Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Mike Helton Interview

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Mike Helton reflects on his rise to becoming NASCAR President, the lasting impact of Dale Earnhardt’s death on safety in NASCAR, and the ongoing evolution of the sport as leadership looks toward the future. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick sits down with Helton to discuss how he got his start in racing and worked his way up through NASCAR, the critical changes made to cars and tracks in the wake of Earnhardt’s passing, how those safety improvements continue to evolve today, the biggest challenges facing the sport moving forward, and personal stories from Harvick’s driving career that highlight Helton’s leadership and the relationship between drivers and NASCAR. 0:00 - Intro 0:31 - Mike Helton Joins The Show! 1:17 - Early Journey Into NASCAR 3:30 - Biggest Moments Which Grew Sport 8:15 - Increased Safety Measures In NASCAR 18:16 - Future Of NASCAR 24:30 - Social Media Changing NASCAR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That was probably the hardest situation you ever had to handle. The Earnhardt press conference without a doubt. But it was the hardest moment that we all, that were in the sport, had to ever go through. I think the maddest I've ever seen you was at Richmond. You drug me up in that trailer, and that's the maddest I've ever seen. I think today's leadership in NASCAR is as good as it's ever been. Well, Mike, thanks for taking the time.

You know, for me, there were a couple of people that were really influential in my career, obviously Richard Childress. You, mainly because every time that I got in trouble, you were the guy that was there to remind me how things work and Jim Hunter. So I look back at my time and just the way that you went about things and took the time to, and still here. I mean, you started in 1980 in the PR department at Atlanta and still as much a part of our sport as ever. So thanks for taking the time to tell stories and talk about our sport today.

Thanks. Let's just start there. You started in 1980 and at Atlanta Motor Speedway. How did you even, before that, how did you even become interested in racing? So I grew up in Bristol. And with the track in Bristol, you don't grow up there and not know about NASCAR. So it was is just a natural fit. And in those days, most particularly tracks like Bristol, and even in Atlanta some, you would run two weekends, you'd run a weekend and you would do nothing until the next race weekend.

So there was a lot more part-time than there were full-time. The full-time staff, when I first got to Atlanta, was like four or five people. And then you would ramp up, run the race, clean up, wait for the next one. And so I was kind of doing that a little bit part-timeish in Bristol. And Eddie Gossage and Edie Clark were running the Bristol track, and they also ran Nashville.

And Eddie said, hey, Walt Nick's from Atlanta's coming up, and he's looking for someone to come down there. And he was asking, and I said, I'll say it. So I went to meet Walt, and I ended up in Atlanta Raceway just by dumb luck. I had dumb luck. So I packed everything up in Bristol and went to Atlanta and got to Atlanta and then really got the full of experience of year-round involvement in a racetrack, the peak times and the knots of peak times.

So you go to Atlanta and you work yourself up through the ranks and eventually become the president of NASCAR. That evolution, and we talked a little bit about this before we started That evolution of starting where you did to where the sport was when you took over and into when you ended your tenure as the president, I don't even know how to ask the question because there's so many big moments that happened. But that evolution of moments that happened, what do you think that the biggest moment was during, not from when you started, but just during that presidency and, time at right before that at NASCAR. What were the biggest couple of moments that you think took the sport from regional to where we were? I would say 2000, what, three, four, five, six,

right in there was the peak of it somewhere in there? What do you think those couple moments that really were the key moments to take it to the next level? There were probably three when you look at the timelines that were really impactful. The first one was when R.J. Reynolds signed up in the 70s and gave the sport resources for prize monies and promotions and they supported the racetracks, they supported the series, and they did a lot of things that boosted the sport and the participants in the sport.

