James Carl France (born October 24, 1944) is an American

motorsports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

executive. He is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO), the chairman, and executive vice president of

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business is the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

(ISC) and the owner of the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

team

Action Express Racing Action Express Racing (AXR) is a sports car racing team that currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The team is owned by NASCAR CEO Jim France and run by Bob Johnson and former NASCAR champion crew chief Gary Nelson. ...

. Jim is the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.

Early life

Jim France was born and raised in

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He graduated from

Seabreeze High School Seabreeze High School is a public high school located in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. The school was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1989. Notable alumni * Duane and Gregg Allman, of The Allman Brothers Band, class of 196 ...

and attended

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

in Lakeland, Florida and earned a

business degree A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, or ...

in 1968.

Career

NASCAR and ISC

The son of Anne Bledsoe and NASCAR co-founder William Henry Getty France, Jim France began working for his father at ISC in 1959, aged 14 years, and ultimately acceded to the ISC

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

in 1987. With his brother

Bill France Jr. William Clifton France (April 4, 1933 – June 4, 2007), better known as Bill France Jr. or Little Billy, was an American motorsports executive who served from 1972 to 2000 as the chief executive officer (CEO) of NASCAR, the sanctioning body of t ...

, he inherited control of NASCAR and ISC upon his father's death in 1992, and, as a member, and for a time secretary, of the board of directors of NASCAR, he served influentially as an advisor to his brother through the latter's

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

as NASCAR president in 2000 and as NASCAR CEO and chairman of the board in 2004; France Jr., explained in 2000 that his singular prominence notwithstanding, the two jointly guided NASCAR and ISC, joking that, "In the past, we'd have a board meeting in the hall. My brother and I would meet and shoot the breeze for a few minutes". Upon the accession of

Brian France Brian Zachary France (born August 2, 1962) is an American businessman and the former CEO and chairman of NASCAR. He served in the post from 2003 to 2018, following his grandfather (and NASCAR co-founder) Bill France Sr. and father Bill Jr., in ...

to the chairmanship of NASCAR in 2003, Jim France served his nephew in a similar advisory role, most significantly after the 2007 death of France Jr. On August 6, 2018, France assumed the role of Interim CEO and Chairman of NASCAR, following the arrest of his nephew and CEO Brian France; France was arrested on suspicion of

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

Sag Harbor, New York Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the ...

on August 5, 2018. With Brian taking an official leave of absence from all NASCAR duties until his legal case is resolved, the interim part of Jim's title was dropped and he became CEO and Chairman of NASCAR.

Grand American Road Racing Association

In 1999, France founded the

Grand American Road Racing Association Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

, a

sanctioning body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

for various forms of

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, finally the governing entity for five series, including the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

, the successor to the

United States Road Racing Championship The United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover ra ...

and the sponsor of the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

; the

Koni Challenge Series The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cup ...

, a two-class

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

league; and the SunTrust Moto-ST Series, an endurance racing

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

series; the Association also operates the North American arm of the international

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a single-marque motorsport championship that was created in 1993 for owners of the 348 Berlinetta who wanted to become involved in racing. The series was proposed by Ferrari Club Nederland founder and President Hans ...

Worth

With a 2007 estimated net worth of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.5

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

, France was ranked by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' as the 664th-richest person in the world and as the third-wealthiest American motorsports personage.

References