LONG POND, Pa. — Just inside the media center door here at Pocono Raceway, there is a blow-up of a business card.
The card bears the name of Bill France, Sr. and the legend “International Speedway Corp.” with the address and phone number. Next to it is a photo of the man himself, signed, “Best wishes to Rose and Joe, Bill France, Sr.”
It is on the other side of that photo that the really interesting blowup hangs.
On the back of that business card are the words of George W. Cecil: “On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of millions who, when within the grasp of victory sat and waited, and waiting, died.”
Cecil wrote that in 1923, in an advertisement for the International Correspondence Schools in The American Magazine of March 1923, and that’s not the exact quote, but near enough.
That France remembered the quote is impressive, and still more so is the fact that the Mattiolis have it blown up about 6,000 percent on the wall of a modern media center. But it speaks to the role that the elder France played in the building of Pocono.
Six days after the death of Bill France, Jr., it takes on a bit more meaning because Pocono exists today because of the advocacy of the France family, who encouraged Rose and Joe to carve Pocono out of the mountain wilderness — two hours east of New York and a similar distance to the north of Philadelphia.
The American flag at Pocono has always been huge, and it still is. It looks bigger when it flies at half-staff, as it will for the rest of the year at NASCAR tracks.
Upon entering the place where we do our work on Sunday morning, there was a single sheet of paper at each spot. On it was a photo of France, Jr., with the words “Pocono Raceway remembers auto racing giant!”
The Mattiolis are not your typical track owners in NASCAR. First, as husband and wife, they are unique in that respect. The only track owners in NASCAR even close to Rose and Joe in terms of situation are the Bahres, Bob and Gary, in New Hampshire, and they are father and son.
As such, Pocono is a family affair — literally. Son Joe III is a vital cog in the running of Pocono, and both Rose and Joe the elder are quite visible during race weekends. Track operators are usually employees of either International Speedway Corp. or Speedway Motorsports, big companies whose business it is to make money running race tracks.
Rose and Joe are different. They still want to make money, to be sure, but it’s the family things that are really important. It’s a twice-annual family reunion in the Pocono mountains, to put it correctly.
Sure, it’s out in the middle of the back of beyond, relatively speaking. It’s not as updated as the newer tracks on the circuit, and it can be a pain to get around if you don’t know what you’re doing. But when you get there and get to doing your job, you realize it’s just a place you go twice a year to watch a race, kibbutz with old friends and relax.
Pocono is and always will be a place based on what families do, despite the fact it’s a race track and not an amusement park. It’s run like a family place, and it feels like it.
What better place to celebrate the life of a racing giant and his father?