Tony George has been asked to step down as president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his family's business. And it is not clear how closely he will remain tied to the day-to-day operations of the Indy Racing League.

The board of directors of the speedway and Hulman & Company announced yesterday that a new management team will take over the Hulman-George companies effective July 1.

The Hulman-George family has run the speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, for six decades and also owns the IRL and Clabber Girl, a baking-powder company based in Terre Haute, Ind.

Speedway board chairman Mary Hulman George, Tony George's mother, released a statement saying it is in the best interests of everyone that her son concentrate his efforts on the IRL - primarily, she said, as a team owner.

In an e-mail to the Associated Press, George declined comment, saying he would release a statement next week.

Longtime IMS executives W. Curtis Brighton and Jeffrey G. Belskus will take over the leadership roles.

In other auto-racing news:

* Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip are two of the 25 nominees for the first NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class. NASCAR released the two names ahead of the announcement of all nominees tomorrow night. The first class will consist of five members.

Colleges

 

* Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski shot down speculation that had him leaving the Blue Devils for the Los Angeles Lakers if Phil Jackson retires. He said: "I will never leave Duke until I leave coaching."

* The NCAA rejected an appeal from former Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, who was slapped with 5 years of potential penalties for taking part in more than 100 impermissible calls to recruits while coaching the Hoosiers. Sampson, now an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, is essentially barred from coaching in college until 2013. In his appeal, Sampson claimed the penalty was too harsh, the NCAA misinterpreted evidence and that the infractions committee was biased against him.

* Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has been appointed chairman of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee for 2010-11. Smith will succeed UCLA's AD, Dan Guerrero.

* The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding college football's Bowl Championship Series. It will be the second hearing on the BCS held on Capitol Hill this year, following a contentious one in the House in May.

* The NCAA has reduced the probation period for Alabama State's football program from 5 to 3 years, saying ASU officials took actions to correct the 17 rules violations while the case was being investigated.

Pro Football

 

* Former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Rich Baldinger will not face charges in a traffic accident Saturday that left a 61-year-old woman dead.

* Jacksonville traded receiver Dennis Northcutt to Detroit for safety Gerald Alexander.

* Michael Vick's revised bankruptcy plan would funnel more of his future pay to his creditors and ensure that they receive a portion of his earnings even if the suspended NFL star doesn't return to the league.

Philly File

 

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Temple has gotten an oral commitment from New Brunswick (N.J.) High defensive tackle Dante Weaver.

Sport Stops

 

* The United States' 3-2 loss to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final was seen by 3.9 million people on ESPN, the most-viewed non-World Cup game for the U.S. team on the cable network.

* A new study shows that horses treated with a diuretic before racing had less hemorrhaging in their airways and lungs during exercise. Use of furosemide, which is sold as Lasix and Salix, to treat pulmonary hemorrhaging in racehorses began in the 1970s. The study fuels the argument that Lasix should be administered to horses on the day of a race. That practice is legal in the United States, but most countries ban the use of the drug on race day because it enhances performance.

* Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was left off Spain's team for the Davis Cup quarterfinals because of knee tendinitis.

* PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has decided not to delay a new rule next year that will change the grooves in irons and wedges to create less spin on shots. The idea was to make shots out of the rough more difficult, and put more of a premium on driving accuracy.

* Former cyclist Bernhard Kohl, who was banned for using a blood-booster last year, admitted giving drugs to other athletes. The Austrian said on local television that he gave triathlete Hannes Hempel a drug similar to testosterone in early 2008. He also claimed to have supplied others, but refused to name them. *