George is the grandson of Tony Hulman, who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of World War II and revived the Indianapolis 500. His mother, Mari Hulman George, served as chairman of the board of Hulman and Company. George was involved in racing from an early age and competed in the 1989 Indy Lights championship, finishing twelfth in points with five top-ten results.
George became president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation following the death of Joe Cloutier in 1989. During his first years in charge he oversaw significant facility improvements, including a new infield road course, Tower Terrace Suites, and pit lane reconstruction.
Before his tenure, the Speedway had hosted only one annual event: the Indianapolis 500. George changed that substantially. He initiated negotiations that brought NASCAR to the Brickyard for the first time with the inaugural Brickyard 400 on August 6, 1994, won by Jeff Gordon. He worked to return Formula One to the United States, with the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway running from 2000 through 2007 on the infield road course. The 2000 inaugural Formula One event set an attendance record for the series. George also brought MotoGP to the Speedway beginning in 2008.
George's most consequential and contested decision was the creation of the Indy Racing League, announced in March 1994 and beginning competition in 1996. He argued that the CART series, which had dominated American open-wheel racing since 1979, had become excessively expensive, technology-driven, and dominated by a small number of wealthy multi-car teams. He was also critical of CART's growing reliance on road and street circuits and its large contingent of international drivers, believing the sport should be more accessible to American drivers from sprint-car and midget backgrounds.
The IRL was designed to race exclusively on oval tracks, use lower-cost engines purchased rather than leased, and reserve the majority of Indianapolis 500 starting positions for IRL competitors. The 25/8 Rule, implemented for the 1996 race, guaranteed 25 of the 33 grid positions to drivers who had accumulated IRL points, leaving only eight spots for non-IRL entrants. CART's established teams, unable to commit to the new IRL schedule and equipment simultaneously, effectively boycotted the 1996 Indianapolis 500.
The outcome was a schism that would last twelve years. CART eventually filed for bankruptcy after the 2003 season. A group of former CART team owners reorganized it as the Champ Car World Series, which continued until a reunification agreement with the IRL was completed in February 2008. The unified series operated under the IndyCar Series name.
George became a deeply divisive figure as a result of the split. Supporters credited him with protecting the Indianapolis 500 from CART's commercial interests and preserving the Speedway's autonomy. Critics, including prominent motorsport commentators, argued his actions fractured the sport's fan base, drove major manufacturers and sponsors away from open-wheel racing, and ceded ground to NASCAR that open-wheel racing never recovered. The Indianapolis 500's attendance declined significantly during the split era, with the race failing to sell out for years.
George resigned as president and CEO of IMS and Hulman and Company on June 30, 2009. Reports indicated that his sisters — Nancy George, Josie George, and Kathi Conforti-George — had expressed growing concern to their mother about spending decisions, including the estimated sixty million dollars invested in the IMS road course for Formula One and ongoing funding for George's personal IRL racing team, Vision Racing. The board declined to continue funding Vision Racing, and George cited a desire to focus more time on the IRL as the official reason for his departure. He resigned from the board of directors in January 2010.
Vision Racing, co-owned with his wife Laura George and operated with Ed Carpenter as primary driver, had been formed from the remnants of Kelley Racing. The team shut down in January 2009 due to a lack of sponsorship.
George later returned to a board role at Hulman and Company and has maintained an involvement in the sport through Ed Carpenter Racing, a team co-owned with his stepson Ed Carpenter. In 2019, Roger Penske purchased both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series from Hulman and Company, ending the Hulman-George family's long stewardship of the Speedway.