The Real NASCAR Family

NASCAR CEO Says Confederate Flag Is Not A Proper Symbol For His Sport.

(CBS) 
What advice did Brian France, Jr. give to his son when he turned over the business? “Well, it’s not broke, so let’s don’t fix it.”

“Yeah, I didn’t listen to that,” says Brian. Instead, he made radical changes. First, he dropped big tobacco; the Winston Cup became the Nextel Cup in a ten year deal worth $750 million dollars.

And then Brian decided to drop a longstanding ban and allow hard liquor companies to sponsor cars.

Despite the fact the sport is promoted as family values, some of the sponsored products might not be considered wholesome, including liquor.

“The reality of it is, we have to have an enormous amount of corporate support to fund 43 race teams and all the things that go on. So there are always going to be brands that may not be ones that you would choose, but that are willing to make a significant investment,” says France.

Even more controversial was Brian’s decision to scrap NASCAR’s 25 year-old championship system and replace it with a playoff. In the last ten races of the season, the top ten drivers would start from scratch and compete for the cup.

Stars like Jeff Gordon hated the change. “I had won four championships under the old system, so I was like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know about this.’”

Very few people thought it was a good idea, including France’s father.

“As a sister, you know, I was going ‘Are we sure? Are we sure about that?’ And he said ‘Lesa, I’ve never been so confident about a decision in my life,’” recalls Lesa France Kennedy.

And he was vindicated. Last year’s TV ratings shot up, as Brian’s new ‘chase for the cup’ came down to the last race of the year.

“And it wasn’t settled until the last turn on the last lap. And that’s what big-time sports is all about,” says France.

He is now using that success to pursue his big goal: luring city folks to what has always been a southern, rural sport.

For 50 years, NASCAR held its Labor Day weekend race, the Southern 500, in Darlington, South Carolina. But under Brian’s leadership, NASCAR now spends Labor Day racing just outside of Los Angeles.

Stahl asked if this was his future. “It’s not my future, but it’s NASCAR’s future, to make sure that we take events to the biggest metropolitan areas of the country, regions of the country,” France replied.

Lesa’s job is to put racetracks in those places, especially in the biggest untapped market, New York City. She has bought a site on Staten Island for $110 million.

Building tracks in places like New York means you have to create different kinds of fans.

Brian France wants to reach out to new fans, who traditionally have not followed the sport in large numbers: minorities. “It’s something I work on every day…. I work on it personally every day.”

He has done everything from running a NASCAR race in Mexico to establishing training programs for female and minority drivers.

But at a race in Tennessee in August, while NBA superstar LeBron James was a featured guest inside the stadium and his likeness put on a racecar, Confederate flags could be seen flying in campgrounds near the racetrack.

“What are you doing to convince African Americans that this is not a good ole boy southern, Confederate flag sport? Because that’s the image. And be honest about that,” Stahl asked.

“I think it’s a fading image,” France said. “Well, look. I can’t – these are massive facilities. And I can’t tell people what flag to fly. I can tell you the flag we get behind. It’s the American flag.”

France would love to tell fans not to fly the Confederate flag if he could. “It’s not a flag I look at with anything favorable. That’s for sure.”

You would expect NASCAR’s old guard to fight Brian’s break with the south and the past. But there’s nothing like success – millions of new fans, billions of new dollars – to get them on board.

“I think the old fans look at it as a southern sport. The new fans in California, they don’t know where it comes from. They don’t care. They want to come see the race!” says Petty,

Is Petty ready for the Big Apple? “Well, I don’t know if we’ll ever get ready for New York City or not. But yeah, we’d like to try.”