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

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

executive. He is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of International Speedway Corporation (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 Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

team Action Express Racing. Jim is the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.

Early life

Jim France was born and raised in Daytona Beach,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He graduated from Seabreeze High School 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. It offers undergraduate, gradua ...

in Lakeland, Florida and earned a

business degree A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

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 b ...

in 1987. With his brother Bill France Jr., 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 Chief executive officer, CEO and Chair (official), chairman of NASCAR. He served in the post from 2003 to 2018, following his grandfather (and NASCAR co-founder) ...

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 in Sag Harbor, New York 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 (motorsport), endurance ...

, a sanctioning body for various forms of

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, 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 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 racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

; the Koni Challenge Series, 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. The ...

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

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

series; the Association also operates the North American arm of the international Ferrari Challenge.

Worth

As of January 2023, France was estimated to be worth $1.8 billion by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''.

References