LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Valvoline.com's award-winning racing commentary -- "Behind Closed Garage Doors" -- written by I.N. Sider, an anonymous industry authority -- has named NASCAR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brian France, 2004 Man of the Year. See story below.

"Behind Closed Garage Doors" was recently presented the 2004 Silver Award for World Wide Web Column by the International Automotive Media. It was the fifth major award the popular column has claimed since it first appeared on Valvoline.com in 2000.

Note: I.N. Sider, author of Behind Closed Garage Doors, is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.


THE MAN OF THE YEAR 2004

Let's begin by putting the last 12 months into proper context:
The Boston Red Sox won the World Series!

Therefore, anything really and truly could happen.

Which brings me to my choice for The Man of the Year for 2004.

The emotional will say it's Dale Earnhardt Jr., who didn't connect with the NEXTEL Cup, but did win the Daytona 500 en route to emerging as one of America's most popular sports celebrities. Others may point to Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, whose in-sync skills had them atop the NASCAR standings for much of the season, then showed dignity and determination during a stirring come-from-behind Chase for the Cup try after the Hendrick team airplane tragedy. Certainly a respectful tip of our baseball cap goes to Greg Anderson, the re-writer of NHRA's record book. Nobody can ignore Michael Schumacher, who owned the international scene like nobody before, save Bernie Ecclestone. One of the U.S. open-wheel champions? Please. The Red Sox' bullpen coach has more fans.

All of the above commanded at least certain parts of their series. Only one person, however, exerted overwhelming control and influence which — for better or worse — he used to reshape his business/sport in a fundamental, historic and — yes — controversial way. That's a fact, whether you agreed or disagreed, loved or hated, his decisions.

For that reason, Brian France has earned this column's 2004 James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award. The honor is named in memory of Chapman, the late Detroit-area public relations pioneer and executive whose life-long achievements included joining with Bill France Sr. to promote the 1951 Motor City 250. Chapman, a confidant of Babe Ruth, also orchestrated the Driver of the Year Award and was director of racing for CART series sponsor PPG Industries.

Several of Chapman's greatest successes, I can tell you as an eyewitness, were quietly putting controversies to sleep. France's actions — creating the "Chase," mandating green-white-checker finishes, junking the Southern 500 — largely had the opposite effect, igniting fierce firestorms in his traditional and ultra-loyal fan base. In comparison, the debate over who won the 2002 Indy 500 seems like deciding between chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Nevertheless, Brian told one and all he was acting to "grow the sport" and continued to steer straight ahead.

History teaches us that inflaming the public's passions without a reason so obvious it appears to flash in neon is an extremely dangerous course of action — especially when you depend on that public to buy tickets, watch the races on TV, and support the sponsors. Radical change is, at best, uncomfortable and, at worst, divisive — especially when done so by someone perceived by the majority to be of limited experience.

France had been involved in the NASCAR family enterprise for two decades, but most viewed Brian as the guy who was chairman/CEO for only a few months when he announced the "Chase" format and thus sent the Red Byron-Tim Flock-Richard Petty-Cale Yarborough-Darrell Waltrip-Dale Earnhardt faithful into shock. In retrospect, perhaps we should not have been so surprised, because Brian’s appointment was just days old in 2003 when he signaled his activist intentions. He earned quick applause for implementing the "freeze the field" rule, overturning the dangerous unofficial policy of allowing drivers to race back to the line under yellow, created decades earlier by the competitors themselves to fill a void left by officials.

"There are always going to be critics of NASCAR and what we do," France said before the season finale, where five drivers had a shot at the $5 million championship won by Kurt Busch. "But there's a scoreboard here."

"Did it (the new system) make racing better? I am convinced it has. Did it raise the awareness level for the whole sport? I think it did. Is it going to be more exciting (at Homestead)? If you go back a year, it was clinched. So our view is it did everything we wanted it to do."

"Everything" is an overstatement, but if the measuring stick is TV ratings, he's mainly right.

It would be wrong, however, to consider Brian's year based solely on the "Chase." I strongly disagree with green-white-checker and it says here it's only a matter of time before this produces a fiasco. What bothers me as much as anything is this seemed to be a pacifier for the Talladega can-and-cooler throwers, who made that NBA bunch in Detroit look civilized — well, almost.

As for all that wailing about shifting the valuable Labor Day date from Darlington to Fontana — which primarily came from writers who could comfortably drive to South Carolina but now must twice fly coach to California — I can't argue with Brian's logic. Say what you will about "Realignment," but taking all that PR momentum from the Daytona 500 direct to the nation's second largest media market is the smartest choice since Rick Hendrick hired Jeff Gordon. And sorry, to those affected, but the sport simply outgrew Rockingham.

Speaking of tracks that finally found their pot of gold in the form of a second NEXTEL Cup event, the importance of France's move to settle the lingering — and potentially ugly — lawsuit by a Texas Motor Speedway shareholder shouldn't be forgotten. Since you and I don't have access to the legal documents, my guess is this was even bigger than we can imagine. It allowed Brian to focus on other, more positive, matters while granting another race to a clearly deserving facility and its fans. At this holiday time of year, it's nice to know Bruton Smith and Eddie Gossage have visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads . . .

France wrote other headlines: Scheduling the Busch Series for Mexico City, joining with Magic Johnson in a diversity program, some embarrassing officiating mistakes, integrating a new series sponsor and gasoline supplier. While calling Brian a "phantom boss, rarely around his troops in the field," Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal best summed-up France's approach: "He certainly hit the ground running and hasn't stopped, and he hasn't lacked for ideas and gumption. If there’s one word to describe this third-generation racing boss, it's dynamic. If you want two words, add confident. No one in NASCAR seems more confident about the shape of things to come."

I agree.

At the end of this tumultuous season, France said, "I don't want to be viewed as a guy who likes to come in every year and move all the chairs around. We made changes that we thought were important and we could build on and I still believe in them."

The biggest story of 2004 was the way Brian France wielded his new-found power and that, unquestionably, makes him the Man of the Year. Congratulations.

Previous James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award Winners:

2000 — Jacques Natz (news director, WTHR-TV, Indianapolis) and Terry Brookins (news director, Speedvision RaceWeek).
2001 — Richard Childress
2002 — Tony George
2003 — NASCAR fans