NASCAR Vice Chairperson and International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy
tells “CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood” that the loss of her father and husband
made 2007 “toughest year” of her life
Losing
her father and husband within a month of time made 2007 the “toughest
year” of her life, NASCAR Vice Chairperson and International Speedway
Corporation Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy tells Michelle
Miller in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD to be
broadcast May 10, 2015 (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network.
Kennedy
is part of a stock car racing dynasty. She is the granddaughter of
NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr., and daughter of Bill France, Jr., who
was Vice Chairman of NASCAR when he died after a long illness in 2007.
Then, a month later, Kennedy’s husband, Dr. Bruce Kennedy, died in a
small plane crash not far from the family’s Florida home.
Kennedy
tells Miller that “2007 was the toughest year” of her life, noting her
father had been ill for some time. “But even though it was expected,
not easy. Then a month later, unexpected, my husband died in a plane
crash. It was a beautiful day and we were going on a trip later that
day. I told him not to be late and we laughed. And – it didn’t work out
that way. It didn’t work out that way.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Kennedy opens up about rebuilding her life after losing her husband; guiding her son Ben Kennedy’s NASCAR
driving career, efforts to broaden the reach of stock car racing in the
country, and the future of the International Speedway Corporation’s
Daytona International Speedway.
In an additional excerpt at CBSNews.com, Kennedy tells Miller that she got through the tragedy of losing her husband by staying close with her son.
“I
think, really, that first year, the most special moments I had were
when he and I would learn something new together,” Lesa France Kennedy
tells Miller in the excerpt. “And we would look back – and laugh and
say, ‘Well, your dad knew how to start the boat and I don’t. So you
know, get the manual out.’ And there were – just maybe some things like
that that would help bring back the memory and we’d have a lighthearted
moment about it. But those were some of the special times that we had.”
Ben
Kennedy talks with Miller about his racing career, and growing up in
the family business. His mother, he says, had him doing a variety of
jobs around Daytona, from parking cars, to cleaning up. “I was on trash
patrol,” he says. “I was in the sewage truck that goes through the
driver-owner lot.”
Today,
however, he’s an upcoming driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series, which sets up the possibility of him someday winning at Daytona,
the track founded by his great grandfather.
“You
couldn’t write it any better than that,” Lesa France Kennedy says.
“There’s no doubt about it. That would really carry it into the next
generation.”
CBS
SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM ET) on the CBS
Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
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