33 Indy 500 Winners Line Up At The Brickyard For Their "Close Up"

The display on the Speedway’s front straightaway was part of the ongoing Centennial Celebration; the 2011 Indianapolis 500 will mark the event’s 100th anniversary. Each car present on Tuesday was a former race winner, and each has a story. Image Credit: IMS/Ron McQueeney

33 Indy 500 Winners Line Up At The Brickyard For Their "Close Up"
On Tuesday of this week, 33 winning Indy 500 cars were pushed to the front straight for the photo opportunity of a lifetime. Most of the Indy open-wheel racers came from the Hall of Fame Museum leaving the museum about half full, while other cars were on loan for the shoot from as far away as California. One car was a replica because the original is on view at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. where as all other cars are the actual winning steeds.

Director of the Hall of Fame Museum, Ellen Bireley introduces us to this effort to capture a unique moment in time and the staging of this historic "close-up" beauty shot in celebration of this upcoming centennial season!



This excerpted and edited from AutoWeekRacing.com -
The “pole” car was the Marmon Wasp that won the first 500 in 1911. Next to it on the “front row” were the cars driven by Dario Franchitti (2010) and A.J. Foyt (1961). Foyt’s car represented both his first 500 win and the winner of the 50th-anniversary event.
The rest of the legendary machines were positioned in a way that revealed an interesting evolution of race cars. Every row included front-engine and rear-engine cars in a pattern. Each decade was represented.
The four double winners were included along with the first winner after World War II. Twenty-seven of the cars are owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation.
The rows and the years the cars won:
-- Row 1: 1911 (Ray Harroun), 2010 (Dario Franchitti), 1961 (A.J. Foyt)
-- Row 2: 1979 (Rick Mears), 1939-40 (Wilbur Shaw), 1970 (Al Unser)
-- Row 3: 1963 (Parnelli Jones), 1990 (Arie Luyendyk), 1947-48 (Mauri Rose)
-- Row 4: 1980 (Johnny Rutherford), 1953-54 (Bill Vukovich), 1968 (Bobby Unser)
-- Row 5: 1964 (A.J. Foyt), 1965 (Jimmy Clark), 1922 (Jimmy Murphy)
-- Row 6: 1969 (Mario Andretti), 1957-58 (Sam Hanks, Jimmy Bryan), 1983 (Tom Sneva)
-- Row 7: 1912 (Joe Dawson), 1982 (Gordon Johncock), 1952 (Troy Ruttman)
-- Row 8: 1972 (Mark Donohue), 1962 (Rodger Ward), 2000 (Juan Montoya)
-- Row 9: 1928 (Louis Meyer), 1995 (Jacques Villeneuve), 1950 (Johnnie Parsons)
-- Row 10: 1977 (A.J. Foyt), 1951 (Lee Wallard), 1992 (Al Unser Jr.)
-- Row 11: 1946 (George Robson), 1978 (Al Unser), 1932 (Fred Frame)
Reference Here>>


... notes from The EDJE



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Tony George now has several less jobs in Motorsports - Resigns from IMS Board

Tony George - Team Owner, Vision Racing - Perhaps best known as the CEO and President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and founder of the Indy Racing League, Anton “Tony” Hulman George also got into the team owning business when colleague and friend Tom Kelley put his IndyCar operation up for sale in 2004. Caption & Image Credit: Vision Racing


Tony George now has several less jobs in Motorsports - Resigns from IMS Board
Tony George resigned today from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Board of Directors. Last year, Robin Miller writing for SPEED TV cited a source close to the IMS that confirmed that the 49-year-old grandson of Tony Hulman would no longer be CEO of the Speedway after a vote of the IMS board of directors which includes mother Mari, sisters Josie, Nancy and Kathy, attorney Jack Snyder and George.
So now the ouster has been made complete ... Tony George is neither the CEO, or a mamber of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Board of Directors or any remaining role in Hulman & Company, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League, IMS Productions and other affiliated companies.
This from a press release issued from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -
TONY GEORGE RESIGNS BOARD MEMBERSHIPS OF INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, HULMAN & COMPANY - INDIANAPOLIS, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010 –

The Board of Directors of Hulman & Company and affiliated companies, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has received the resignation of Anton H. “Tony” George from the board of directors effective immediately, according to Mari Hulman George, chairman.

