From the Indianapolis Speedrome
INDIANAPOLIS (November 14, 2016) — The new ownership of the Indianapolis Speedrome made the announcement that it is bringing on a long-time supporter of the historic facility to manage its operations.
Kevin Garrigus announced today that he is naming Jonathan Byrd as the new president of the Indianapolis Speedrome. Mr. Byrd’s new role as track president will see him working alongside the Garrigus family in the restoration of the southeast side institution.
“Jonathan came to me a few weeks ago, and we began a dialogue about the track,” shared Mr. Garrigus in his statement. “It was clear early on that we shared many of the same opinions on its potential. Jonathan presented to me a great vision of the future, and what he could bring to the table, which made his involvement a natural fit.”
“I am extremely excited and humbled to have been given this opportunity that I have dreamed about for decades,” began Mr. Byrd. “It has been a joy and a privilege to have had a role in the past. I have spent over 35 years of my life in love with the Speedrome, and other than family members, the Speedrome is the longest relationship of my life. People are supposed to remember your roots, where you came from. The Indianapolis Speedrome is where my roots are, and if it wasn’t for this track, my family wouldn’t be the track record holder at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; we wouldn’t have won two USAC National Midget Championship; we wouldn’t have been the first race team to accomplish the double of the 500 and 600 in the same day; we wouldn’t have won two IndyCar races. So much of our history in racing is due to our championship involvement at the Speedrome years ago. Now, I am looking forward to putting more of my time and energy behind making the Indianapolis Speedrome great again, and I can’t thank Kevin Garrigus and his family enough for the chance to live out this dream.”
Jonathan has been actively involved with the historic Indianapolis Speedrome, as a supporter, the marketing and advertising director, its concessionaire, and other numerous tasks asked of him. Mr. Byrd has been the television voice of the World Figure 8 Network having served in that capacity since 2003, handling play-by-play duties for televised races including the World Figure 8 Championship. In the past, Speedrome fans have seen Jonathan take to the microphone at the race track in interviewing winners from Victory Lane, while also assisting Speedrome Hall of Fame announcer Kevin O’Neal from the booth both on race nights and on the Speedrome Live Radio Show.
Jonathan is married to his beautiful bride, Abi, and will be celebrating 16 years of marriage in December. They have an eleven year old son, Jonathan III, and a nine year old daughter Evelyn, and all are looking forward to assisting on race nights in whatever capacity they can in keeping the family tradition of supporting the Speedrome. They are members of Emmanuel Church of Greenwood.