Everybody benefited from that. Around that same time, the consumption of television was changing because I grew up and the only thing you could get was two or three channels on TV and it was only... Click, click. Yeah. Your remote control was your thumb and your forefinger. And then the advent of cable though,

that was in the 70s and particularly in the 80s kind of creeping through the urban, I mean the rural areas and all these cable companies needed content. And live sports has always been a very demanded content for television. And so we were poised to where in 79, when CBS did the live,

flag to flag in Daytona, and all the elements that made that very successful also woke up a lot of media executives that were developing cable companies. And says, well, wait a minute, why? That was one, but I understand they've got a whole year's full of these things. And so we began to make deals

and end up on TV, which gave us more coverage, and the fans of a local track like Atlanta, Martinsville or Daytona, all of a sudden said, hey, that's my racetrack. So it just grew the whole sport from that aspect. And the biggest thing I think it did, that when you listen to racing on the radio, and even today, it's an impressive way to cover it,

but it's different. It's different. It's different because in TV, you get to see the characters that they would be talking about. So for your career, you were a character that fans were able to see climb in and out of the car and do what you did, climb out in Victory Lane. And that evidence of what you could do, I think, was really successful for us.

So all of those came together and gave us a great opportunity to go for a long period of time and really grow the sport. Yeah. And I think even just from the time that I got into the sport, it was obviously in a very time with Dale and his accident and everything happened. And I think we probably shared different sides of that emotion of that moment. And I always tell people today, you know, it's still the biggest press conference I've ever done, still the biggest race that I've ever done.

And, you know, that circumstance, that was probably the hardest situation you ever had to handle from the Earnhardt press conference without a doubt. But it was the hardest moment that we all, that were in the sport, had to ever go through. But I think when you look at where the sport was and the accident and everything happened, it carried that growth for another couple years. But I don't think that the biggest thing

that came out of that moment was anything to do with growth or television or just the notoriety and the things that were happening for all the wrong reasons. I believe that that moment, and I tell people this, that moment changed the safety and what we do on the racetrack for a lifetime in NASCAR. And I'm really curious from that moment to the difference in thought process for NASCAR from a safety aspect as to just how it changed. Because, I mean, I was wearing, next thing I know, I was wearing a Hutchins device and I had a new helmet. the seats were all mounted different. And then I look at it today, and that hasn't stopped.

I feel like our safety initiative today is probably as good as it ever has been because the evolution keeps going. But what was the difference in how did that flip the thought process from a safety standpoint and the conversations from, okay, because you guys redid it. I mean, it was three years, and we started having soft walls that were put up. And what was that like?

Because I feel like from my time, that was the biggest change from Dale's accident was the overall safety of the whole sport for a long time. Before 2001, we were kind of trying to figure things out because we've gone through a tough stretch in 2000 with Adam and Kenny and Tony Roper and similar injuries that were fatal. Indianapolis was going through the same thing. So Tony George came and we kind of hooked. up to create. They already have the soft walls, right? And Indy? Did they already have soft?

No, we were trying to figure that out. Okay. So we started that relationship prior to even 2000, but it was, it took a while to, and then they tried elements of that before we did, but it took a lot of effort and we brought in a lot of very specialized engineers to help understand it. And from that exercise, you learn a lot. But that was going on. And we were trying to figure out why our drivers were having those particular injuries

when they hit. And through Adams and Kenney's in New Hampshire and Tonys and Texas, we were turning up the wick where safety has always been important. I think what we were at that point looking at is saying, it's a very important. It needs to be a leg of our table and not just an effort. It needs to be. It needs to be priority. Yeah.

And when you look at our sport and you go back and you look at even the fences that separate fans from the racetrack and their development over time, every time something happens at the racetrack and you attempt to anticipate everything, but you know you can't. You learn from it and then you start, you know, reacting to it.

