Indianapolis police briefly secured the massive Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday after a group of Tweeters and bloggers "lost their shit" and tried to form a human chain at the main entrance to the speedway.
"TONY GEORGE WAS APPOINTED TO THE BOARD OF HIS FAMILY COMPANY," one blogger screamed through a megaphone. "BE SURE TO READ MY POST ON IT SOON."
"Changes Ahead for Bernard?" Speedtv.com asked ominously. Bernard is Randy Bernard, who replaced Tony George as IndyCar CEO after George was ousted from the position by other members of the Hulman George family more than a year ago.
"As soon as that came out over The Twitter, these -- whaddya call 'em? -- bloggers just appeared at the entrance and started singing and chanting E-GYPT, E-GYPT," said Police Sgt. Ron McSoliday. "Damnedest thing I ever saw."
The bloggers held signs that included "Slippery slope -- listen to our podcast coming soon!" and "Coming soon: 5-Parter on Why this is Bad."
McSoliday said some of the zeal left the gathering when it was revealed that initial stories of George joining the IMS board of directors were false. The intial headline, "Tony George Reinstated to the IMS Board" was quickly amended to "Tony George Reinstated to the H & C Board." Story here.
"We told them he's not on the IMS board, just the Hulman board, and they seemed a little disappointed," said McSoliday, who added he was interviewed an estimated 23 times for blog posts and asked repeatedly if he could help secure credentials for the Indy 500.
"Don't be fooled," said one unidentified blogger. "Today Hulman & Company, tomorrow IMS. This is all part of the Master Plan for Tony to regain power, kick out Randy Bernard, and ruin everything!"
By late Wednesday McSoliday said the crowd had dispersed. "They saw a couple black helicopters heading toward IndyCar headquarters and lit out of here in a hurry. By 9 p.m. it was all pretty quiet here."
Ahhh SPEED, how you SO love to sacrifice accuracy and reportage for speed and drama.
You're the TMZ of the racing community.
Posted by: DZ | February 18, 2011 at 09:48 AM
Are we entirely sure the events in Madison are not related to this news?
Posted by: Zachary | February 18, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Hilarious and right on point, Dog. Robin Miller must be sealing his windows with duct tape and using prepaid phones he's so paranoid.
Posted by: redd carr | February 18, 2011 at 11:01 AM
hahahaha. Thanks for the chortle, Zachary. I think there MIGHT be a connection there, now that you mention it.
Posted by: pressdog | February 18, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Yeah, I enjoyed how the front page headline and the caption on Tony's picture both indicate that there could be "big changes" afoot for Randy Bernard's role in IndyCar, but then the actual article declines to even theorize on A) what those changes might/could be and B) how those changes could even be implemented, given that Tony is but 1 vote of 8 on the H&C board (though some folks are saying that those other three new guys are Tony's buds, so maybe he's like 4 of 8, but who knows at this point?).
This one is going to take quite a bit of time to digest and see how it plays out. I guess that's not much fun to say on Twitter on in panic-y blog posts, though. So, as you were, Chicken Little Blogger-types.
Posted by: The Speedgeek | February 18, 2011 at 11:12 AM
Oh yes. THIS. A giant FUCK YOU to unsubstantiated, groundless hysteria, which I'll always support.
You've done the Lord's work here today, Bill. And also the Indiana National Guard's as well, probably.
Posted by: Royhobbson | February 18, 2011 at 01:55 PM
Channeling my inner apocalypse now...this scared the hell out of the natives. Next up, arc a races at ims because citgo will pay off the mortgage for the F1 modifications.
Posted by: Boiler37 | February 19, 2011 at 07:55 AM