Bill France Sr. is the founder of NASCAR which is the most popular racing organization in America which makes Bill a great historical figure. Bill was born in and grew up in Washington D.C. As a teen, he often skipped school to go to speed tracks around the Maryland area and even entered his own car in a couple of races. France started working as a bank teller. Bill later left banking to open up a service station as a skilled mechanic. During the Great Depression, Bill packed up his wife, Anne and son, Bill Jr. to seek his fortune in Florida. When his car broke down in Daytona Beach, he realized he liked the spot and decided to stay and work on cars at a local automobile dealership. Daytona Beach was a great place for auto racers who flew across the sand. After that there was a race in Utah that gave $5,000 to win where France took fifth. By 1941, France began to promote and organize races. After World War II, Americans really began to get interested in racing. France benefited from this interest and transformed stock car racing from a back-woods sport to a national past time. In 1947, France organized a set of drivers into the National Association of Stock Car Racing or better known as NASCAR. This organization began to race on superspeedways that were built by another corporation France made called the International Speedway Corporation. In 1959 Daytona International Speedway was built in the famous town of Daytona Beach and hosts the most famous NASCAR race of the year annually known as the Daytona 500. Later in 1969, in a town in Alabama, Talladega Superspeedway was made. Bill kept building the sport to what it is now and has been inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Bill retired in 1972 and gave the position to his son Bill Jr. Bill later died on June 7, 1992.
A.R.: Hi Mr. France it is very nice to meet you today how are you?
B.F.: Very good I am delighted to be here today.
A.R: Well I’d like to start today on asking you how do you feel about unions in NASCAR?
B.F.: Personally, I believe that unions are great things in the American workforce but do not belong in auto racing.
A.R.: Why not?
B.F: Because I believe that what some of the drivers that were making this union were doing was not healthy for the sport. They said that it would give drivers a lot of benefits but there were also other things that they were going to do if they got my permission that would hurt the sport.
A.R.: Who were the drivers that tried to make this NASCAR union?
B.F.: It was Curtis Turner and Tim Flock.
A.R.: What were the things that these drivers were trying to do once they got a driver’s union?
B.F.: They were trying to pass betting in this sport and I was not having it with the funds of accountant William Rabin and confidant Jimmy Hoffa.
A.R.: Did you just talk to the driver’s or punish them?
B.F.: I banned the drivers and they took me to court but we ended up winning the case anyway.
A.R.: Why did you install such harsh punishment on the Turner and Flock?
B.R.: Because I said NASCAR is the only sport that has not had some kind of scandal and I intend to keep it that way. Organized gambling will not be tolerated and these boys knew what they were getting into.
A.R.: O okay that makes good sense Mr. France. Now on a lighter note, I heard when you were a young boy; you used to skip school to go to local races. Is this true Mr. France?
B.F.: Yeah, I’m going to have to admit I did skip school for races when I was a kid. I wouldn’t support it today but I will admit that I was a bit of a trouble maker in my younger days.
A.R.: Very interesting, last question Mr. France, when you step down as the president of NASCAR, who do you want to replace you?
B.F.: Well, I would like my son, Bill France Jr. to take over the job. I hope he would like to take over the responsibilities of a great organization and continue the great tradition of NASCAR.
A.R.: Thank you so much for doing this interview with me. It was a pleasure to interview you and I would love to keep in contact with you for possible later interview dates.
B.F.: Thank you very much and I’ll see you later.
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