"It's a shame when Tony started his series, it started out as an adversarial type of deal and it has set a negative tone for both. It has hurt open-wheel racing. I'm hoping as they go down the road, the hatchet will get buried and it won't be an 'us and them' type of thing. I hope the two open-wheel series can complement each other and grow the interest in the sport. I think that is starting to happen. I think when Chip Ganassi came down and ran at Indy, that was the start of a healing process."
France wants to make it clear that ISC's involvement with the IRL is long-term. He's not going to expect to see overnight success, but he believes in time he can help the Indy car series grow and prosper.
As that commitment pays off, George's much-maligned Indy Racing League is gaining prominence on the motorsports landscape.
"I think ISC tends to have a pretty long-range view of things," George says. "I think it sees the way open-wheel racing is developing. To some extent we have been able to help ISC with some of its short-term issues, whether it is at Miami or other tracks. We've also presented our plans for the future and that includes marketing and the development of a business plan that gives it some reasonable hope and expectations that we are going to be aggressive leaders of open-wheel racing in the United States in coming years.
"I think by being able to expand our schedule, we are expanding it because we have a good product and it has a bright future. ISC wants to be part of that. I think it can be argued both ways we are helping build ISC and it is helping build IRL."