“As members of his family, we are sorry to see Tony leave,” said Mrs. George. “We are grateful for his service to our company as a board member and of course for formerly serving as CEO and president of our companies. I speak for our whole family in wishing him well.

“All of us had hoped that 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.”

His resignation removes George from any remaining role in Hulman & Company, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League, IMS Productions and other affiliated companies. His term as CEO of the family companies ended June 30, 2009. He continues to be involved in racing through his ownership of Vision Racing, a competitor in the IZOD IndyCar Series of the Indy Racing League.

The board vacancy will be addressed at a later date. In addition to Mari Hulman George, board members include Nancy George, Josie George, Kathi George-Conforti and Jack Snyder.

Mari Hulman George said she is very pleased with the direction of the company and the progress that has been made during the last six months.

“Our company is healthy and is weathering the economic recession well,” she said. “Jeff Belskus, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Curt Brighton, president and CEO of Hulman & Company, are both doing excellent jobs in guiding our companies through this difficult time. Many hard decisions have been made, and now our companies are well positioned for the future.”
Personally, we at The EDJE wish Tony great success as a car owner in the IZOD Indy Racing League. Great success in your sophomore year at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in April 16-18, 2010.
... notes from The EDJE

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CityWalk, Downtown Disney, and now "Downtown INDY"

Today Speedway, Indiana is primed to build upon the town’s unique history and motorsports ancestry – both an integral part of the rich fabric that makes Speedway a great place to live, work, play, learn and shop. /// From creating four vibrant development districts primed for business growth – including the Motor Sports Technology district, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway district, the Museum/Entertainment/Retail district and the Town Center district – to working with the state of Indiana to develop targeted incentive packages that will attract domestic and international companies and stimulate startup firms, Speedway, Indiana is poised for fast success. Image Credit: IndyCar Garage

CityWalk, Downtown Disney, and now "Downown INDY"

That's right, why not bring a little fun and amusement park excitement placed just outside of a major gathering venue in America's mid-west?

Developments like Universal's CityWalk, ABC CapCities' Downtown Disney, Hollywood's Kodak and Chinese Theater, and even New York's Times Square retailing amusement center complexes have a real winning combination being located next to a natural entertainment draw like Broadway, an amusement park or ... a one-of-a-kind motorsports racing track!

"Speedzone" redevelopment plan for Main Street Speedway, Indiana. I wonder if this crowd knows that ESPN already uses "SpeedZone" for the name of its themed restaurant at "Downtown Disney" outside of Disneyland Amusement Park in Anaheim California? Image Credit: Speedway Redevelopment - from PDF

This excerpted and edited from IndyCar Garage -

Speedway breaks ground on the future
Posted by IndyCar Garage on November 24, 2009 at 1:56pm

The Town of Speedway, Indiana broke ground last Thursday on the first phase of a multimillion dollar project that will give the town that surrounds the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a huge facelift.

The Main Street project is the first milestone in the town's Redevelopment Area One and is part of a $500 million investment to breathe new life into 400 acres of multi-use property that will be primed for commercial, shopping and entertainment, residential and research and development projects. Made possible through private and public investment, the redevelopment zone will be a vibrant, thriving and attractive downtown that will foster growth within the existing business community and encourage development of new business.
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"Main Street will be the backbone of a bustling, vibrant downtown district," said SRC President Vince Noblet. "The project we're commencing today will bring a safer pedestrian experience, with room for sidewalk cafes and a bike path to re-energize the atmosphere on Main Street and attract new businesses, shops and restaurants."

"As we celebrate our Centennial Era and look toward our next 100 years, the Town of Speedway joins us in looking toward the future by moving forward with a redevelopment plan that is crucial to the success of the businesses that call Speedway home," said Fred Nation, Indianapolis Motor Speedway vice president of communications. "Racing is an integral part of the culture in Speedway and the redevelopment of Main Street will attract race fans by providing a variety of entertainment options close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."
Reference Here>>

Welcome to the birth of America's first motorsports amusement shopping and living experience ... Welcome to "Downtown Indy" at Speedway, Indiana, home of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the INDY 500!

