George launches Vision Racing

Vision will use the assets of the recently closed Kelley Racing team to run a Dallara-Toyota in the IRL championship for Ed Carpenter - George's stepson - and an Infiniti Pro Series programme for USAC graduate Jay Drake. Ex-Menard crew chief Larry Curry will manage Vision for George.

"Over the course of the winter, as Tom Kelley was trying to execute a graceful exit from the car owner ranks, I followed that progress closely," said George "I knew the organisation that he had built over there. I knew the assets that he was offering for sale. I believed it would be of great value for some team that was looking for an opportunity to enter the series.

"A little over three weeks ago, I started considering all those assets that he had and some other business opportunities that I was looking into doing and started to realise it would be a great opportunity for me to maybe look at acquiring those assets."

George shrugged off suggestions that becoming a team owner in his own championship created a conflict of interest.

"There are going to be detractors who think it's an inappropriate thing to do, but it's a challenge that I'm excited about," he said. "The fact that I'm a financial investor in forming the team is a fact that I wouldn't deny or feel bad about. A lot of people may perceive that as a conflict of interest, but I don't.

"I think the series will benefit from this. Obviously, this group has to do everything we can to make sure we're above reproach and operating squeaky-clean."

When Tom Kelley decided to shut down his IRL team at the end of a difficult 2004 season, initial reports suggested that a new organisation known as Playa Del Racing would purchase the assets and run cars for Carpenter and Arie Luyendyk Jr. This deal never came to fruition, but rumours of George's personal involvement began to surface in recent days.

The choice of Curry as team manager is potentially controversial. He performed the same role for Team Menard during Tony Stewart's IRL title winning season, but was later imprisoned for embezzling money from team owner John Menard. On his release, Curry was hired to run Stewart's USAC team.

Carpenter made a promising IndyCar debut with PDM Racing in late 2003, but he was overshadowed by Alex Barron at Cheever Racing last year. His place in the team was taken by Champ Car star Patrick Carpentier, and Carpenter faced a year on the sidelines before George stepped in.

"This was the first opportunity that came along to allow me to race full-time for a second season," said Carpenter. "I'm just looking forward to putting to use everything that I learned last year."

This week's Phoenix test is the last opportunity for IndyCar teams to run prior to the series opener at Homestead on March 6, so Vision Racing - which has yet to announce a sponsorship package - will have to make its debut in the opening practice session at the Miami oval.