What I think when we lost Dale, whatever effort we, the American OEMs, the few race teams that wanted to help us with it, that turned into a global effort. After that day, everybody wanted to say, tell us what to do to help. And the exposure from that day, from that day took us into corners of the globe that they may have known about NASCAR,

but now they started to understand it because of all the attention that came with that. And everybody wanted to be part of the solution. From the IndyCar side, from the NASCAR side, from the suppliers, the OEMs, everybody wanted to help. And we had bought a building. building in Conover, North Carolina, that we were going to do our own safety efforts around, which was going to be our first R&D Center. We instantly knew that was not going to be a big enough facility. So we found another one that ended up being our R&D Center in Concord.

And the energy around people wanting to help is what elevated the topic. And you got into sport just at that moment where you were driving race cars one way, and then over a three or four or five year period, between you as a driver, your race team, NASCAR, and outside sources, your geometry in that car changed drastically. Unbelievable. The geometry at a racetrack changed drastically.

And all that was a result of everybody collectively coming together to advance safety in motorsports for participants, for fans, and it's never lost its energy. We're sitting here 25 years later, and it's not lost any of its energy, which is great for everybody. And it changes things.

I mean, when you had to go to a head and neck restraint, you had to go to a full-faced helmet, you had to, you know, all of a sudden your seat becomes a cocoon. Well, you had to figure out how to get Tony Stewart to put a Hans device on. It wasn't just, it wasn't just, Tony, but it was Tony. And we had had a Hans device,

Brett Bodine had been wearing at some races and a couple of IndyCar guys, and I knew Jim Downing for my Georgia days, and he was helping try to explain it. And he would go through the garage, and somebody said, well, I can't wear it because of this. And he said, well, tell me what to do. So that effort went just like everything else did.

And it got to a point where the scientists and the engineers that we were using prior to Dale's accident, elevated so we could figure out what happened in Daytona that day. And from all of those efforts, the things that we learned were incredible about the cockpit you would sit in as a driver, the dynamics of your shoulders and your helmet and your head and keeping your head in tune with your shoulders and your body when the violence of what would go through an accident occurs. It's just, it's, nobody really has a good understanding

of that unless you're in it. And you're even in it and you don't know it until somebody maybe show you a video and said, I didn't know I did that. You didn't know your neck stretch that far. It's incredible. And so we learned all of that and from that learning, we're able to advance safety.

Yeah. And it makes me very happy and proud that it's, I walked through the R&D Center this week and it's the same level of attention to things. And now it's, I mean, it's just incredible. One of the doctor, Dr. Melvin out of Texas that was working on all this with us, he took a yardstick and said,

you guys have got a pretty good program. So out of 12 inches, you're about 11 and 3 quarters. You got a quarter of an inch. And so we gotta work on that quarter of an inch, But I wanna tell you something, you're never gonna get all of it. You can get within a millionth of an inch of 12, but you're never gonna get there.

But you have to get as close to it as you can. And so everything we've been doing is trying to creep up against knowing that you can't make it perfectly safe. That people are gonna get hurt. But you wanna do everything you can to keep it from happening. Well, it's been pretty unbelievable, and I'm glad that to hear you talk about those things,

because that's how I've always felt about, and I think it surprises people when you talk about what was the most impactful thing from that day. And I think that for the sport in general, and I think that the safety piece of it has been unbelievable. We're at Martinsville doing this interview and I probably had one of my most humbling days here but it happened in a truck race and I'd already been in a little bit of trouble at the beginning of that year so I get parked and I pull into the pits down there and the NASCAR trailer not parked I guess it's parked in the same spot and I'm like pull right up to the back of the truck down the fire lane and standing on the back of the truck is Jim Hunter and I guess

get out of the truck and he is hysterically laughing at me smoking a cigarette. And he said, boy, you are in a heap of shit. And I was like, I didn't really care at that moment. But those, I got thrown out that day. I think you guys were in Nashville, if I remember. We were done. Yeah. But those were the moments where I had to speak on the telephone in the holler.

