3. France Jr. greatly admired and respected his father. But he was not intimidated by the NASCAR founder. In 1978, the sanctioning body put out a press release stating retired founder France Sr. had undergone prostate surgery.

“Dammit, you don’t write press releases about a man’s private parts,” thundered France Sr. in a subsequent meeting with senior staff members at NASCAR. “That’s the stupidest thing NASCAR has done in its history!”

Bill France Jr. declared his father to be wrong, according to other staff members present at the meeting. “The stupidest thing NASCAR ever did,” countered the younger France, “was to endorse Gerald Ford (over Jimmy Carter) the day before the election.”

4. Unlike his father, France Jr. was not much of a race car driver. When IMSA was first launched by France Sr. and former SCCA excutive John Bishop, the sports car series raced on the infield-and-oval course at the Talladega Superspeedway. Short on entries, Bill Jr. was drafted to drive a Ford Cortina. He put the car on its roof, according to an account by Bishop, and was not known to participate in any other motor race as a driver.

5. Perhaps the biggest goof of his career occurred when France Jr. decided to hire the NFL’s so-called drug czar, Dr. Forest Tenant. Tim Richmond then made a mockery of the drug testing procedure, which was created because drivers had complained about Richmond’s erractic behavior during the 1987, when he won two races before abruptly quitting the Winston Cup due to health reasons. Prior to the Busch Series race in 1988, the mercurial Richmond loaded up on over-the-counter medicine, was banned after failing a drug test and then sued NASCAR. Richmond won an out-of-court settlement well into seven figures, according to an Associated Press story by Mike Harris. Tenant was later discredited during his tenure with the NFL.

6. One of the most clever manuevers by France Jr. concerned the rule change to “out of the box” cylinder heads mandated for Ford, Chevy and Pontiac engines in 1992. Up until then, teams could modify cylinder heads considerably and teams were spending huge sums in that area. In a conversation I had with France Jr. in Charlotte shortly after the rule was announced, he confirmed the object was to prevent the richer team owners (such as Rick Hendrick, Felix Sabates and Roger Penske) from gaining an advantage versus the team owners who had grown up in the sport (such as Richard Childress and Robert Yates).

In 1991, the year before the rule change, NASCAR had allowed some severe modification of the valve placements in the cylinder heads of Ford engine guru Yates, which gave him as much as a 50-75 horsepower advantage over all other competitors, including those with Fords. Naturally, Ford subsequently submitted the “Yates head” as its choice for the “out of the box” heads mandated by NASCAR for 1992. With considerably more horsepower across the board by the use of the “Yates head,” the Ford teams finally won a much-needed manufacturer’s championship in 1992, led by the incredible upset of owner/driver Alan Kulwicki.

7. Never a shrinking violet, although very private, France Jr. actually radioed Dale Earnhardt Sr. during the final yellow flag period in the 1998 Daytona 500. Calling himself “Captain Jack,” France Jr. refered to Earnhardt Sr. as “Sunday Money” in the radio call, according to the book Unseen Earnhardt (which I co-authored with Al Pearce). France Jr. gave “The Intimidator” encouragement, an unprecedented intervention by a high-level NASCAR official on behalf of an individual driver during a race. It was also a rare self-indulgence by France Jr., although clearly the victory by Earnhardt Sr. was welcomed by all in the sport.

8. France Jr. was the architect behind NASCAR’s strategy to weather the crisis in the media that erupted after the death of Earnhardt Sr. on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. He brought veteran Jim Hunter back to Daytona to play the chief PR role of “good cop.” Hunter immediately opened up the lines of communication with the media. Then the presentation by NASCAR in Atlanta following the accident investigation was so detailed and intimidating, the media was greatly subdued afterward by an alternate version of how Earnhardt Sr. was killed.

9. The biggest contributions by France Jr. may have come after his courageous struggle with cancer that began in 1999, which included radiation treatment. In addition to directing the crisis that erupted after his close friend and fishing buddy Earnhardt Sr. died, France Jr. was instrumental in the new multi-billion dollar TV contract that began in 2001, the ongoing expansion of the International Speedway Corporation that included a settlement of the Ferko case, the transition to sponsorship by the Nextel brand and the creation of the Championship Chase format.

10. Just as his father did not entirely let go of the reigns, France Jr. continued to hold the final vote on major issues until his final days in the hospital, not his brother Jim or his son and successor Brian. When a groundswell of opinion arose against Michael Waltrip during the cheating scandal in time trials for this year’s Daytona 500, some NASCAR officials suggested he be banned from starting a qualifying race. According to Hunter, France Jr. vetoed that sentiment and Waltrip then raced his way into the field. In retrospect, wisdom once again prevailed thanks to the stategic vision of France Jr.

Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jingram666@cs.com.