NASCAR: It’s Time To Black Flag The France Family
Big Bill France started NASCAR in the 40’s and turned it over to his son Bill Jr. who quickly transformed the sport bringing national popularity. Brian France has taken the reigns and the sports trajectory has headed downhill ever since.
There is not a single person in the NASCAR garage that will say that Bill France Sr. or Jr. ever did anything to hurt the sport. When the discussion turns to Brian, as it recently did with Tony Stewart, the tone changes. Bill Sr. and Bill Jr. were regulars in the garage area, knew the competitors and understood a racecar. They were a friendly face that everyone around NASCAR respected. The same cannot be said about the current NASCAR president Brian France.
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Sports history is littered with tales of children of successful owners ruining franchises. The Los Angeles Lakers are the most recent team to fall from grace when the family patriarch dies. In most cases the parent worked hard to build the franchise and the family is left with the success without any understanding of the work that went into it. NASCAR is no different, when Brian took over NASCAR was riding high with a new TV contract brining in record dollars and ratings, revenue streams flowing monies into the sport.
One of the first moves that Brian France made telegraphed what was to come. He negotiated the title sponsorship agreement with Nextel/Sprint and immediately black listed Richard Childress and SB2 racing primary sponsors, Cingular and Bell South. Both companies acquired by AT&T. When longtime Penske Racing sponsor Alltel was purchased by Verizon NASCAR again protected its monies and denied the sponsor update. It was NASCAR’s money and the teams and drivers were not going to get in the way. Also in the agreement was the elimination of all of the modern history of NASCAR with every prior champion now having to be referred to as Nextel Cup Champion. The Winston Cup was gone, a step that has forever fractured the core fan of the sport.
Next came the purchase and scuttling of several historic tracks in favor of newer mile and a half and two-mile tracks in non-traditional NASCAR markets. After that the fiasco of the New York proposals that cost NASCAR millions of dollars and wasted time and effort on a market that has never taken to the sport. Through all this Brian France has distanced himself from the people who make his sport what it is, the drivers and owners. As Tony Stewart bravely said, you find Brian in a suite with sponsors, not in the garage. He has failed in developing the needed relationships with the people inside the sport that he needs to build their trust and faith.
It could be argued that Mike Helton, the man who ran the transition between Bill France Jr. and Brian France, is the most respected man in the offices of NASCAR. Helton understands how a car works on the track, how adjustments affect the cars and the drivers, something Brian never bothered to learn. If you were to ask the common NASCAR fan, most would say they wanted someone like Helton leading the sport but the last name does not fit.
NASCAR may not be a publically traded company but people still need to wake up or maybe the Race Team Alliance and the Drivers Committee will step up and demand change. But someone needs to keep the pressure on that subject Tony Stewart brought to light. When Bill Fance Sr. and Bill France Jr. wanted to show you what they were proud of, they showed you a race. When Brian France is asked what he is proud of, in my opinion all he shows you profits and losses.
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Yes, NASCAR is a business, but that business is racing and whomever is leading NASCAR must know that. One might say that Brian France has lost sight of the fact that the business is racing, others might say that he never understood it from