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Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:57 am
by Steve Coe
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... d-from-ims" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's about time. He took the Indy 500 from a world class event and made it an almost OK race.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:13 am
by Bob Beamesderfer
Mari Hulman is denying the report, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
I don't see much to celebrate here:
George, who started the Indy Racing League in 1996, will continue as CEO of the IndyCar series and is expected to take more of a hands-on role after Tuesday's developments at the Speedway.
It had been rumored for several years that his sisters were concerned with the amount of money George had spent on keeping the IRL afloat and changing the look of the Speedway.
It's estimated that between paying purses, supplying cars, engines and parts for other teams, hiring high powered public relations firms and starting his own IRL team, plus remaking Indy to accomodate Formula One, the IRL founder has spent more than $600 million during the past 13 years.
And his siblings were reportedly concerned about running out of money.
F1 will probably not be back for several more years. Not that I think Indy is where the USGP should run. Biggest impediment is Bernie.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:15 am
by Kurt Rahn
Yes! :gpower: :gpower: :gpower: :gpower:
But too bad this didn't happen in 1996, when he singlehandedly blew American open wheel racing into the stoneage because of his greed and a lust for power. I hope he bankrupts his racing team too.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:18 am
by Kurt Rahn
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:Not that I think Indy is where the USGP should run.
I'd love to see them run in Long Beach again.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:42 am
by Steve Ekstrand
TG is admittedly saying the report is complete non-sense. Trust me.... The only thing worse than TG falling out of control of the family is the sisters falling into control.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 6:54 pm
by Chuck Fowler
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:
F1 will probably not be back for several more years. Not that I think Indy is where the USGP should run.
that would be a great place to see an F1 race
i'm sure the rest of the world would tune in to see us host the most borring one of the championship :barf:
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 7:06 am
by Bob Beamesderfer
F1 ran the USGP at Indy from 2000 through 2007 on this course, which Tony George had added to the infield, incorporating what is Turn 1 for Indy races and most of the front straight:
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 4:05 pm
by Chuck Fowler
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:F1 ran the USGP at Indy from 2000 through 2007 on this course, which Tony George had added to the infield, incorporating what is Turn 1 for Indy races and most of the front straight:
but i vote for Laguna Seca
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 4:11 pm
by Aaron Goldsmith
Chuck Fowler wrote:
but i vote for Laguna Seca
No seating, not enough run-off and getting in and out of there is enough of a nightmare at the historics and moto-gp. It would be tough for them to make the place harder to get into and out of.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 4:54 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
Given Bernie's requirements for a promoter, ie, pony up about $50M ahead of time and the FIA's picky rules about track width, runoff, size of pits, size of paddock, I'd say there are few if any tracks in the U.S. that could host. Maybe Road Atlanta or Road America. Maybe. Distance from hotels and accessibility are issues. They only put up those issues at Silverstone because of its history. Bernie wants to buy the place, probably so he can move the race somewhere else. He has said he'd like to see a street race in NYC; like that would happen!
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:01 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:49 pm
by Giovanni Jaramillo
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:He has said he'd like to see a street race in NYC; like that would happen!
Why not just have an auto-x! Bernie's dumb from a track/racer point of view...but smart in that in NYC it'd be a huge draw. But again NYers care about FOOTBALL, BASEBALL. That's it. Basketball when the Knicks were good, and hockey when the Rangers were good. It's not a "motorsports" haven.
Laguna Seca....no way..too small.
Long Beach? They already have 2 street circuits by the docks...Valencia and Monaco.
Like Bob mentioned as maybes....Road America (in Wisconsin) or Road Atlanta (Georgia). And forget about the new track in Jersey (it was discussed prior to building it to F1 specs but that idea was scrapped). And forget about Vegas....too damn hot!
The dream would be build a new F1 track in San Diego (with a separate empty wide-ass parking lot for....I don't know......space to lay done some cones and call it a National Tour??
)
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 7:02 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
Keep in mind that Bernie was the genius who moved the USGP to Phoenix in 1989. June of 1989. By mid-May, daytime highs in Phoenix are already 105. For '90 and '91, the Phoenix dates were in March.
