TNT to begin coverage with tribute to Bill France Jr. (cont'd)

Anyway, these folks have done a marvelous job preparing features, building graphics, laying out formats; we have a new set ... none of this is bragging, just facts. You get to be the final judge on how well we have done. We were all set to go. I knew what my column would be, I had my week planned; I travel Wednesday night to Pocono, a half-day earlier than normal just to make sure US Airways doesn't take me to Phoenix instead of Philadelphia. Of course, my luggage won't arrive until Saturday.

Then Monday afternoon came, and we found out our sport had lost its leader. The next 19 hours were a blur of e-mails and telephone calls. Formats were ripped-up, I mean deleted, and re-written, then deleted and re-written again.

On Tuesday morning we had a conference call before our conference call just to make sure our conference call would go properly. Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up. It all worked out. Naturally, we changed the focus of our pre-race reporting to the story of Bill France Jr. I hope you get a chance to tune in. I think you will be enlightened with what you see and hear. By the time this column is posted, you undoubtedly will have read many tributes to Mr. France, so I will not go too in-depth on that subject.

I have spent many recent hours scripting some of our on-air tributes to Mr. France and I will let those speak for my feelings. I can tell you two quick stories about Mr. France, however.

Back when we were doing a nightly show on another network, I did a "state of the sport" story. It touched on the length of races, the long season, the fact that a 43-car field didn't mean 43 good cars were in the field. It was at a time when NASCAR had a lot going for it but, in my opinion, needed some tweaking. The story aired and created some discussion.

That weekend I was at the track, outside the NASCAR rig looking at some information posted on the door when a firm grip was placed on my arm. Without turning around, I was certain it was Dale Earnhardt. It was a strong grip, and Earnhardt had a reputation for that kind of thing. I cannot tell you how many times I would be doing a live interview with him, his arm around my shoulder, only so he could drop that arm and pinch you so hard you wanted to jump out of the track.

But you couldn't do that, live TV and all, so you took the pain while Earnhardt would just smile behind those sunglasses. Anyway, I was wondering what he wanted this time when I heard this very distinctive voice say, "I saw your story this week." I turned around to be face-to-face with Bill France Jr.

I knew what was next without having to ask. If he had liked it, there wouldn't be any need for conversation, so naturally I asked for his opinion.

"You were wrong about a lot of that stuff," Mr. France said.

"You mean I made some factual errors, I had some statistics wrong? We double-check that stuff pretty good," I pleaded.

"No, all that stuff was OK, but your opinion on what's going on in the sport is wrong," Mr. France retorted.

Pause.

"How could my opinion be wrong? It's what I think. I have to be able to say what I think," I said.

"I didn't say you couldn't say it. I'm just telling you that your opinion is different from mine and I think you're wrong. But I liked the way you said it," Mr. France said. (Continued)