The name Bill Gazaway brings back memories for Nascar fans, but not for the reasons that many outside the sport would think, namely being a driver. For this is not the area where his legacy comes from. Gazaway does hold some kind of reverse fame for his driving, that of being the only driver known to have started just one Nascar, and that only lasted for one lap before the car experienced mechanical failure and died.

However, it is the other side the sport where Bill became a legend. In the early 1960's Bill moved into the front office of the Nascar organisation and from 1967 he became further involved with the technical competition side of the business, appointed as competition director in 1968, director of racing operations and competition in 1979 and Vice President of Competition from 1984 until his retirement in 1987.

Bill was a shrewd man who, as an owner of a team, knew the purpose of every team was to win and that if they were given an inch then they would certainly take a mile. His job was to makes sure this did not happen. His task was to ensure that the event was fairly competed for by every driver and team. He pioneered a lot of systems and regulations to make sure this happened. He was a fair man who could also be known to crack the whip if teams consistently tried to abuse the systems.

Gazaway was also a visions man. But his vision was the racing, not the celebrity and media hype that surrounded the sport. He was there to make sure Nascar motor racing stayed pure and exiting, bringing countless hours of enjoyment to the many millions who watched it throughout the US and latterly the rest of the world. It did not matter to Bill how big a star the team or the drivers considered themselves to be, if he said this is the way it is going to be done, that is how it happened. No room for arguments from the man some regarded as the "king " of Nascar.

Because of his character and his absolutely fair-minded approach to everyone, Bill was loved, respected and, to a lesser extent, feared by the whole of the Nascar racing fraternity.

Many of the sports other great legends turned up at the track when, following his death in 2006, the hearse took Bill for one last ride around his beloved track. He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by all those who love the sport.

Richard Petty, a racer during the time Bill Gazaway was in his prime, paid this fitting epitaph when he said, "I look back and say he was the right man for the right time and did the right job." That right man, that legend was Bill Gazaway.

Learn more about this author, Paul Lines.
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