What Bill France Said 57 Years Ago Today - August 3, 1955

On August 3, 1955, AAA announced they would no longer sanction auto racing following many high profile, deadly accidents during the 1955 racing season.

Asked to comment on the AAA announcement, here is what NASCAR's Bill France had to say,

"Automobile racing is here to stay like sex, the atom bomb, and ice cream."

Ironic that 50 years later AAA was sponsoring a car in France's racing series as well as a race at his family's California track in Fontana.

You are indeed correct that the Lemans episode cast a huge cloud over auto racing. In addition to the LeMans horror, there were a number of high profile open wheel deaths at AAA events in 1955, including fan favorite Bill Vukovich at Indy.

Stock Car Racing was looked down upon by many people in the early 50s.

At the time I was young salesman for a national company and the salesmanager told me I had to quit racing or lose my job (a very good one) , naturaly I quit my job!

A great rebuttal, Jim. Thanks for sharing.

Now if we could just get a group together to rent a bunch of bulldozers and mow the place down! (I know, do da, do da. I'm a broken record but I really despise that place.)