Bill France Jr., the man who helped build Daytona International Speedway and built NASCAR into a nationwide billion-dollar conglomerate, died Monday at his Daytona Beach, Fla. home. France had been diagnosed with cancer in 1999 -- he never publicly disclosed any details about his disease -- and had been in poor health for much of the past 10 years. He was 74.

"He had a remarkable career and an even more remarkable life," said his son, Brian France, who replaced him as chairman in 2003. "Words cannot express how much he'll be missed by myself and the rest of our family and by the NASCAR industry overall."

France spent 31 years as NASCAR chairman and earned himself a reputation as a benevolent dictator. He rarely compromised yet always did what was best for NASCAR. France's passing is a huge loss for the sport.

Someone raced for the cure -- in celebration of me. I am honored and flattered and so thrilled to have received in the mail today a t-shirt and the crumpled piece of pink paper than hung from my aunt's back -- with my name on it -- as she ran this 5K race in Aspen, Colorado on July 15. It was the 16th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Aspen, and my aunt has run for me for two years now. I have a t-shirt and pink piece of paper from last year too. Maybe one day I will run it for myself. First, I have to master the whole running thing.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure began in 1983 with 800 participants. Today the Komen Race for the Cure is the largest 5K event in the world. And in 2005, more than one million people participated in more than 100 races designed not only to raise funds but to also educate the public about early detection -- about how it is the most effective method of surviving this life-threatening disease. The five-year survival rate is 95 percent when the disease is discovered while still confined to the breast. I'm proud to have found my own lump early, before it had spread outside my breast. And I am proud to have been a part of a race -- even in name only -- that might make this early discovery possible for many more women to come.