North Carolina, Oct 14 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Bill France Sr. was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame 2010 today as one of the 5 inductees into this prestigious club, out of a total 25 finalists.

William “Bill” Henry Getty France, Sr. was born on September 26, 1909–June 7, 1992. He was an American racecar driver. He is best known for co-founding and managing National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, a sanctioning body of United States-based stock car racing.

France started work on the new 2.5-mile superspeedway in 1956 to host the Daytona 500. The event debuted in 1959, and has been a great premiere event since. He later built the Talladega Superspeedway, which opened in 1969.

He served as Chairman and CEO of NASCAR, which he founded. R. J. Reynolds became the title sponsor in 1970. Reynolds was instrumental in changing the name of the series from “Grand National” to “Winston Cup”.

After retirement, Big Bill left the reigns of NASCAR over to his son Bill France Jr.

It may be recalled that NASCAR has launched a NASCAR Hall of Fame, which will honor drivers who have shown exceptional skill at NASCAR driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, and other major contributors to this exciting sport.

NASCAR started building a Hall of Fame and on March 6, 2006, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Groundwork for the $160 million facility started on January 26, 2007. The NASCAR Hall of Fame today welcomed 5 inductees into its Hall of Fame, which included Dale Earnhardt, Bill France, Sr., Bill France, Jr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty.