Former Harley-Davidson exec maintains speed at Motorsports Authentics

Ruth Crowley was recently named president of International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s joint venture, Motorsports Authentics. She comes from Harley-Davidson, where she was a vice president. Crowley will direct and oversee the acquisition and development of intellectual property licenses, coordinating with teams, drivers, sanctioning bodies, promoters and sponsors. She will also work closely with suppliers, retailers and promoters. Crowley recently spoke to staff writer Brandon McClung.

What will be the biggest challenge in your new position?

Restructuring the organization by combining three companies and four cultures into one that can develop into a sustainable growth model.

Being professional! By being honest without compromise and developing people and products in a collaborative form to grow business in an excellent way.

I always want to do more than I did, to be better. I am naturally never satisfied. My biggest disappointments, which was probably during my time with Harley-Davidson, provided great insights and learnings. It all balances out if you strive to see through them clearly.

My advice would be to be prepared to work hard, have a plan, listen carefully, learn continuously, be curious, be tenacious, deliver on promises, respect people and have fun.

The stories, like life, change without the season, which makes it great. It ranges from watching George Mason and their Final Four run to Tiger beating the odds again, to the changing leaderboards in a race series, to drugs and steroid use in professional sports. However, the tragedy is that some of these stories get more print space than “real” issues that we should be focused on.