Almost after two long years, Tony George has been returned into the board of his , the Hulman & Company that funds and administers IMS, the IndyCar Series and Clabber Girl Baking Powder.It’s believed that it was his mother, Mari Hulman George, board chairwoman for Hulman & Company who made the call to bring her son back into the family bushiness, but her decision won't bring Tony back into the daily management of INDYCAR, while he tried unsuccessfully to purchase his family racing businness recently.
George had served as Chief Executive Officer of Hulman & Company and the Speedway before resigning both positions on June 30, 2009 following what can best be described as a civil war with her sisters.
The only male child of Mari Hulman George and the namesake of IMS savior Anton Hulman, Tony had held the management of IMS since 1989 and was replaced by a pair of longtime IMS loyalists -- Jeff Belskus and Curt Brighton.
Belskus, the chief financial officer for Hulman & Company for 20 years, was elevated to president and CEO of IMS, while Brighton, who served as general counsel for the Hulman/George family beginning in 1994, took over as president and CEO of Hulman & Company.
Since founding the Indy Racing League in 1994, George had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on IRL teams, drivers, entry fees, marketing plans, airplanes, personnel and his own team. The IRL was a financial loser from Day 1 and, coupled with the estimated $60 million overhaul of IMS to accommodate Formula One, George’s sisters voiced their concern to their mother over the management of their empire. Nancy George, Josie George and Kathi Conforti-George finally convinced Mari Hulman George to take strict measures against his son. Furious Tony, not only did he resign both of his positions at IMS and Hulman & Company, he also stepped down as IRL president and became just another car owner with Vision Racing, which closed its doors in 2010.
Mari Hulman George had announced the resignation of his son as follows:
“As members of his family, we are sorry to see Tony leave. We are grateful for his service to our company as a board member and for serving as CEO and president of our companies. I speak for our whole family in wishing him well. All of us had hoped Tony would continue to serve on the board and we made that clear to him. We are disappointed with his decision to step down despite our wishes.”
Josie George took it upon herself to find a successor for her brother in the IRL organization and so she hired Randy Bernard away from the Pro Bull Riders in January of 2010. Since taking over the IRL, Bernard’s aggressive approach has new cars and engines in place for 2012, two new engine manufacturers in General Motors and Lotus, multiple companies interested in building bodywork kits and managed to reduced the overall losses for the series.
