The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum announced Tim Cindric and Tony George as the 2023 inductees for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.
Cindric and George will be formally celebrated at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner presented by Shell and supported by National Bank of Indianapolis on Friday evening, May 26 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom.
The two were chosen from a ballot of 14 nominees by a national panel of more than 150 journalists, participants, and historians.
Cindric serves as president of Team Penske. He has overall management responsibility for Team Penske's racing operations which includes teams competing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the NASCAR Cup Series, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship.
Indianapolis native Cindric grew up working with his father, Carl, who was an INDYCAR SERIES engine builder for IMS Hall of Fame member Herb Porter. A basketball standout and a Hall of Fame member of Pike High School in Indianapolis and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where he recently received an honorary doctorate in engineering after graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering.
After graduation, Cindric began his career with the TrueSports INDYCAR SERIES team as a design engineer, then served as team manager for Team Rahal prior to joining the Penske organization in fall 1999. His 24-year career with Team Penske consists of more than 375 victories and 27 championships. His successes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway include eight Indianapolis 500 wins, eight INDYCAR SERIES victories on the IMS road course, a Brickyard 400 win and two NASCAR Xfinity Series victories.
George began his tenure as president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation in 1989, continuing the work his grandfather, Anton “Tony” Hulman Jr, started when he purchased the Speedway at the end of World War II. George served in this role until 2009. He joins his grandfather, grandmother Mary Fendrich Hulman and his mother, Mari Hulman George, in the Hall of Fame.
Under George’s leadership, IMS underwent significant changes. Before George assumed the role, the Speedway traditionally only had one race, the Indianapolis 500. Determined to bring more events and different racing styles to the Speedway, George announced the addition of a NASCAR race, the Brickyard 400, which debuted in 1994.
Continuing to grow the events and programming, George also helped bring Formula One back to the United States by hosting the United States Grand Prix in 2000, which ran through the 2007 season. Hosting the Formula One race involved the construction of the road course inside the oval. The road course was also the home to the MotoGP event, held from 2008 through 2015. The road course continues to be used for NTT INDYCAR SERIES and NASCAR events, among others, throughout the racing season.
George also oversaw the construction of the current iteration of the Pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Pagoda has nine tiers and reaches a height of 153 feet, equal to a 13-story building. The Pagoda has state-of-the-art facilities for race control, safety, timing and scoring, and radio broadcast booths. In addition to the Pagoda, the media center was constructed, and the tower terraces were rebuilt along with the suites behind Tower Terrace south. All these new elements were designed to serve the Indianapolis 500 and other racing events that take place through the course of the year.
George has made a lasting impact on the sport of racing outside of IMS. With a desire to improve safety for drivers, George enlisted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to develop a new wall barrier for racetracks to reduce driver impact. The Steel and Foam Energy Reduction Barrier (SAFER Barrier) was installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002. The technology is used and installed in numerous other racetracks around the world.
In addition to honoring the inductees, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum will celebrate Marlyne Sexton, a philanthropist and community leader who has contributed to the success of the Museum, supported the racing community, and the 500 Festival organization.
Tickets for the event are available for purchase at imsmuseum.org. Pricing is $2,000 for a table of eight and $250 for individual tickets. All proceeds benefit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, a 501c3 non-profit organization that aims to celebrate the cultural and historical significance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through storytelling and educational programs.
