Tony George's last tie to the series he started is over -- at least for the foreseeable future. The Indy Racing League founder met with his team Thursday morning and informed them that Vision Racing was suspending operation. After losing sponsorship from John Menard a few months ago, George had kept the doors open while he and driver/stepson Ed Carpenter searched for funding.
"I have had the pleasure of working with a very dedicated team of people and I will continue to work toward a return to racing," George shared with me Thursday.
Formed in 2005 to provide Carpenter with a full-time ride, Vision branched out to two cars in 2006 with Tomas Scheckter and was a three-car operation in '07 with A.J. Foyt IV. It was reduced to two cars in '08, except for the Indy 500 where Davey Hamilton participated and at Edmonton, where Paul Tracy finished fourth.
Last season was back to a one-car effort for Carpenter, who scored the team's best-ever finish of second at Kentucky after leading 34 laps and missing victory by a couple feet to Ryan Briscoe.
George, ousted as Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and CEO in May of 2009, declined to remain as IndyCar's CEO and last week resigned his positions on the board of directors at IMS and Hulman & Company.
