Oilpressure

By Susan Phillips

It’s been a while since I last wrote here. I have no clue how long it’s been, but I’m sure George can tell you. He remembers stuff like that much more than I do.

What I can tell you is that for the last couple of years I’ve not been excited about coming to Indy or the month of May, as I used to be. We’ve had a few distractions in our lives lately, but I’m going to blame my lack of interest on one thing—my husband.

He knows I’m writing this and doesn’t care. He’s never forbidden me to write about something. He might disagree with it or thinks maybe I shouldn’t bring certain subjects up, but he’s never said to not write about something. He’s fine with this.

It’s been pretty obvious to everyone that he has not been as fired up about Indy or Indycar racing as he used to be, for the last 2-3 years. When Indycar slapped his hand over some comments he made in one article, it completely deflated him. That’s being too kind. It infuriated him. I was there when it happened in the IMS media center, and I could see the veins popping out in his forehead while he was being scolded. I know that look he gets, and I could tell while he was being fussed at he was reaching the point where he would have no control over what he was saying. Things were about to go from bad to worse if I didn’t get him away from there soon. I grabbed his hand and said “let’s go”.

The damage had been done. He went from mad to hurt to finally indifference in not caring about anything about Indycar for the rest of that season. When he got the email the next winter that his hard card would not be renewed for the first time in 8 years. That was the nail in the coffin. I could tell he was done.

At first, he just said F*** ‘em. After all he had done for free for all those years, and they went nuclear over some comments that he made that happened to be true. He felt betrayed by the series for which he had mostly been a cheerleader. I wouldn’t say he went into a funk of depression, but whenever anything about Indycar came up, he would get mad and change the subject.

He even wrote an email of apology. If you know George, you have to know how hard that was for him to do. When he thinks he’s right about something, good luck getting an apology. And he knows he was in the right in that situation. It ended up souring him on Indycar and even his beloved Indy 500. I hated seeing him turn his back on something that he has genuinely loved his entire life, but that’s how strongly he felt about this. I didn’t mind seeing him cut back on his site, but he wanted to quit it altogether. That’s how mad he was. I told him not to, because he would regret it.

When he retired in January, I didn’t know what to expect from him. It has been good for him, though. It seems like he has regained his perspective on things related to Indycar. In April, he started watching old Indy videos on You Tube. It got old to come home from work every day and have to sit there while he finished up a race from 50 years ago. But I’ve noticed something. I think it was therapy for him.

I think he realized what Indy means to him, and he started looking forward to May. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that boyish enthusiasm from him when May arrives. I used to find it so annoying how he acted almost like a kid on Christmas as the month of May went on. I realized that normal conversations would have to wait until June, because he was so keyed up about Indy. For the last 2-3 years, he has been cynical and unenthusiastic when May rolled around. He wouldn’t admit it when I brought it up, but I think I know George better than he knows himself. He wasn’t the same.

Now that he’s retired, and living on You Tube every afternoon, he’s a new person. Actually, he’s not a new person, he’s the husband I had ten years ago, who was always so crazy about Indy it was annoying to be around him. He has found his love for Indy again.

Now, even George admits that his hand-slapping three years ago had dampened his spirits to the point that nothing about racing mattered. I once told him he was acting like a baby, and that really ticked him off. Looking back, I don’t blame him for being mad. He felt unappreciated and betrayed by Indycar. I think time has healed a lot of those wounds, but not all.

George admits that one of his biggest faults is that he will hold on to a grudge. That’s putting it mildly. When he was roasted at his retirement party, one of the common themes was “You don’t want to get on his bad side, because you’ll be there forever”.

Fortunately, he has a lot of key people at IMS and Indycar that are in his corner. I think he’s also smart enough to keep his mouth shut and ruffle no more feathers…I think. But enthusiasm is contagious. He is much happier approaching this month of May than he has been in a while. His enthusiasm for Indy is back. You know what? So is mine. Hearing him talk about the fun time he had at the test last week made me wish I as there. I have now found myself looking forward to these next 3 weekends. So far, it’s been fun, and it’s still the first weekend. We got our boy back!

This entry was posted on May 8, 2026 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.