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INDYCAR: Back From The Brink
After distancing itself from years of dark times and disappointment, it's hard to imagine the Indycar Series without Randy Bernard at the helm.
It took a great amount of character and conviction for the Hulman George family to oust Tony George and place Randy Bernard in charge of the IndyCar Series. Their faith has been heavily rewarded. (LAT)
Exactly one year ago, the IZOD IndyCar series was adrift: a rudderless ship with no course charted and no captain. After 15 years of going backwards, Tony George was out of the picture and there was no in-house successor.
Another season had passed with no movement towards a new car or engine package as Brian Barnhart seemed content to stay with the old Dallara chassis, Honda engine and spec racing.
IndyCar was still being held captive by International Speedway Corporation (ISC) on ovals, which were neither promoted or attended.
The television contract with VERSUS was long and laughable and the people who had signed off on that 10-year death sentence were either already gone or headed out the door.
The IRL was in huge debt because of an armada of airplanes, bank loans, bad marketing deals, bad hires, propping up teams and race venues. Before his departure, George had even suggested that if the league wasn’t making money in three more years, it might be shut down.
Morale in the IRL office was like the TV ratings – at an all-time low.
Jeff Belskus, who at that time held the dual position of CEO of IndyCar and the IMS, approached the IMS Board of Directors and asked about finding a new CEO for the series so a committee was formed.
“We wanted to find somebody who could ring the bell for us in a hurry,” said Belskus, who served most of his 23 years as CFO for the Speedway before replacing TG. “We never thought the person had to be from within IndyCar racing; we wanted to find someone with a strong sports marketing background.”
Josie George, the middle daughter of Mari Hulman-George and an IMS board member who had always remained in the background with her other two sisters, was having dinner at St. Elmo’s steakhouse in the Tony Hulman Room with a friend.
“I was singing the blues about how we needed a CEO for IndyCar and he said what we needed was a ranch manager, somebody to run the place who knows it’s not his ranch but who will treat it like it is,” recalled George.
“He said, ‘You need Randy Bernard.’ Well, I’d heard of him 10 years before because we had mutual friends. He had his number so we called him right then.”
A few days later, Josie met Bernard in downtown Indianapolis.
“I knew in the first half hour he was going to be awesome,” she continued. “And he wasn’t looking for a job. He was looking for a challenge.
“I told him this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal and that nobody had ever been offered this job outside our family.”
While Bernard left to do his due diligence and meet with Roger Penske to ask questions, he then had to sell himself to Mari Hulman-George, sisters Nancy George and Kathi Conforti, longtime family attorney and IMS board member Jack Snyder and Belskus.
“What I liked about him is that he had so much integrity,” said Josie George. “And when everybody finally met him they instantly liked the cowboy. Mom said he was so sincere and she liked that.
“We went through the process and it was unanimous …everybody agreed on Randy.”
Of course there was still one obstacle. Bernard, whose thinking and marketing had taken the Pro Bull Riders circuit from a fly-by-night hoedown to a multi-million dollar spectacle, was still under contract to the PBR.
“I knew he wanted to do it but Randy didn’t know what to do about PBR,” said Josie George. “But those guys were awesome to release him. I went to the PBR finals and ran into (PBR star) Cody Lambert.
“He looked at me and said: ‘You just hired the hardest working SOB you’ll ever meet.’ I said I know and I thanked him. Everybody at PBR all think so highly of him and they didn’t hold him back, they cheered him on.”
Considering the state of IndyCar racing and the fact Bernard had never seen a race, his announcement brought instant skepticism from all fronts – including this writer.
But it was immediately apparent this guy was like no other CEO of USAC, CART, IRL or Champ Car. He had no agenda, brought no baggage, had no favorites and seemed way too honest to run racing. He got up early, went to bed late, answered every email, returned phone calls, read history books, signed up for Donald Davidson’s class on the Indy 500 and listened to people with passion for open-wheel racing.
“The first night we met he wanted to know all about my grandfather, so I spent five hours describing to him a lot of my grandfather’s characteristics of what I thought made him so special,” said Nancy George, referring of course to the late, great IMS savior Tony Hulman.
“Throughout the season I saw some of my grandfather’s traits in Randy, in his ability to make others feel that their opinion really matters and to take time to listen to the fans. I told him how my grandfather used to pick people’s brains and ask them all the same questions and then make his own decision based on the accumulation of facts he’d obtained from others.
