Grandson of Bill France arrested in traffic stop on drug charges

Well, this is awkward.

J.C. France, grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, has been arrested on charges of drug possession and driving under the influence. According to police reports, France was driving a 2007 Lamborghini when he was stopped early Thursday morning. The police reported that he was racing his half-brother, Russell Van Richmond, who was driving a 2003 Porsche.

Richmond was apparently the absolutely worst kind of friend to have in this situation, one who makes a bad situation infinitely worse. "This is a mistake for you," he told the arresting officer, according to the report. "I'm a France, we own this city." When the cops didn't run and hide at that, Richmond kept on: "You're done," he reportedly said. "Your job is over. This is the biggest mistake ever and your (sic) so done in Daytona."

For his trouble, Richmond got slapped with two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, DUI, and two counts of threatening a police officer. During the search of the cars, officers found containers with a "white cakelike substance." According to the police, the substances had a presumptive positive reaction for cocaine. Oops, allegedly.

France is a driver in NASCAR's Grand Am Series, but has been instantly and indefinitely suspended from driving, according to NASCAR officials. "Grand-Am has issued a penalty notice and suspended J.C. indefinitely from all competition for actions detrimental to racing," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. "The penalty is not appealable. J.C. is being treated like any other competitor. His suspension is immediate and indefinite."

As soon as this hit, my email box filled up with variants of "Jeremy Mayfield must be laughing right now." Maybe so, maybe not. This is a (presumptive) black eye for NASCAR, but also an opportunity for the sport to demonstrate that nobody's above its rules. Not even the Frances.

Bill France's grandson arrested on drug charges [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

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