TG Interview If You Dare [Archive]

JLMannin

03-28-08, 11:24 AM

Here is the interview -

http://www.1070thefan.com/trackside/

** warning ,it is long and tedious**

TG has 6 cars for the season, and he has no regrets about splitting and decimating OW.

In this IndyStar article, TG is quoted as saying 25/8 was a mistake:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/SPORTS0107/803280457

It is the very last sentense of the article:

George didn't hesitate when asked if he could go back and alter the decision he made to create the IRL as an alternative to CART in the mid 1990s.

"Yeah, I'd do it again," he said. "But with the benefit of hindsight I'd do some things differently. When we made bad decisions, I tried to correct them with what I thought was best as soon as possible."

George said one of the IRL's first mistakes was stipulating 25 guaranteed spots in the Indianapolis 500 for league regulars, a move that drew considerable ire from people who thought the historic event should be open equally to all participants. That led CART to stage a race at Michigan International Speedway on the same day as the 500.

"We shouldn't have done that," George said.

I printed a pdf copy of the story, as I am sure the "starched earth" policy will result in the story being pulled.

To whomever coined starched earth policy, a big thanks!!! :thumbup:

Chief

03-28-08, 12:48 PM

Eeeee gads.....I actually spent 30 minutes trying to decipher that meaningless blubbering and mumbling. Here goes....from the March 27th 1070thefan.com radio interview:

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TONY GEORGE couldn't recall the name of the first race....H O M E S T E A D

Was asked if was he at the face of "one series again"....TONY GEORGE said "numb....(no AND umm together), I don't know....not really....but ahhh...I I I I think I understand what it means....and I'm trying to stay focused on on on what it means and the opportunity but ummm it just a matter of of a ummm don't know of of ah ah ah of trying to keep your head down...stay focused...and and get everybody pulling in the same direction...but I don't really think about ummm a what it really means other than it's a great opportunity."

Tony said he'd argue something about something but he knew he knew everyone wanted unification.

"I don't know if could say for sure" what caused the unification.

Biggest thing was both series had to pay subsidies and they couldn't afford to go on but THEY (CCWS) decided to stop funding their activities. "Hmmm" said Curt Cavin.

Is there sponsorship opportunities? FTG "There's a lot of needs".

"Interest has has has gone up to up a couple degrees....we've got some some some interest.....I I I think by May we'll start to see the the fruits of unification start to pay off with announcements".

Has CCWS handouts caused hard feelings with IRL bottomfeeders and hangers ons: "Welll,again,,everyone has pride and no one wants to ahh ahh ahh wants to accept subsidies ummm but you know the the the teams that were there ahh for the most part all had equipment they could compete.....ahhhh...and just just sort of help help in the transition but not disadvantage ahhh ahh the the existing teams over the teams coming in as as everyone had to demonstrate their ability to to fund an operating budget in order to take advantage of receiving the equipment...ahh either through sponsorship or through personal resources, a commitment....now some even had the resources but chose not to commit...ahh the equipment, ahhh Mister Forsythe being one of them....but ummm, you know you know there are there are teams out there who weren't able to make the transition who had the assets and had the ummm ahh personel to make the transition but they couldn't commit to the operating budget and so they're on the sideline...they don't want to be there but they are. Ummm...we we we treat anybody ahh ahh differently umm with respect to you know champcar teams versus existing indycar teams.... ummm we offer to help them come in and compete this year knowing it was going to be a struggle umm for them even if they ahh had the budget or even if they had the equipment they still had to come up with the budget, so, ahhh wuh wuh wuh ahhh we our part last fall really for the Indycar teams when we made it very clear to them that that we we were putting resources into this TEAM program and the redistribution of awards ....you know ahh sometimes it goes un noticed or unappreciated but it is it is a significant commitment that we made...Blah Blah Blah.....firm position...we won't subsidize any more blah blah..."
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YES.....Tony George clearly is THE leader for AOW.....sky's the limit now that he's in charge.:shakehead