US racing category nominee #4: Bill France Sr & Jr
An Amrican banking dynasty
Vol 84 No. 2 – February 2008
This year will mark the 50th running of the Daytona 500, a race that has grown beyond even the ambitions of its founder and promoter ‘Big Bill’ France. By Gordon Kirby
Through most of 1958, ‘Big Bill’ France worked flat-out to build his long-planned dream of a race track called the Daytona International Speedway. France spent more than five years trying to pull together the support and finance to turn his vision of a 2.5-mile high-banked superspeedway into reality, but time and again his hopes of finding the money turned to dust. Most people would have given up, but France stuck to his guns and eventually made it happen in partnership with J Saxton Lloyd, a former president of the USA’s National Automobile Dealers Association.
Sponsored
Hendrick Motorsports and McLaren will team up in 2024 to back Kyle Larson's attempt at The Double — racing the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 on the same day
Jenson Button predicted "something very special" at Le Mans from him and illustrious team-mates Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller, who have been unveiled as the drivers for a NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro entry at this year's 24-hour race
Get set for chaos – reigning NASCAR Xfinity champion Daniel Hemric explains what makes Talladega the pure adrenaline shot it is
Extra-heavy impacts, cars catching fire and high-speed punctures are causing leading NASCAR drivers to increasingly voice safety concerns