There was an F1 race in Vegas:
The town was transformed by bigger and more glittering casinos but the image of Mafia connections remained and in an effort to give the city a better image it was decided to hold a Grand Prix in the vast parking lots next to the Caesar's Palace casino. This hosted the World Championship showdown of 1981 with Carlos Reutemann and Nelson Piquet bidding for the title. Alan Jones won the race and Piquet the title. The 1982 race was won by Michele Alboreto in a Tyrrell but that was end of F1 racing in Las Vegas as the races had drawn only tiny crowds.
In the 1990s there was a serious attempt to revive a race in Las Vegas but it proved to be impossible to get all the casinos to agree and although there were later plans for a permanent circuit just south of the famous Strip, these faded when it was announced that the United States GP was going to be held at Indianapolis in 2000.
—grandprix.com
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 9:40 pm
by Chuck Fowler
you guy's took my pick WAY too serious
i was talking from a sittin' on my ass at home, watching replays of the cars going down the corkscrew in the rain...
edit: but Steve's idea is the winner. ever play midtown madness 2 ?
http://www.microsoft.com/games/midtown2/
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 11:13 pm
by Kurt Rahn
Chuck Fowler wrote:you guy's took my pick WAY too serious
i was talking from a sittin' on my ass at home, watching replays of the cars going down the corkscrew in the rain...
edit: but Steve's idea is the winner. ever play midtown madness 2 ?
http://www.microsoft.com/games/midtown2/
Ot the Project Gotham franchise? SF would be sweet! An F1 car would fall apart after a few laps depicted in those games, though.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 6:08 am
by Chuck Fowler
Kurt Rahn wrote:
Ot the Project Gotham franchise? SF would be sweet! An F1 car would fall apart after a few laps depicted in those games, though.
i'm putting F1 returning to the states in the next 3 yrs in the same catagory, lots of fun and pure fantasy
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 7:07 am
by Steve Ekstrand
Bernie wants America as a market.
But the easy money is too easy to invest longterm in winning over America.
When the other new locations will pony up $50 million for a slot a on the schedule, USGP is dead.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 9:26 am
by Kurt Rahn
Yeah, it's going to depend on whether the manufacturers (who all want to use F1 to market their cars to the biggest auto market in the world) will be able to sway him. Or for that matter, whether there will even be any manufacturers after the latest flap over a two-tier system, I guess.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 1:03 pm
by John Prosser
Probably the only two circuits that would meet approval without huge changes are Barber Motorsports in Birmingham, Al. and Miller in Utah.
There may be others (haven't seen New Jersey), but it's pretty hard to meet FIA requirements.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:30 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
John Prosser wrote:Probably the only two circuits that would meet approval without huge changes are Barber Motorsports in Birmingham, Al. and Miller in Utah.
There may be others (haven't seen New Jersey), but it's pretty hard to meet FIA requirements.
Most probably fail on paddock area and seating capacity. Even on a fly-away race, the teams bring a lot of stuff.
IF Long Beach gave over all the convention center/arena space used for the "Lifestyle Expo" that runs with the current IRL race, there might be enough space for paddock and hospitality suites. Plus, back in the late '70s the arena was used as garage area—there's a photo from back then of the Ferrari 312-T with the body work off exposing the aluminum monocoque.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:46 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
I know a site that is FIA approved and has perfect facilities to host the race. Plenty of stands too...
Its in Indiana.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:47 pm
by Jeff Shyu
Steve Ekstrand wrote:I know a site that is FIA approved and has perfect facilities to host the race. Plenty of stands too...
Its in Indiana.
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:48 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
Steve Ekstrand wrote:I know a site that is FIA approved and has perfect facilities to host the race. Plenty of stands too...
Its in Indiana.
I think I hear Jim Nabors warming up ...
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:55 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash....
Re: Tony George is out! Yeah!
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 4:32 pm
by Giovanni Jaramillo
Steve Ekstrand wrote:I know a site that is FIA approved and has perfect facilities to host the race. Plenty of stands too...
Its in Indiana.
Actually the manufacturers want 2 races in the USA. 1 @Indy (historical track, popular with the US fans/media), and a new track to be built by some rich mogul with money to burn that is FIA homologated and with a Herman Tilke designed track layout.
