Track owner, team owner, series founder

George is best known as chairman and former president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company, and founder of the breakaway Indy Racing League, which created a split in the highest level of American open wheel racing. As president of the Speedway, George introduced several innovations, most notably the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race in 1994, Formula 1 (held from 2000-7) and Moto GP (held from 2008-15). George founded the IRL in 1994 in an attempt to lower costs and return Indianapolis-type racing to its American, oval-track roots. The split meant that both the IRL and the PPG CART IndyCar World Series struggled, but it also reinforced the importance of the 500 on the American open wheel scene. In 2008, the IRL and Champ Car World Series unified under the IRL IndyCar Series banner. George became a team owner in 2005, forming Vision Racing with wife Laura and actor Patrick Dempsey with George’s stepson Ed Carpenter as driver. The team discontinued operation after the 2009 season.