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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
Hall Of Fame Profile: Bill France Jr., Part 3 Of 5
The arrival of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as NASCAR’s major sponsor gave Bill France Jr. his first big opportunity to put his stamp on the sport...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted April 21, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Bill France Sr. (Left) and Bill France Jr. (Right) will be formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Sunday. (Photo: France Family)
The NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct the five members of its inaugural class May 23. Leading up to the hall’s induction ceremony, SPEEDtv.com is profiling the first five racing legends chosen for this unique honor.

After watching Bill France Sr. operate with such strength and presence as NASCAR’s founder and president, many had doubts about his son, Bill France Jr., moving into the driver’s seat.

“All the guys who grew up with Big Bill were thinking, ‘Here comes a kid along,’ ” retired driver Richard Petty said. “It was sort of like when Brian [Bill Jr.’s son] was named chairman. He was a kid. I could remember when he was 5 years old.

“You’re reluctant to accept things. The press and everybody, really, said there was no way Billy could handle it. But Billy had so many more tentacles out there to get the information. It wasn’t a one-man thought process. When Bill Jr. came along, he got more thoughts involved in the process than Big Bill did.”

In a 1999 interview, France Jr. described himself as “...Probably more conservative than he (France Sr.) was. My mother was very conservative. From a business risk standpoint, I take a little longer to sort through everything. I try to be pragmatic. If he liked the idea, he jumped. And he landed a lot more than he didn’t. He had a pretty good knack from a vision standpoint of seeing what was around the corner.”

The arrival of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as NASCAR’s major sponsor gave France Jr. his first big opportunity to put his stamp on the sport. He and his father had visited RJR headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C. to work out the sponsorship deal.

“My dad suggested they bring a camel (RJR manufactures Camel cigarettes) over to the track and do some kind of promotion,” France Jr. said. “They said you don’t want camels. They’re nasty and they spit at you. You don’t want camels.”

So NASCAR got Winstons – many, many of them.

Working with RJR executives, France trimmed the 1972 Cup schedule to 31 races (each at least 250 miles long), eliminating older, shorter tracks and building a schedule more suited to determining a national champion. RJR was particularly interested in the concept of drivers and teams chasing a championship all season, and the new, more manageable schedule made promotion of that idea easier.

In the mid-1970s, France signed off on the Winner’s Circle program, which was designed to guarantee that all leading drivers would participate in every seasonal race by paying the teams significant amounts of “up-front” money if they agreed to race every week. In the long run, it was one of his most important moves. Previously, some major teams raced only in big-money events, hurting the ability of track officials and promoters to advertise that all top drivers would be in their races.

France also worked out a deal with a Daytona Beach bank to allow teams to finance loans to help them through the winter months, putting their operations in good standing for the next season and the Daytona 500.

“Bill Jr. developed relationships not only with drivers but also with car owners,” Hunter said. “He got to know the Wood brothers, Junior Johnson, Bud Moore. He listened to them. The days of everybody being a driver and bringing their own car to the races were over, and he knew he had to put more stock in the car owners because you couldn’t have a race without them. He knew he had to develop plans around the entry blanks and the money to give car owners a basis for a business plan of sorts that would keep them going.”

THURSDAY: Television Steps In

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening is set for May 11, 2010. Outdoor Opening Ceremonies are May 11th from 9 to 10 am ET free of charge, open to the public. Outdoor festivities including driver appearances and concerts May 11th from 10 am until 8 pm ET open to the public, free of charge. Tickets to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame are on sale now at www.NASCARHall.com or by calling 877-231-2010. The countdown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is on! Visit www.NASCARHall.com/50days for daily updates about the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
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