Mike Helton ascended another rung higher on the career ladder Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 28, 2000.

Helton, who as NASCAR senior vice president and chief operating officer has overseen the day-to-day operation of the sanctioning body for the past year, has been promoted to president, effective immediately.

Helton, in his seventh year with NASCAR, becomes the third president in the company’s 52-year history, and the first without the France surname.

Bill France, NASCAR president since 1972, will serve as chairman of a newly formed five-member board of directors for NASCAR that will oversee the following executive management structure: Board of directors: A board of directors that will consist of France – whom the sanctioning body made quite clear would still have the final say in all matters – Jim France, Brian France, Lesa Kennedy and Helton, has been formed and will be responsible for developing policy and vision for the sport.

President: Helton, who joined the sanctioning body in 1994 as vice president of competition before assuming the COO position, will assume the title of president. He will be charged with executing the policies and visions developed by the board and will have day-to-day responsibilities for all aspects of the sanctioning body.

During two decades in racing, Helton has seen nearly every facet of the business. In 1980, Helton left his position at a small radio station in his native Bristol, Tenn., to become the Atlanta Motor Speedway public relations director. He held that post for five years before being promoted to that track’s general manager.

A year later, in 1986, NASCAR President Bill France had director of competition Les Richter ask Helton if he’d join International Speedway Corp., a company started by the France family that oversees several racetracks.

Helton became director of marketing for Daytona International Speedway, but quickly moved to general manager, then president of Talladega Superspeedway, another ISC venue. That’s where he remained until 1994, when France invited him to replace the retiring Richter.

Following five seasons as vice president for competition, Helton was promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer, where he directed the major stock car racing to the pinnacle of sports entertainment. He was named to the post by France, who took a lesser role at NASCAR while undergoing cancer treatments.

On Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000, Helton was named to the top post at a sanctioning body that the France family has nurtured from the sport’s early days of regional competition to its current status as one of the fastest-growing spectator sports in the United States.

“I think it’s on a good track,” Helton said. “Personally, I just don’t want to screw up anything. It’s not like there’s anything broken, it’s not like there’s a new ownership package or anything like that. It’s NASCAR as the world has known it for the last 52 years. It’s just bigger and better today. So, I don’t have any great agenda to change anything because it works pretty well the way it is.”