It's been 50 years since Bill France Sr. passed the torch to Bill Jr., and NASCAR has never been the same.
RacingOneGetty ImagesIn 1972, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., passed leadership of NASCAR to his son William Clifton France.
NASCAR needed some fresh approaches, and Bill Jr. brought them.
Easily the biggest was the decision to end the incredibly long schedule that stretched to 54 races in 1969 and still held 48 races in 1971.
NASCAR took a big turn toward its future 50 years ago, and it was all in the family.
In 1972, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., a giant of a man who began trimming the rough edges from stock car racing and turning it into an organized sport in the late 1940s, passed leadership of the organization to his son William Clifton France (or Bill Jr., as he was known).
It was a new era in many ways for NASCAR. France Sr., universally known as Big Bill, had run the sport as a benevolent dictator of sorts, a man willing to take advice from anyone as long as they understood he had the final say. He was gregarious and loud, a man’s man as they used to say, and his strong personality usually carried the day. If not, he would occasionally remind people that he often carried a gun.
Bill France Jr. began running the NASCAR show in 1972.
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Bill Jr. took over at an unusual time. With car manufacturers moving in and out of the sport and big-dollar team sponsors often hard to find, NASCAR needed some fresh approaches, and Junior brought them. Easily the biggest was the decision to end the incredibly long schedule that stretched to 54 races in 1969 and still held 48 races in 1971. NASCAR and its shiny new series sponsor, the Winston cigarette brand of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., wanted a shorter schedule so that more publicity could be focused on bigger races. In 1972, the Cup schedule was reduced to 31 races, and the so-called modern era was born.
Bill Jr. zeroed in on the vast reach of television, eventually signing network contracts to put NASCAR in front of millions of people who had never attended a race. Increasing exposure on television also attracted more major sponsors to the sport.
There was little doubt in the France household that Bill Jr. would follow his father into NASCAR’s executive seat. Junior worked races as a kid, selling snow cones, hauling ice, running errands. Prior to races, he was part of the advance team that nailed promotional posters on telephone poles. He learned from the bottom up.
After graduation from high school and a stint in the Navy, he returned to Daytona Beach and went to work.
“It was his life,” said Bud Moore, a career NASCAR team owner who was very close with both Frances. “France Sr. had him around at tracks learning what was going on. France gave him a job to do this for a while and then something else, to learn the whole deal. This is how France got to where he was because France Sr. had taught him everything.”
France Sr. was the life of every party. Junior was much more comfortable in his office or running the show from the tower at racetracks. Generally described as a workaholic by those who knew him best, he had a select group of friends in Daytona Beach and occasionally dropped the reins of business to enjoy the other side of life. He and his wife, Betty Jane, often enjoyed an evening out with Daytona Beach friends Roger and Jeanmarie Bulkley.
Jeanmarie Bulkley later remembered France as “a very private man. He wasn’t that forthcoming, but when Betty Jane made friends and talked, he sat there and would laugh and engage in the conversation. He loved to listen to her. She enjoyed life, and he would enjoy whatever she was saying. Betty Jane brought that out in him.”
France also liked deep sea fishing, but, even on those trips, he often hosted a team owner or driver so they could become better acquainted. His friends insisted the next race always was on his mind.
Bill France Jr. was not one to stay in the glass offices at NASCAR. He was on the front lines during the racing series’ most important era.
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“He lived it 24-7,” said Mike Helton, who would follow Bill Jr. into NASCAR’s top leadership position. “It didn’t matter if he was in 900 feet of water deep sea fishing or 30,000 feet in the air on the way somewhere or sitting wherever he was in the world, he was 24-7. It was his life. It was up until his last breath.
“That was just his style and his nature. He didn’t have the ability to take it easy or relax. He led a very fun life and took a lot of people along with him.”
Helton said Bill Sr. “had to create everything from the ground up. Bill Jr. was methodical, pragmatic and maybe a little more conservative. They were different guys for different times, and it worked well.”
A visitor to Bill Jr.’s office might have noticed a book illustrating how to build an atomic bomb. He never tried that, as far as is known, but friends described him as curious about virtually everything, and his ability to educate himself about a wide range of topics fed into the growth of NASCAR.
Bill Sr. died in 1992 of Alzheimer’s after a steady decline that included the wrenching experience of his children taking away the car keys from a man who lived and breathed cars. Bill Jr. fought cancer for years before dying while NASCAR was running a race at Dover, Del. in 2007.
The transition of leadership from one France to another that occurred 50 years ago still echoes through the sport.
Keyword: NASCAR's Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.: 'Different Guys for Different Times'