THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407170183
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
As a youngster growing up in Daytona Beach, Fla., Brian France had no idea what it really meant to be part of one of the most powerful families in auto racing.
``I always thought it was some kind of fun thing that happened twice a year at Daytona,'' the 31-year-old NASCAR vice president of marketing, and only son of NASCAR president Bill France Jr., said recently in an interview at his office at NASCAR headquarters outside Daytona International Speedway.
``When I was a kid, I never knew the opportunity would be so great.''
But in the past 18 months, under Brian France's direction, NASCAR has expanded beyond the racetrack and aggressively entered the world of marketing and promotion.
The NASCAR marketing department, with about 25 employees, has tripled in size.
And France's division has introduced, one after another, the official NASCAR MasterCard, a NASCAR Advantage road-service program, a racetrack directory produced in concert with Bell South, a freestanding newspaper insert, the NASCARWorld traveling theme park, and several smaller programs.
In a personal sense, France has put his own neck on the line, because the success of these programs, at this point, is far from guaranteed.
But one thing is clear: The emergence of the NASCAR marketing department marks France's emergence as a determined, ambitious young man who is beginning to be taken seriously as the third-generation heir apparent to the family racing empire.
``I think he's really coming along,'' said car owner Felix Sabates, who has developed a personal relationship with Bill France Jr. and his family. ``He's grown up. He's really matured.
``I think he's got a lot of good ideas and if six out of 10 of them work, he's ahead of the game.''
``It's obvious that he's buckled down and really concentrated on this,'' said Ty Norris, the assistant manager of the Winston Cup series for R.J. Reynolds. ``He's hiring good young people who think young and think mainstream. They think to the future.''
But these are not universally held views. Some people in the garage have little or no respect for the grandson of the late William H.G. France, the founder of NASCAR. Although his detractors won't talk on the record, they believe that if Brian France becomes NASCAR president one day, it will happen only because his father made it happen.
They say the real brain in the France family is Brian's older sister, Lesa France Kennedy, who is secretary-treasurer of International Speedway Corp., the family-controlled NASCAR affiliate that owns the tracks at Daytona, Talladega, Darlington and Watkins Glen.
To be sure, the Brian France needed no help from his detractors to carve a checkered reputation in the 1980s, at least on the highway.
Court records show that from 1983 to 1987, France received 13 traffic tickets, including 10 speeding tickets, and had his license suspended a number of times.
From his native Volusia County, Fla., where France was ticketed for going 62 in a 35 mph zone on June 8, 1982, to Oregon, where he was ticketed for reaching 83 in a 55 mph zone on April 26, 1985, France kept the motor vehicle bureaucrats busy with the paper work generated by his driving exploits.
``I'm not perfect,'' France said. ``As a young guy growing up, you always had fast cars. I probably still drive too fast. But most of the things I've done were in the course of going into adulthood.
``I don't know how serious any 22-year-old can be. I wasn't that bad. I never had a DWI.''
France said his record is free of tickets today, and he is determined to focus his energy on making NASCAR racing a national sport with a fully developed marketing program.
``Everything marketing does is a result of how good our product is on the racetrack,'' he said. ``But I've always had my eye on thinking that we could do better.
``We've got five or six things going right now and we're going to try to make all of those things go great.
``There's always opportunities, but in the past we really weren't in a position to capitalize on them. We didn't have the talent and the personnel. We really were a service company.''
``I think people will begin to take him a lot more seriously as they see him do these programs,'' said car owner Richard Childress.
France, who is divorced, joined the family company in 1983 at the age of 21 after attending but not graduating from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
For two years, he worked in the NASCAR Western Operations office. He then spent four years as NASCAR's administrative operations manager, overseeing the care and feeding of the organization's national network of short tracks. And he was NASCAR's national tour director for two years before being named the marketing vice president in November 1992.
France's biggest project, and ``probably the most complex and controversial project the we've done,'' is NASCARWorld, which will allow fans, for a projected price of about $15 a ticket, to learn about NASCAR history, ride in a simulator, call the finish of a race from a mock broadcast booth and participate in a variety of other activities.
France himself brought this idea to NASCAR after seeing the NFL's version of the same thing at the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.
``It's very important for us to develop new fans at a younger age,'' he said. ``This is going to allow us to do that.''
NASCARWorld will debut in Indianapolis next month.
It is also scheduled to be in Atlanta this fall and will be taken to at least five cities in 1995, including two that don't have NASCAR events.
``There is some concern that these events will cannibalize attendance, and it's an honest concern and we're just going to have to test the waters and see what happens,'' France said. ``No question it needs a lot of attendance to make the numbers work.''
As for some of the other programs, he said Bell South has renewed its agreement with NASCAR to produce the racetrack guide. And the NASCAR credit card ``is ahead of schedule in terms of enrollment,'' France said. ``We believe we'll meet our three-year projections in a little over a year.''
The NASCAR Advantage road-service program, however, hasn't worked as well. It was much the same story 30 years ago when his grandfather tried the same idea. But France isn't giving up yet.
``We've actually pulled back and redesigned that program,'' he said. ``It got a lot of calls and response, but we were having a hard time trying to get people to try the product.
We've learned that while NASCAR has a powerful name, you've got to deliver a great program, whatever it is.
The redesigned program, he said, will have ``a multitude of real discounts'' and will allow consumers to try it for $1 for three months.
``All these programs are new, so you have some growing pains, particularly in distribution,'' he said. The question is, how do you get them into people's hands and how do you get the word out.''
While France has the right genes to succeed his father, he knows from his father's own experience that some people will be convinced he is not fit to run NASCAR no matter what he does.
``I can see where some people would think that,'' he said. ``Whenever you're the boss's son, there's a tendency to think he doesn't work as hard and he's getting more things than he really deserves. I knew the only way to combat that it to get results. And we've done that.
As for the question of whether he'll take over NASCAR one day, Brian France demurs.
``I'm sure I'll have a very strong interest in high responsibility, but I can't say it makes sense or doesn't make sense,'' he said. ``I try to be pragmatic about that. It may make the best sense in four or five years or it may not. If it doesn't, I will work wherever I'm most effective. I'm very happy where I am.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``When I was a kid, I never knew the opportunity (in NASCAR) would
be so great,'' Brian France says.
by CNB