[3] After serving as vice-president for six years, he became the head of NASCAR when his father Bill France Sr. retired on January 10, 1972.
[2] The International Motorsports Hall of Fame describes the transition: "Other than the founding of NASCAR itself, Bill Jr.'s appointment to leadership is probably the most significant event in the history of the sanctioning body.
In 1981 he struck a deal with multimillion-dollar Australian tire retailer and retired racer Bob Jane to take stock car racing to Australia and plans were laid out for a high-banked speedway at the Jane owned Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne.
The new track, modelled on a scaled down version of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, including mimicking its 24° banked turns, held its first NASCAR race, the Goodyear NASCAR 500 (for 500 km) on February 28, 1988, and was won by Alabama Gang member Neil Bonnett driving a Pontiac Grand Prix.
The ratings and ensuing press coverage helped France to sign television contracts with ESPN in 1980, TNN in 1990, and TBS.
[citation needed] In 1993, France's employees told him about six-year-old Ohio leukemia patient Sarah Ashley Secoy.
He called her father and pledged to make her struggle and international marrow donor search a global news story.
He also helped fund "Sarah's Song", a duet recorded with her father that France promoted to tens of thousands of radio stations globally.
She became the first patient ever to survive acute myeloid leukemia thus leading to an all new global treatment concept for several deadly childhood cancers that has now saved thousands of children's lives.
The France family continues to own NASCAR outright, and has a controlling interest in race track operator International Speedway Corporation.
NASCAR on Fox lead announcer Mike Joy held a moment of "silence" during a restart on lap 279, and the track's flag was lowered to half staff.