George Gets Award: General Motors presented its prestigious GM Racing Pioneer Award to the Hulman-George family and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Dec. 3 at the 2002 SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference and Exposition in Indianapolis. The presentation is historic, as it is the first time the award has been presented to anyone outside of the General Motors company. “There can be no more appropriate recipient of the GM Racing Pioneer Award than the Hulman-George family,” said Steve Shannon, executive director of GM Racing. “All of those who have been associated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedways long history of pioneering leadership in the advancement of auto racing safety are part of a distinguished group.” Some of the innovations pioneered by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway include the installation of the first red and yellow warning lights, the first mandatory wearing of helmets, the first mandatory fire-retardant driver suits and car roll bars, and the first application of crash data recorders. And again just this past year, IMS initiated the first application of the SAFER Barrier.(American Race Fan.com)(12-4-2002)
