The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. Its centerpiece is the Indianapolis 500. The IRL is owned by Hulman and Co., which also owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex. The IRL was founded in 1994 by Tony George and began racing in 1996. It was created with a breakaway group of drivers from CART, which had sanctioned Indy car racing since 1979, who incidentally, had broken away from USAC. George blueprinted the IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which had come to be technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams, much like Formula One. Ironically, the IRL has come full-circle and is much like the CART series it sought to separate from. The IRL is, itself, dominated by a few wealthy teams, mainly consists of foreign-born drivers, and is a mix of ovals and road/street courses.