There are rumours in the United States that now that Tony George has been moved out of his position running the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by his own family members, that the facility may be up for sale. There seems to be little more to the story than pure speculation at the moment but if the Hulman-George family, which has own the facility since 1945, when it was acquired from Eddie Rickenbacker, does decide it has had enough of motor racing the obvious people to sell the track to would be France Family, owners of the International Speedway Corporation, NASCAR and GrandAm. There is speculation that the speedway could be worth as much as $600m. The venue has much scope for expansion as it is currently used for racing only three times a year.
IF the Indianapoilis Motor Speedway was to become available, I suspect that there would be quite a “bun” fight to be first in line. Bruton Smith and his circuit empire come to mind as someone that would very much like to beat the France family to the punch. Bernard Charles might also be in the line somewhere.
Then there are the real estate bottom feaders that would just plough it all under and build nice new developments with such grand names as turn one, etc.Because nothing is forever, unfortunatly.
I am surprised that the number you quote for the speedway is so low. Robin Miller in the past has said that the speedway was thought to be worth $2 billion!! Its a different world though now and of indeed the speedway is worth “only $600 million, then the george family must be desperate to sell it at such a low ball figure and whoever buys it would have bought the proverbial golden goose.
PS: if the George family are planning on selling the speedway, please sell it to anyone else other than the France family. If the France family gets its hands on the speedway, that will be the end of American open wheel racing as we know it. The track will get dumbed down and we will see only those taxicabs doing roundy-rounds during the Indy 500.
Your statement about “plenty of room for expansion” makes me wonder if that’s true if anyone other than the Hulman-George family owns the track. I know you’ve been to the track, but have you spent any time in the neighborhood? Although there’s industrial stuff immediately outside the track, there’s residential areas just blocks away. It makes me wonder, in the age of noise complaints, whether the town of Speedway would feel the same way about the track if anyone other than the Hulman-George family owned it. There’s plenty of blame thrown around by local fans for Tony George killing CART and American open wheel racing w/ the IRL, but I think underneath it there’s a tremendous amount of goodwill for the family that saved the track from ruin in the 40s. I wonder if they would feel the same goodwill toward a corporation like ISC? I know the city of Indianapolis would treat them mostly the same because the money’s the same color, but it seems like residents could make the track’s life unpleasant if they wanted to…
Cue Bernie!
If this means saving American open wheel racing from the incapable hands of the current owners then sell it. Save the George family from themselves,save open wheel racing!!!!
Thanks Tony! Thanks for saving open wheel. thenaks for saving IMS, and most importantly, thanks for bringing F1 back to the states. The short trackers of the world are so proud of you. And you family? Well, they should be proud as well.
Tony George: FAIL.
I race minivans
It is not a total suprise to hear this news- rumblings have gone on about it for some time. If you look back over the history of the IMS and Indy 500 since the split, you’ll see that Tony George pretty much ran his own personal circus with the IRL, F1 and the rest. Some of those moves payed off, such as the Brickyard 400- a move that many NASCAR people point to as a key in the sport’s mainstream popularity growth. But much of the campaign was an ineffective business model that left the Hulman-George clan as a whole in much deeper waters than they wanted.
Looking ahead, certainly ISC and SMI would both love to get their hands on the Speedway. No matter what, I doubt any of it would have any direct impact on F1- if any of those parties realy wanted the series they would easily have a GP by now.
[...] Indianapolis Motor Speedway for sale? – Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog "There are rumours in the United States that now that Tony George has been moved out of his position running the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by his own family members, that the facility may be up for sale." (tags: Indianapolis TonyGeorge business usa) [...]
“Your statement about “plenty of room for expansion” makes me wonder if that’s true if anyone other than the Hulman-George family owns the track. I know you’ve been to the track, but have you spent any time in the neighborhood? Although there’s industrial stuff immediately outside the track, there’s residential areas just blocks away. It makes me wonder, in the age of noise complaints, whether the town of Speedway would feel the same way about the track if anyone other than the Hulman-George family owned it. ”
Speedway is not what it used to be. The town has diminished as has the west side of indianapolis. The least of the residents concerns are noise. More focus should be put on crime. Granted, the fans that come out to support the event are unruly, disrespectful and often times violent with a death happening in May more frequently than should ever transpire.
The low valuation is not a surprise as the only thing that area can be is the speedway, no corporation is begging to move to our area and it just stays that way. More and more of the ‘urban’ activities have moved out our way and its not likely to change soon.
Sell the Speedway to Rodger Penski, remove the “Taint” of Tony George forever and maybe save American open wheel racing.
Hopefully, the speedway would be sold to someone who knows how to manage the investment and the property would stay in racing. Current cost cutting changes would indicate that they are trying to make it more attractive to potential buyers and Tony’s recent departure makes way for the money grubbing sisters to sell their family interest in the track, take in a tidy lump sum and still cash their annual checks from the Clabber Girl golden goose. Greed won out in this case and as a family matter it should be closed and put behind us. Good luck to Mr George. Good riddence to the three wicked witches don’t let the garage door hit you in the ass on your way out. And please don’t leave mad, just leave.