The Official Danica Patrick Fan Site

Breaking news: Joie Chitwood resigns

From the Indianapolis Star:

Very early in the information-gathering stage, but Joie Chitwood has resigned as president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Chitwood has been in the role since December 2004, although he has worked for the Hulman-George family for years through the Indy Racing League, Chicagoland Speedway and IMS.
He has been a member of the 2012 Super Bowl committee.
It is unclear how Tony George's situation is related to Chitwood's, although it's believed Chitwood has a good relationship with his new boss, Jeff Belskus.

http://blogs.indystar.com/racingexpert/2009/07/july_20_chitwood_resigns.html

Comment

You need to be a member of Go Danica to add comments!

Join Go Danica

Comment by Jeremy on July 20, 2009 at 9:15pm: from the Indianapolis Star website

Indianapolis Motor Speedway's management structure received another jolt Monday when Joie Chitwood resigned as president to become vice president of business operations for International Speedway Corp., the sister company of NASCAR, based in Daytona Beach, Fla.

ISC owns a collection of tracks that includes Daytona International Speedway. Chitwood, 40, is a Florida native. His resignation is effective Aug. 6.

Chitwood's decision comes less than a month after Tony George was asked to step down as chief executive officer of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp. Jeff Belskus, the former chief financial officer of the Hulman-George family companies, took his place July 1.

At least for now, Belskus is president of the Speedway, too, which led him to joke about an e-mail he received Monday from a former track employee.

"It said, 'You went from flying under the radar to flying the entire air force,' " he said.

Belskus said Chitwood's position might go unfilled.

"We have a good leadership team in place," he said, crediting Chitwood for assembling it since assuming control in December 2004. "In this world we're in (economically) in terms of downsizing with head count such an important thing, we're going to continue to analyze that and staff ourselves appropriately."

Chitwood, whose grandfather competed in seven Indianapolis 500s from 1940-50, joined the Hulman-George organization in 1996 as a liaison to Indy Racing League teams. He spent three years with the league before moving to Joliet, Ill., to lead construction and early operation of Chicagoland Speedway, a track now fully owned by ISC.

Chitwood led the pursuit of a MotoGP race at the Speedway and keyed the organization of the Centennial Era, which represents the first 100 years of the facility.

Chitwood said he began considering his career options earlier this year and decided returning to Florida was important for his family. He and his wife, Susan, have an 8-year-old son.

"I felt like I had accomplished a lot of things here," he said. "I'm from Florida, I've got experience in motor sports, (ISC) owns a lot of racetracks, and it seemed like a good opportunity for me."

Chitwood said there was no connection to George's situation.

"I had been here for a good number of years and I think it's natural for a person to start asking, 'What's next?' " he said. "With all of our family in Florida, that was an important decision factor."

Comment by Reggie on July 20, 2009 at 5:44pm: via Curt Cavin on Twitter: Chitwood is becoming vice president of business operations for International Speedway Corp