George Sipple

Detroit Free Press

International Speedway Corporation announced Tuesday that Roger Curtis is leaving Michigan International Speedway as track president, effective immediately, to pursue new opportunities. A replacement has not been announced, although Joie Chitwood, ISC chief operating officer, will oversee MIS operations in the interim.

Curtis didn’t give any specifics on why he was leaving the position he’s held for 10 years, but said it isn’t based on health reasons and he’s not retiring.

In a released statement, ISC thanked Curtis for his many years of service, “the last 10 years, specifically, as the face of Michigan International Speedway.”

Indeed, Curtis was wildly popular with the fans there, even though track attendance dipped during his tenure, in part due to a recession. Curtis is known for interacting with fans on Twitter (@MISroger), wearing an Elvis costume around the track on race weekends and for mingling with the campers and race fans throughout the weekend.

Curtis was responsible for a number of improvements at the track, including the repaving of the track, installation of new SAFER barriers, smoothing out the traffic pattern before and after races and several new amenities. He also brought other events to the track, including the creation of the Faster Horses Festival with Live Nation and the post-race Keloorah music festival on NASCAR weekends at MIS.

Curtis spoke to Detroit Free Press sports writer George Sipple late Tuesday night by phone about his 10 years as track president and future.

• On why he’s leaving: “ISC and I just decided that we’ve done a lot of great things here and it was time for those great things to continue, but probably a good time to let someone else come in and take a fresh look at things. See how they take the track forward.”

• On how long the discussions have been going on: “Oh, for a little bit. Several weeks probably ... (long pause) yeah.”

• On how other interests might be affected by the change – including remaining on Onsted School Board and the Board of Make-A-Wish: “The Governor’s office already called me today and asked that I continue with the Governor’s Education Commission -- 21st Century Education Commission -- and I have a lot of passion around that. Was pleased that they wanted me. That was good. I have no plans to leave the Onsted School Board. Make-A-Wish, I have not talked to them. They may choose to go in a different direction with me not being at MIS anymore. That’s up to them.”

• On leaving MIS: “One of the things I’ve always said about MIS that’s very special is that a lot of our fans came with a lot of friends. But you always left with more friends than what you got there with. We had a vision statement to create lasting memories for every person, every time. And, I think it’s very safe to say I’m leaving with more memories and more friends than what I had when I started here 10 years ago. I think they will continue some of the great things that we put in place and someone will come in and do some fresh and new things that will take the business and take the track forward. As for me, it’s probably a good idea to give someone else that opportunity.”

•On why he was so proud of interacting as much as he did with the fans on race weekends: “Letting them know, in no uncertain terms, they weren’t just a ticket. I think even the people I didn’t get a chance to meet – when you have tens of thousands of people, you don’t get to meet everyone – but did enough, we engaged with enough, and my entire team and I tried to be as genuine and sincere as we possibly could – and run the business.

“We still had a business to run, a publicly traded one. But I think we all felt that building those relationships with our guests and letting them know how important they were to us did help the business. I hope that’s one of the things that whoever comes in to MIS continues that. I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t, because I think that’s one of the things that now makes MIS very special.”

• On other things he’s proud of: “I’m incredibly proud of the partnership with Live Nation. Literally out of nowhere, and empty field has created now one of the most popular festivals in the world and one of the recognized festivals in the world in four very short years. Immensely proud of what has done for economic impact for creating another great destination weekend for the Irish Hills.”

• On the challenges that he inherited when he came from California Speedway, where he was vice president of sales and marketing: “You can’t get farther apart than Brooklyn, Mich., and just outside of Los Angeles in Fontana, Calif. I knew what we were getting into years ago at MIS. We’d been here as fans. I knew we had some traffic challenges. I knew the facility was a little antiquated.

“I did not know – would have made a lot of money if I did – that the entire country was going to go into as deep a recession as it did. We knew the auto industry in Michigan was struggling a little bit and there was already starting to be some layoffs here and there. We thought as early as 2006 and 2007 we might have some regional issues. I had no idea we were going to have this massive, gargantuan recession worldwide. At Michigan, we were Ground Zero for it. We tried our best to navigate through there and I thought we did a really good job. Obviously, attendance fell and it’s been difficult for all of us to get that back. I feel like NASCAR as an industry and MIS has made a lot of headway. Hopefully, the last 10 years set a good foundation for whoever does come in and leads this amazing team.”

• On if he thinks there’s any chance of MIS losing one of its NASCAR weekends in the future: “Oh, not to my knowledge. I think we have a tremendous amount of advance notice, having hosted NASCAR since 1969 and the relationships we have with the sanctioning body. I can honestly say I don’t think that’s in the cards for the future.”

• On his future: “I have no plans right now. I’m not retiring. Really hope there’s an opportunity to stay in Michigan.

“I have no earthly clue. I’m kind of wide open. I have lot of things I’m very passionate about. I think I have a few skills.”

• On always being able to officiate weddings, which he did at MIS: (Laughs). Yeah, I can always do that. I didn’t give up my minister card. There’s always weddings. That was a good one. I like that one a lot.”

•On if he plans to change his Twitter handle: “No, it’s still @MISroger. I’m not the president at MIS anymore, so I have to change the description of who I am.”

• On what he’d want to say to fans: “I want the fans to know I’m not walking away from them. I still care for them and literally love them. Some of them my family and I will be friends with them forever. I just don’t want anyone to think I’m just up and retired or just decided I’m done, leaving the sport. I don’t know what will happen.”

• On if he hopes to continue in the auto racing world: “I’m going to go into this next chapter very open-minded. I don’t want to be presumptuous. I don’t know if anyone will be interested in me. I don’t know.”

• On what he could do: “I may be a barista. Who knows?... I love making coffee.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.