Jamie McMurray among those honoring Hall of Fame inductees
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award. He joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2001.
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Jamie McMurray, whose Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet featured decals on the back of his car honoring NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Bill France Jr. during Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500, said he never had one of the infamous “sit-down” chats in the hauler with the longtime head of the sanctioning body.
He should consider himself lucky. Getting invited to a meeting with the former president of the sanctioning body wasn’t something most folks looked forward to, whether the conversations – which were typically one-sided – took place at the track or in Daytona Beach.
France Jr., who succeeded his father, Bill Sr. in 1972, was known for his no-nonsense approach to running the sport and wouldn’t hesitate to quickly explain to a driver or owner, regardless of how popular or successful either might be, who was in charge of the sport and how well it would continue to run with or without their participation.
McMurray says he was in awe of France Jr. from the very beginning of his NASCAR career.
“I didn’t have any meetings, but I still have a picture from like 1996 or 1997,” McMurray said Saturday. “I went to the banquet for the Winston Racing Series for all the local tracks. Bill was there. He’s a fairly intimidating person to walk up to.”
So the enterprising McMurray devised a plan to have his photo taken with France Jr., without the latter’s knowledge.
“I had either my mom or my dad [with me], and I said, ‘Look, I’m going to walk up behind him and you take my picture,’” McMurray said.
“So I’ve got a photo of me standing about two feet behind him smiling and he’s not paying any attention. And then I stepped back … I thought that was cool to have. I was scared.”
So perhaps it was fitting that McMurray’s car carried the decal Saturday, and even more fitting that the car started the race on the pole.
“Felix [Sabates, minority owner in Earnhardt Ganassi Racing] sent me a text [after qualifying] and said Bill Jr. would be very proud that we put the car on the pole,” McMurray said. “I had to sit down and really think about that for a second. It’s such an honor to be one of the few guys that has one of those names on your car.”
Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson sported a similar decal display honoring France Jr.’s father, NASCAR founder William H. G. France, at Darlington. Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger will run a special “retro” paint scheme at Dover this weekend in honor of inductee, and team co-owner, Richard Petty. Also at Dover, Austin Dillon, grandson of team owner Richard Childress, will pay homage to inductee Dale Earnhardt on his No. 3 truck.
And for the Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ryan Newman will carry special decals honoring inductee Junior Johnson.