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The Winds Of "Change" Swirl Around NASCAR

View northwest of the snow dusted San Gabriel's from the main straightaway grandstand seats at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana [pitlane and team suite viewing boxes in foreground] - The tallest mountain in the background is Mount Baldy, elevation 10,064 feet, and is part of the San Gabriel Mountain range. The summit can be reached from several different directions, including the Devils Backbone trail. Image Credit: 4D7 (2008)

The Winds Of "Change" Swirl Around NASCAR

Last year's Auto Club 500 at the track was hampered by rain ... but with the economy in a tailspin since the election of Barack Obama (DOW down 3,998 points, or 34%, since November 3, 2008) and the New York Times trying to sell its share in a NASCAR team, the climate that will confront NASCAR may be a little harder to overcome than just a little rain on a normally sunny Southern California afternoon.

The economic crisis could take center stage and adversely affect the attendance at NASCAR's three events of this weekend's Auto Club 500 event in Fontana.

Auto Club 500 event logo - Image Credit: Auto Club Speedway

This excerpted and edited from the Los Angeles Times -

Fontana races to be tested by a different type of climate
By Jim Peltz - LA Times - February 18, 2009

The NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Southern California a year ago was hampered by rain that caused numerous delays and frustrated fans, drivers and track officials.

Now the sport and the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana are about to be tested again, this time by an economic storm -- and a big question is how many stock car racing fans will weather it by showing up.

NASCAR's top-tier series follows its season-opening Daytona 500 with the second race on its 36-race calendar, the Auto Club 500, at the Fontana track Sunday.

The speedway, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, also holds a doubleheader Saturday with races in NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series and its Camping World Truck Series.

But it's Sunday's race featuring Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, reigning NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and the sport's other stars that could be a telling sign of how much the economic recession is affecting NASCAR.
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Ever since NASCAR awarded two Cup races a year to the track in 2004, the 92,000-seat facility has not sold out for either event.

It's a shortfall whose potential causes -- ranging from how the races are marketed to the quality of racing on the wide two-mile oval to bad weather -- have been hotly debated in NASCAR Nation.
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International Speedway Corp., which owns the Fontana track and several others, said Jan. 29 that its combined advance ticket sales at that point were down 17% from a year earlier, although it did not break down sales for each track.

Gillian Zucker, president of Auto Club Speedway, said "it looks like we'll be off about 10% from [the] Labor Day" race last year, which NASCAR said drew an estimated 70,000.
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The 568-acre track she oversees and other speedways have been cutting prices on selected seats and rolling out other promotions to limit the attendance declines.
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Auto Club Speedway cut prices to $35 per ticket from $55 for several thousand seats in the first five rows for Sunday's 250-lap race, which starts at 3 p.m. Its higher grandstand seats, offering a better view of the whole track, range in price up to $105 each.

Zucker said about two-thirds of those purchasing the $35 seats were first-time buyers, and "that's very encouraging about what the future holds when the economy begins to recover."

The track also is bringing Kenseth to Century City for an autograph session Thursday, and it appointed Hugh Laurie, star of the television show "House," as the race's grand marshal. Baseball Hall of Fame member Reggie Jackson will drive the pace car.
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The lifeblood of racing budgets is money provided by corporate sponsors. But total racing sponsorship spending by North American-based companies is expected to drop 6% this year to $3.3 billion, the research publication IEG Sponsorship Report said last week.
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Yet, for all the economic pressures, the turnout for Sunday's race also could partly depend on the weather.

In 2007, the track swung from very cold temperatures for the Auto Club 500 to a sizzling 110 degrees for its second race on Labor Day weekend. (The Labor Day race will be moved to October starting this year.)

Last February, rain caused a two-hour delay in the start of the Auto Club 500 and, after only 87 laps, more rain forced the race to be finished Monday, with Carl Edwards winning.

This Sunday? The National Weather Service is forecasting partly cloudy skies with a high of 68 degrees.
Reference Here>>

Should be another great weekend for the second round of NASCAR Cup racing here in California, there might even be a slight dust of snow on top of the San Gabriel mountains to the north, making this Hollywood set backdrop at the track ... complete.

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