“My grandfather had the rare human quality of making everyone he met feel like they were all his best friend. Randy, I think, shares this trait which makes him a great leader.”
Another season had passed with no movement towards a new car or engine package as Brian Barnhart seemed content to stay with the old Dallara chassis, Honda engine and spec racing.
IndyCar was still being held captive by International Speedway Corporation (ISC) on ovals, which were neither promoted or attended.
The television contract with VERSUS was long and laughable and the people who had signed off on that 10-year death sentence were either already gone or headed out the door.
The IRL was in huge debt because of an armada of airplanes, bank loans, bad marketing deals, bad hires, propping up teams and race venues. Before his departure, George had even suggested that if the league wasn’t making money in three more years, it might be shut down.
Morale in the IRL office was like the TV ratings – at an all-time low.
Jeff Belskus, who at that time held the dual position of CEO of IndyCar and the IMS, approached the IMS Board of Directors and asked about finding a new CEO for the series so a committee was formed.
“We wanted to find somebody who could ring the bell for us in a hurry,” said Belskus, who served most of his 23 years as CFO for the Speedway before replacing TG. “We never thought the person had to be from within IndyCar racing; we wanted to find someone with a strong sports marketing background.”
Josie George, the middle daughter of Mari Hulman-George and an IMS board member who had always remained in the background with her other two sisters, was having dinner at St. Elmo’s steakhouse in the Tony Hulman Room with a friend.
“I was singing the blues about how we needed a CEO for IndyCar and he said what we needed was a ranch manager, somebody to run the place who knows it’s not his ranch but who will treat it like it is,” recalled George.
“He said, ‘You need Randy Bernard.’ Well, I’d heard of him 10 years before because we had mutual friends. He had his number so we called him right then.”
A few days later, Josie met Bernard in downtown Indianapolis.
“I knew in the first half hour he was going to be awesome,” she continued. “And he wasn’t looking for a job. He was looking for a challenge.
“I told him this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal and that nobody had ever been offered this job outside our family.”
While Bernard left to do his due diligence and meet with Roger Penske to ask questions, he then had to sell himself to Mari Hulman-George, sisters Nancy George and Kathi Conforti, longtime family attorney and IMS board member Jack Snyder and Belskus.
“What I liked about him is that he had so much integrity,” said Josie George. “And when everybody finally met him they instantly liked the cowboy. Mom said he was so sincere and she liked that.
“We went through the process and it was unanimous …everybody agreed on Randy.”
Of course there was still one obstacle. Bernard, whose thinking and marketing had taken the Pro Bull Riders circuit from a fly-by-night hoedown to a multi-million dollar spectacle, was still under contract to the PBR.
“I knew he wanted to do it but Randy didn’t know what to do about PBR,” said Josie George. “But those guys were awesome to release him. I went to the PBR finals and ran into (PBR star) Cody Lambert.
“He looked at me and said: ‘You just hired the hardest working SOB you’ll ever meet.’ I said I know and I thanked him. Everybody at PBR all think so highly of him and they didn’t hold him back, they cheered him on.”
Considering the state of IndyCar racing and the fact Bernard had never seen a race, his announcement brought instant skepticism from all fronts – including this writer.
But it was immediately apparent this guy was like no other CEO of USAC, CART, IRL or Champ Car. He had no agenda, brought no baggage, had no favorites and seemed way too honest to run racing. He got up early, went to bed late, answered every email, returned phone calls, read history books, signed up for Donald Davidson’s class on the Indy 500 and listened to people with passion for open-wheel racing.
“The first night we met he wanted to know all about my grandfather, so I spent five hours describing to him a lot of my grandfather’s characteristics of what I thought made him so special,” said Nancy George, referring of course to the late, great IMS savior Tony Hulman.
“Throughout the season I saw some of my grandfather’s traits in Randy, in his ability to make others feel that their opinion really matters and to take time to listen to the fans. I told him how my grandfather used to pick people’s brains and ask them all the same questions and then make his own decision based on the accumulation of facts he’d obtained from others.
“My grandfather had the rare human quality of making everyone he met feel like they were all his best friend. Randy, I think, shares this trait which makes him a great leader.”
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