Family-run NASCAR avoids pitfalls of other sports

by Rod Belcher
for Virginia Business
October 2006

What makes NASCAR go? Why has the sport become so popular?
Many in the industry say the sport has prospered because it still is a family-run business. Since its creation in 1948, the family of the late Bill France Sr. has controlled NASCAR.

Virginia motorsports officials say that, under the Frances’ watchful eye, NASCAR avoided the pitfalls of other major sports, such as lockouts, strikes and drug scandals. Bill France’s grandson, Brian, also is credited with crafting a national TV network package six years ago that has vastly increased the sport’s exposure. Brian France succeeded his father Bill Jr. as chairman of NASCAR in 2004.

NASCAR also has reached beyond its traditional Southern base, adding races in the Northeast, Midwest and the West Coast.

The sport has tried to shake its image as a sport for white men. Its Drive for Diversity Program is designed to encourage minority drivers and crews to compete in regional Dodge Weekly Series races, a training ground for its touring racing series. While growth in the number of black and Hispanic fans remains slow, women now make up 40 percent of NASCAR’s estimated fan base of 75 million.

“ NASCAR has advantages,’ says Dr. Peter L. Rodriguez, an associate professor of business administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. “It has a long season, it has numerous very lucrative licensing and product deals in place and it has a very strong fan base. These are all signs of a healthy, growing sport.”

Rodriguez says even the NASCAR spoof “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” is a sign of the sport’s success. “It’s a marker of the maturity of the sport that it can afford to laugh at itself,” he says.