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Sprint Cup
CUP: NHoF Inductions - Bill France Jr.
‘Tough’ Bill France Jr. ruled NASCAR with a heavy hand, compassion...
Bill France Jr. is shown in his office shortly after taking over NASCAR’s presidency. (Photo: France Family)
Bill France Jr. guided NASCAR from 1972 to 2003, and in that time NASCAR went from a regional sport to a national phenomenon, one that raced from Daytona to Indianapolis to Las Vegas, with millions of fans and a big-time television contract.
While the popularity of the sport soared, it did so under the guidance of its demanding leader. Just how tough was Bill France Jr.?
His daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, described him as a “tough, tough man” Sunday during her father’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“He was demanding,” she said. “He had every single right to be because he expected more from himself. He always did.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick, in delivering the speech to induct France Jr. into the inaugural class of the hall of fame, remembered times when he was the subject of France Jr.’s toughness.
On one occasion, after Hendrick driver Geoff Bodine and Richard Childress Racing’s Dale Earnhardt had been running into each other and tearing up cars on the track, France met with both team owners and drivers.
“Bill started off with the speech he’s given me many times: ‘This sport is bigger than you, it’s bigger than me, and it’s going to be here when we’re all gone,’” Hendrick recalled. “That’s the way he ran the ship.
“He told Richard, he said, ‘Richard, I don’t know what you can do if you don’t do this. I guess, Rick, you can go back and sell used cars in Charlotte.’ He looked at Dale and said, ‘Dale, you can make a pretty good living at this. I don’t know what you could do if you’re not driving a race car.’ He looked at Geoff and said, ‘You may go back to doing what you were doing before you got here, and [I] don’t care.’
“He said, ‘Now, we’re going to go and eat dinner.’ Dale said, ‘I have an appointment, I can’t make it.’ Bill said, ‘There’s a phone over there, you change your appointment.’”
It was that attitude and approach to the sport that marked France Jr., one of five inductees into the hall of fame. Also inducted were France’s father, Bill France Sr., who founded NASCAR in 1948. Seven-time Cup champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt were inducted along with legendary owner/driver Junior Johnson.
France Jr. died in June 2007.
“He was this incredible combination of being … [an] incredibly tough guy, yet had the compassion and certainly the pragmatism and smarts to keep the sport rolling with 30-plus years under his watch,” said France’s son, Brian, the current chairman of NASCAR.
Brian also admitted during the ceremony that he bore the brunt of some of that toughness.
“Of all the people that worked with him, I have one distinction besides being his son that no one else has: I was fired more by my father than anybody,” Brian France said. “He was very tough on me in that respect.
“You know what? I always knew with my dad that he was also my greatest champion. Sometimes he had a tough time expressing it, but you always knew with my dad, if he believed in you, and you shot straight, he was going to be there when it got tough or when you needed somebody to lean on.”
He also was there for his NASCAR family to lean on. When Hendrick was battling cancer about 10 years ago, he remembers France getting emotional and shedding a tear during a meeting with him. A few years later, Hendrick’s team plane crashed, killing four members of Hendrick’s family, including his son, Ricky, as well as Rick’s brother and two nieces.
Bill France Jr., battling cancer himself at the time, came to Charlotte to see Hendrick.
“After lunch, he said, ‘I just wanted to see that you were OK,’” Hendrick said. “That’s the soft side of Bill France. He was compassionate. But he was a hammer when he needed to be and our sport needed that.”
NASCAR Hall Of Fame Biography Specials on SPEED
SceneDaily.com • Dale Earnhardts image to go on Wheaties box for second time
While the popularity of the sport soared, it did so under the guidance of its demanding leader. Just how tough was Bill France Jr.?
His daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, described him as a “tough, tough man” Sunday during her father’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“He was demanding,” she said. “He had every single right to be because he expected more from himself. He always did.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick, in delivering the speech to induct France Jr. into the inaugural class of the hall of fame, remembered times when he was the subject of France Jr.’s toughness.
On one occasion, after Hendrick driver Geoff Bodine and Richard Childress Racing’s Dale Earnhardt had been running into each other and tearing up cars on the track, France met with both team owners and drivers.
“Bill started off with the speech he’s given me many times: ‘This sport is bigger than you, it’s bigger than me, and it’s going to be here when we’re all gone,’” Hendrick recalled. “That’s the way he ran the ship.
“He told Richard, he said, ‘Richard, I don’t know what you can do if you don’t do this. I guess, Rick, you can go back and sell used cars in Charlotte.’ He looked at Dale and said, ‘Dale, you can make a pretty good living at this. I don’t know what you could do if you’re not driving a race car.’ He looked at Geoff and said, ‘You may go back to doing what you were doing before you got here, and [I] don’t care.’
“He said, ‘Now, we’re going to go and eat dinner.’ Dale said, ‘I have an appointment, I can’t make it.’ Bill said, ‘There’s a phone over there, you change your appointment.’”
It was that attitude and approach to the sport that marked France Jr., one of five inductees into the hall of fame. Also inducted were France’s father, Bill France Sr., who founded NASCAR in 1948. Seven-time Cup champions Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt were inducted along with legendary owner/driver Junior Johnson.
France Jr. died in June 2007.
“He was this incredible combination of being … [an] incredibly tough guy, yet had the compassion and certainly the pragmatism and smarts to keep the sport rolling with 30-plus years under his watch,” said France’s son, Brian, the current chairman of NASCAR.
Brian also admitted during the ceremony that he bore the brunt of some of that toughness.
“Of all the people that worked with him, I have one distinction besides being his son that no one else has: I was fired more by my father than anybody,” Brian France said. “He was very tough on me in that respect.
“You know what? I always knew with my dad that he was also my greatest champion. Sometimes he had a tough time expressing it, but you always knew with my dad, if he believed in you, and you shot straight, he was going to be there when it got tough or when you needed somebody to lean on.”
He also was there for his NASCAR family to lean on. When Hendrick was battling cancer about 10 years ago, he remembers France getting emotional and shedding a tear during a meeting with him. A few years later, Hendrick’s team plane crashed, killing four members of Hendrick’s family, including his son, Ricky, as well as Rick’s brother and two nieces.
Bill France Jr., battling cancer himself at the time, came to Charlotte to see Hendrick.
“After lunch, he said, ‘I just wanted to see that you were OK,’” Hendrick said. “That’s the soft side of Bill France. He was compassionate. But he was a hammer when he needed to be and our sport needed that.”
NASCAR Hall Of Fame Biography Specials on SPEED
SceneDaily.com • Dale Earnhardts image to go on Wheaties box for second time
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