I've always thought of Tony George as the Grinch. I'm not admitting that I'm wrong and that George is an angel, but I’m beginning to think George has pulled one over on me.
I like the Indy Racing League, and I like it for just the reasons that George said I would.
George, as all us gearheads know, is the founder of the IRL and the president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As such, he’s also the man behind the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and the United States Grand Prix. Any way you cut it, George is one of the most powerful forces in motorsports. Perhaps even the most powerful man in the industry.
But I've always thought of him as "Phony Tony."
Do I know George well? No, not really. I've been at dozens of his press conferences, and even had several one-on-one sessions with him, but I don't really know him. He's never opened his heart to me, and we've never bonded.
But us journalists are never going to let something trivial like that get in our way of having a hot sports opinion.
George has several things working against him. He's good looking and has a lot of family money -- things I will never have. But I never had any bad feelings about him until he put his own horse before the CART.
When George started his own racing circuit for Indy cars after the 1995 season, I thought he was ruining open-wheel racing. Turns out, I was partly right.
The old sanctioning body, CART, and the new IRL have struggled with ticket sales and television ratings since the split.
I quickly thought of George as a Grinch or a Scrooge because I thought he was doing racing's version of "If you don't do it my way, I'm going home and taking my ball with me."
In motorsports, the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway is indeed an ace up the sleeve. And the Indy 500 was no longer part of the CART schedule, with George making it the cornerstone of his new series.
Fortunately for George, he was also making IMS a cornerstone of both the NASCAR and Formula One schedules. The success of the Brickyard and the U.S. Grand Prix helped him and his fledging IRL weather their growing pains.
While George was talking about things such as racing on ovals and giving young American drivers an affordable place to compete, I thought what he really meant was "I need to do these things to make more money for me."
That's when I thought of him as phony.
Yet during the 2000 season, I found myself really starting to like what the IRL had become. And the reasons -- yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus -- were the ones that George spouted when he sprouted the new series.
First, I've decided I really like racing on ovals much better than on the streets or a road course. In person, I've always enjoyed events on temporary courses because they’re one big party. And I defy anybody to say that they've visited Road America and didn't just love being there -- race or no race. But there's no denying that ovals produce a more entertaining show or better television.
The clincher for me was the first 2000 IRL event at Texas Motor Speedway, Christmas in June for any race fan. Open-wheel cars running two wide, nose to tail at 210 mph. A series record 31 lead changes, yet not a single accident. And a margin of victory of 0.059 seconds.
Second, I'm a big sucker for an underdog. The affordability of the series has indeed given promising young drivers a chance, just like George promised. Greg Ray went from never having been in a race car to IRL champion in less than a decade. Sarah Fisher graduated from high school to be a role model for a new generation of race fans.
Finally, I like watching Americans race. I like hearing them talk, and I like interviewing them. I like sharing the American dreams of a Ray or a Fisher. I'm not against any foreign invasion; it’s just that it’s hard for me to identify with those alien heroes.
During the course of the 2000 season, I found that I liked drivers such as Buddy Lazier, Eddie Cheever, Scott Goodyear and Scott Sharp being part of my life. They are funny guys and good people, men I could relate to.
And I think for all of these reasons, the IRL is on the upswing. If George can finish the job, turn the IRL into another jewel in his crown, then it really would be a miracle on Georgetown Road.
I still don't think of George as being the noble saviour of all open-wheel racing, even if I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy about the IRL. While I don't think that George has a heart of gold, I’m willing to admit that he's got a golden touch. Maybe my heart has simply grown several sizes larger.
Or perhaps George, like the Grinch, has just been misunderstood all this time.
