistic.

[Chaparral66]

Whether anyone feels joy in it or not would depend on how personal each person has made it for themselves. But that aside, Mark do you have any faith TG and his hand picked organization can lead Indy car back to a prosperous state? For me, I don't. I don't know what the future is going to bring if serious changes are brought about, but at least with change, the possibility of Indycar making a comeback may exist. Under the current organization, I'm pessimistic.

This is the time for something to happen isn't it? If Jeremy Mayfield brings a class action lawsuit against NASCAR for their (lack of) banned substance policy, open wheel could take back some of what they lost if they have some good people in there making some decisions. Could that someone be Humpy Wheeler who knows how to promote? Maybe, but he's not exactly an open wheel guy...