A couple of years ago, I posted a Racing History Minute about the 1964 Daytona 500.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/30523/racing-history-minute-1964-daytona-500
Two parts of The King's victory lane celebration have puzzled me for some time:
- Why was Miss Japan in victory lane?
- Why was the trophy inscribed with what looked to be a "Japanese" font of English?
Finally, I believe I have the answer. Perhaps some of you here knew about the following. But until recently, I did not.
It's well established Bill France Sr. looked to grow NASCAR as a brand through relationships with the auto manufacturers, tire companies, Pure Oil, TV, the move to larger speedways, the transition from dirt to asphalt tracks, etc. But he was also interested in creating an international aspect to NASCAR.
Naghide Mori led a group of Japanese businessmen who wished to bring NASCAR style racing to Japan, and France entered into negotiations with the group to do just that.
The original plan, apparently, was to buy aged GN cars and ship them to Japan for racing and driver development. Who knows - perhaps the long-term vision was to have a few Japanese drivers come over to race in the US - or maybe to have the GN division eventually race in Japan. Regardless of the plans, whether specific or very ill-defined, the group arranged for Miss Japan to greet the winner of the 1964 Daytona 500 in victory lane.
By the summer, construction on Fuji International Speedway began. The initial design to was to build a track similar to Daytona - a 2-1/2 mile, high-banked oval. NASCAR was to provide licensing rights and consulting and engineering assistance through Charles Moneypenny who had helped design DIS.
Moneypenny's unique last name didn't translate easily into Japanese. But at least the translated name was memorable: Mr. One Thousand Yen! The track was to be a multi-purpose facility with a road course to open in 1965 and the big oval to open in 1966.
As it turns out, however, the big vision wasn't realized. Money ran short, and the superspeedway wasn't built. Only one turn was graded before that part of the project was scrapped. And though I haven't found anything to prove it, I suspect Big Bill had his hands full with two other sizable projects: (1) planning what was to become Alabama International Motor Speedway and (2) working to resolve the conflict with Chrysler Corporation that had resulted in his newest big star - King Richard - being parked for much of 1965. It's doubtful France had much time to give to the Fuji project.
The rest of the track, however, was built. Fuji Speedway hosted its first race in 1965 on the new road course. One of the turns - a treacherous one - was the high bank originally intended to mimic one of DIS's corners before the big oval portion of the design was dropped.
Eventually, Formula 1 began racing at Fuji in 1976. The legendary Jackie Stewart won at the facility, and he later covered many NASCAR races for ABC's Wide World of Sports.
Though the DIS-esque turn was eventually removed from the track through a remodeling, the turn itself was retained as part of Fuji's history. The track is still operational today, and fans can visit the high banked corner.
For more info about the track including several photos of the NASCAR inspired turn, see this neat page at SpeedHunters:
http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/05/fuji-speedway-through-history/
Moneypenny didn't stop as a designer with DIS and Fuji. He also had a hand in the engineering for Talladega, Texas World Speedway, Michigan, and the conversion of Richmond from the 1/2 mile configuration to the 3/4 mile track we have on the NASCAR circuit today.
After a good bit of involvement from France Sr. in the mid 1960s to link NASCAR and Japan, it took another three decades and Big Bill's son, Bill France Jr., to bring NASCAR to the island. Rusty Wallace won the 1996 NASCAR Suzuka Thunder Special 100 exhibition race.
From: Motor Racing Programme Covers
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 03/08/18 10:04:15AM
