Can anyone find Tony quotes from 1996?

[sf-indy-fan]

Originally posted by richie:
<STRONG>In response to a question about his desire to steer more American drivers toward Indy Cars, George said that he always wants to maintain an international flavor, but wants to keep Indy Car Racing mainly an American sport.</STRONG>

Italics are mine.

Many fans, on both sides of the fence, seem to miss this important distinction. Tony (with the exception of the unfortunate hammer comment) chooses his words carefully; thus, his words must be listened to carefully.

[Sleepcheap]

Originally posted by IndyJim:
<STRONG>I tell you what, this year at MIS we had a decent breeze and cloud cover most of the day, otherwise we would have been baking. Last year we just about had it after a weekend of camping in the infield.</STRONG>

Bad thing is, last year was the most pleasant of the five years I attended (97 to 01).

[Grinder-Tank]

I'm not offended friend. No problem at all. Welcome as a new member.

[jandj]

Originally posted by Rex Karz:
<STRONG>This is my favorite, from CNN/SI, Aug. 6, 1999. AJ talks about Michigan:
Foyt can understand why fans are staying away, particularly in the kind of brutal weather that has gripped much of the nation this summer.

"Anybody who'd go sit in them aluminum stands has got to be a complete idiot," he said."

I guess AJ thinks IRL fans are idiots too.</STRONG>

I had always read this quote as being in regard to the last Dover IRL race . I was there , I had a great time . When I got home and my wife saw how burned I was she said " You must have been an idiot to sit in that".

If AJ and my wife said it , who am I to argue!

P.S.- I'd do it again!

[220mph]

Originally posted by sf-indy-fan:
<STRONG>

Hey 220, the links on Open Wheel News to the interviews of Tony haven't worked for some time now. Did these publications archive or (NOOOOOO!!! ) simply dump this stuff? If you could redirect us to these interviews, myself and, I'm sure, many others here would appreciate it greatly.

Thanks! And thanks for all you do for us web-addicted IRL fans! </STRONG>

All the vast resources and treasures regarding the split from SpeedNet are pretty much gone. In their ballyhooed quest to become "The" Open Wheel site they blew away all the archives. You 'might" be able to go to ntheir pay archives and find a few of the more important articles, but the vast majority is inaccessable.

To make matters worse they also went to one of the sites that archives old pages (not Google - can't remember exactly who - like the "WayBack" machine or something) and told them to remove all the archive info.

Please - everyone write to the Editor and Publisher there along with the Sports editor, and tell them to bring back the archives. Those archives are the most complete information and historical material about the split that exists.

If you read the SpeedNet (and other) links on the Open Wheel News History pages you can at least get an idea of what the stories were about.

A few of the important stories I archived - like the Tony George letter to the editor - but much of the stuff out there is gone . . .

[richie]

I'm not offended friend. No problem at all. Welcome as a new member.

Thank you Grinder.

[220mph]

Star News History of the Indy 500

The Star News "History of the 500" piece. Make sure to read the CART/IRL Split section. Not exactly "unbiased". Heres a brief excerpt:

Tony Hulman's grandson, Anton (Tony) Hulman George, was named president of the Speedway in January 1990, and proceeded to put his stamp on auto racing in ways which very likely would have surprised his grandfather.

When Tony George formed the Indy Racing League in 1994, the conflict with CART deepened. Some saw the move as a declaration of war by George against Roger Penske, whose drivers had won the Indianapolis 500 a record 10 times. The IRL, which promised to reward participants in its racing series with a guaranteed number of spots and the best starting positions in the Indy 500, had its debut race in 1996. That year, CART announced a competing schedule which featured the U.S. 500 at the Michigan International Speedway on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. That move prompted the IRL to fire off a lawsuit challenging CART's use of the trademark IndyCar.

emphasis added

[manson]

My favorite 1996 Tony George quote:

"Well...(pause with lost look on face)... I was... uh... speaking to my good friend... um...uh... Dave Manson this morning and I... uh... promised him that we would never run on... um... a road course and that Dave Steele, Tracy Hines, and... uh... uh... Dave Darland would soon be... um... stars in the Indy Racing League."

[Weasel Boy]

Originally posted by frankie13:
<STRONG>I keep hearing some people in the media saying Tony George is doing everything he said he wouldnt do. For example, engine leases, foregin tracks, road courses.

Does anyone have any quotes from Tony from around 1996 that say he would not do any of these other things?

</STRONG>

Mr. George made himself available to members
of the media at the inaugural Indy Racing
League event at Orlando. I spoke to him and
asked him where he saw the IRL in five years.

Mr. George said that he would not rule out international races, nor would he
rule out racing on road circuits.

He also talked about a road course at IMS
and a future grand prix.

Jack Long was also available that day and
his comments regarding his initial mission
with Tony George were very interesting.

Long said he was brought aboard to represent
IMS in their dealings with Disney to
promote an Allstar race at Orlando.

I should have labeled all my tapes. Now that
I'm using mini-discs, I'm doing much better.

[DanH]

- mainly: main·ly
Pronunciation: 'mAn-lE
Function: adverb
- for the most part : CHIEFLY

[Joe Baiza]

Originally posted by richie:
<STRONG>....Andrew Craig also said that CART would love to have sprint and midget drivers in their series. He said that hopefully someday Tony Stewart will be good enough to graduate to CART. </STRONG>

It appears that Andrew Criag 'graduated' from Cart before Stewart 'graduated' to Cart.

[Doctorindy]

If I remember correctly, the 1996 Carl Hungness "500" yearbook had a big section about what was going on. Hungness was strongly opposed to anything about the Speedway by then (his book deal, not the split) and his whole yearbook series when down the tubes, and it looks like his whole company is on the fringe now. He put a lot of anti-Speedway and anti-Tony quotes and stuff, and he deliberately didn't call the race the Indianapolis 500, he called it the International Sweepstakes Race! He said the real 500 was up at Michigan, and he ended up making a yearbook for that awful U.S. 500 race. By the way, that U.S. 500 book was AWFUL (worse than the race itself) I'm sure it sold 8 copies at the most.

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: Doctorindy ]

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Doctorindy:
<STRONG>If I remember correctly, the 1996 Carl Hungness "500" yearbook had a big section about what was going on. Hungness was strongly opposed to anything about the Speedway by then (his book deal, not the split) and his whole yearbook series when down the tubes, and it looks like his whole company is on the fringe now. He put a lot of anti-Speedway and anti-Tony quotes and stuff, and he deliberately didn't call the race the Indianapolis 500, he called it the International Sweepstakes Race! He said the real 500 was up at Michigan, and he ended up making a yearbook for that awful U.S. 500 race. By the way, that U.S. 500 book was AWFUL (worse than the race itself) I'm sure it sold 8 copies at the most.

[ August 29, 2002: Message edited by: Doctorindy ]</STRONG>

I have one!

The Hungness yearbook, for all its quirks and oddities (which to my mind added to the charm), is about a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion times better than that official crap they put out.