Financial and Organizational Growth: NASCAR-a-Go-Go

By 1947, Bill France realized the time was right for a national sanctioning body to govern stock car racing, so he gathered influential promoters to gain their input. Over a three-day period, rules were drawn up and specifications were agreed on. The name of the organization would be NASCAR.

Through the 1950s, NASCAR began to flourish. Corporate sponsors, such as Pure Oil and Champion Sparkplugs took an active role in the sport. Even the major automobile manufacturers, such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Chrysler gave "factory backing" to individual drivers whereby the drivers would receive money from a manufacturer to drive its product. The car companies realized the marketing potential of racing to sell cars. In fact, a common motto for these automobile manufacturers emerged: "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

In 1959, because he knew the importance of properly packaging his product, France founded the International Speedway Corporation (ISC), which constructed the Daytona International Speedway in 1959 and Talladega Superspeedway 10 years later. These tracks allowed France the opportunity to control the presentation of his product as he continued to methodically grow the sport throughout the South.

This marked the beginning of NASCAR's vertical integration, a business decision that served the sport well beyond its formidable years. What were once merely loosely affiliated tracks and events grew to become an extensively organized group of assets. The importance of bundling these assets, which today include NASCAR's own cutting-edge TV channel and Internet programming, was not lost on corporate America.

France realized that for NASCAR to become a booming success it needed three elements: a cohesive governing body, television exposure, and corporate support. For most businesses, this translates into leadership, distribution channels, and financing.