Witness report says France drove recklessly, police launch investigation
Quote selected text Published November 10th, 2006 in NASCAR News
Witness said France drove up on curb, then hit a parked car before hitting a tree
A witness told police NASCAR boss Brian France was driving recklessly and hit more than a tree as he sped home to his riverfront condominium earlier this week.
Now, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, after speaking to witness Shirley Hill, has launched an internal affairs investigation to determine whether officers who responded to France’s condo on Marina Pointe Drive on Monday night handled the incident correctly.
“If I find out that someone gave him (France) a break because of his last name, someone is going to have to look for a new job,” Chitwood said Thursday afternoon.
A police report released to The Daytona Beach News-Journal on Wednesday showed only that the 44-year-old France had crashed into a tree after entering the parking lot of the Chart House restaurant off Beach Street.
But Hill’s written witness statement was not attached to the police report, an oversight, according to Chitwood.
In the witness statement and in a call to 911, Hill said France drove recklessly along U.S. 1 on Monday night. She also recounted the episode to Chitwood, who called Hill “a very credible witness.” France, the chairman and CEO of NASCAR, did not return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday.
Hill, a retail store clerk, told police she was in the path of a silver Lexus driven “at a very reckless speed” along U.S. 1 just after 9 p.m.
She said she and a friend were heading back to Daytona Beach along U.S. 1 after trying to get some dinner at a Holly Hill restaurant that was closed for the evening.
The women were deciding where else to go when Hill said she noticed a car in her rear-view mirror speeding toward her vehicle.
“He was driving between two lanes and I said, ‘God, this car is coming up real fast on me,’ ” Hill said. “I got out of the way as fast as I could.”
Hill said she watched as the Lexus then raced forward and again got extremely close to another car in front of it. At that point, she said the vehicle drove onto the sidewalk between Fairview and Orange avenues on Ridgewood.
By this time, Hill had called 911 and was following the Lexus while she talked to a dispatcher. On the 911 recording, Hill can be heard explaining the entire incident, then scream in horror when she tells the dispatcher the driver hit a parked car as he drove east on Orange Avenue toward Beach.
Hill followed the car and talked to the dispatcher until the driver plowed the car into a tree in the parking lot of the Chart House restaurant. She watched as the car was driven toward an underground parking garage at the Marina Pointe condominium, the report states.
According to Hill’s written witness statement to police, the man “fell over his own feet,” as he got out of his automobile.
When several officers responded to the scene at 9:51 p.m., the man had already gone upstairs to his apartment, Chitwood said. Roughly 15 minutes later, France came downstairs, dressed in fresh clothes.
- Brian France drinking the night of his auto accident according to Daytona Police
- Daytona Beach Police handled France driving incident properly, according to State Attorney
- Brian France involved in auto accident
- Brian France considers traffic accident a closed case
- Report: Is France family exploring sale of NASCAR?
I’ll tell you right now….COVER UP! The police tried to give him a pass and he got caught!
Nice to see Brian in some hot water. After he has ruined our sport. Maybe this will force him out and we can get back to the glory days of NASCAR.
first of all, Brian isnt going to be forced out of NASCAR, second, the sport hasnt been ruined, tell me when the glory days were, should shut up, because the only glory days were with Earnhardt because he was still alive, thats the only way you can have a glory days, if you tell me the glory days are back when you could bring a car off the street thats a bunch of crap, because ur at a top speed of 150 any where you go, and then you got people cheating, you got a low in cars, when Richard Petty won his last of many daytona 500 victorys there were 22 cars, and he had the most money and best sponsors, ofcourse hes gonna win, if you actually go to a race now a days, its so much better now then back when i went a 10 or so years ago, the racing was always good, i think its been progressing, i think the Car of Tomorrow, will really hurt the sport, because there has been no positive gain with the new car, i think that sucks, and the drivers hate it to. Im a race car driver myself, and ill admit im 15 years old, but im mature beyond my years. Anyway, France has made the sport great, if you go to the race you will see, on tv, you dont get the same action as you do in person, its still better than football, our sport is the only sport in the world that goes nonstop, no substitutes or timeouts, or segments and sessions, they are under pain for 3 hours, a football player is underpain for a few minutes a quarter. France has made this sport unbelievably incredible, fastest growing sport in the world, and the greatest drivers, teams, and racing. I back Bill France on this 100%, theres never been better racing except back maybe the 1980s, but it was the same 5 or 10 drivers everyweek, nowadays its 20 or 25 who compete for the win on a regular basis, less beating and banging, but someday that will change when the cars keep becoming more equal, the racings great now, but the car of tomorrow might mess s@#@ up. If NASCAR keeps going as they are and forget bout the COT, they will keep succeeding and making the racing and passing better between drivers, all the cars will be almost dead equal, by ten years if they dont change the cars, theyll be beating and banging, side by side everylap, and the real drivers will show, it wont be hard beating and banging, but enough, so wait 5-10 years, youll see.
-David Polenz#3 legends car
-Polenz Motorsports- the family tradition rolls on
I can’t wait to see what he has to say about this! He should suspend himself from NASCAR!
I feel so evil for thinking this, but I wanna see him squirm! I hope this jerk gets a serious dose of Karma. We needs some changes in this sport and France getting a kick out the backdoor is the only way we’re going to get it!
*need
hey listen, if you want to bitch about the way brian is running nascar thats fine . but what he doese on his own time is his own buss. i myself do not like were he is taking our great sport. but we as fans should not use somones mistake out side the sport and try and take there bread water away from them. we all make mistakes , but there is alot more wrong with nascar car today then brian france. hey mat k. or jimmy j. one of them are going to win the cup this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hello we do have bigger problems then brian france. driver should look at were they are and drive to stay there instead of saying my car is tite or loose or wont turn in the middle of the corner. ya no what give me the chance and i would change the way i drive the car to the cars liking and be happy just to know iam were millions of want to be drivers wish they were and brian france would have nothing to do with it. so drop me a line if you think iam wright or wrong @joecush66@yahoo.com
If it turns out that brian was driving drunk , then he should suspend himself. He has banned drivers for failing drug tests and made Kurt Busch to PSA’s for just suspision of drinking and driving. Kurt didnt hit a car or tree and flee the scene. Lets see how far baby brian is.
Here we go again…… nothing will ever happen to Brian in Daytona Beach … Thats his turf .Watch and see. by the way he was only drinking a pepsi and spilled it on his seat….