I got in trouble a few more times. But I feel like that voice of reason and that iron fist, but every time I always spoke to you, it was always, for the most part, calm, but it was always very matter of fact. And I feel like that, for that era of racing was the best thing that could have ever happened because it had a strong leader. It had somebody who I could ask you about, I could ask you about, racing, I could ask you about hunting, I could ask you about mowing your grass, and you always had a very knowledgeable answer for all of us, not just me, but for everybody. And I'm curious today

because now I feel like we're in this position where this year we've had this massive change in thought process and culture. You've got Steve O'Donnell, who's been a long time part of the sport, who I love to argue with, and he loves to argue with me, but we get along great. And we both love the same thing, much like you and I did, right? We love the sport. Where do you feel like from the NASCAR side, I mean, you sit back and watch all these changes and moves and everything happening in the offseason, and it feels different to me this year. Where do you feel like it is from your standpoint, from the guy that used to be the iron fist of what we did my generation? I would tell you that in my 40-year career with the France family,

80-year history of this sport. I think personally, the leadership for the next 15, 20 years, through Steve O'Donnell, Ben Kennedy, the support that they have from other really qualified individuals, all of them working side by side with each other to do the right thing for the right reasons. I think today's leadership in NASCAR is as good as it's ever been. Now we've had the continuity of the France family since day one back in 1948. And having that is one of the greatest assets that any company can have, not just in sports entertainment, not just in motor sports, any company that has that same culture, but has respect for the evolution that that culture needs to go through to stay current and relevant.

that's as strong as ever. And Steve O'Donnell and Ben Kennedy coming and the different executives and the different support groups that are behind them, John Probst and Elton Sawyer at R&D Center, but all the other people that work on so many different disciplines that NASCAR is part of. On the EMSA side, John Dunin and Ed had been at, there is a unified effort for

our company, and our sport, to do the right thing for the right reasons. And it's fans. I still declared I'm the luckiest fan in all of NASCAR, to have gotten the opportunity to do everything I did. Steve O'Donnell's a fan. I know that from having a long time experience with him. Ben Kennedy grew up in this sport and wanted to be a part of it, and now he is a part of it.

So that's priceless for a company that has all the different stakeholders and personalities and characters that it needs to be the government of. And it's not easy. It's not. And that's why I think that the organized group with the confidence that Jim and Lisa

and the rest of the board of directors that NASCAR has, with all of these elements that we've got to manage correctly is as good as it's ever been. So what do you think that the hardest thing, the biggest challenges that they have to navigate in today's NASCAR world compared to your time as the president? What do you think the biggest difference in challenges now

for the sport are compared to them? How is it evolved? Today's too modern for me. So I was in the perfect era to be the fan of this sport and got to know all the characters that I've gotten to be friends with and know. But Bill Sr. a long time ago used the line. I think it was Will Rogers he gave credit for.

That even if you're on the right track, you're going to get run over. So you've got to constantly be doing something. And I think it's pretty remarkable that NASCAR exists today very similar than it did in 1948, but has adjusted and has modified itself to be current and reasonable with all the stakeholders. The era that I was in was real simple.

It was team owners and drivers and racetracks and fans, and all of those had to go together. I was lucky that I had to experience at a racetrack like at Bristol, Atlanta, Talladega, in the Talladega that I understood their part of this sport. And then I come to the NASCAR side, and after all the years I was in the sport and all the people and the relationships

that I got to establish, and now I'm in the government side of it, and I learned, oh my gosh, this is totally different. And so I went through a large learning curve, but I had the best mentors in the business between Bill France Jr. and Jim France. I had the best shoulders to lean on. And so we get through all of that and we keep growing, we do things, we do things differently.

And oh, by the way, at the same time, the world is just getting smaller and smaller and smaller because the things that I did in my generation and even things that you did in your early, part of your generation, they were without the resources that we've got today to enjoy content, whatever that content may be. But our world evolves around,

live racing content. And it evolves around the consumption of that by our fans, our customers, and how do you do that? And oh, by the way, how do you stay respectful to the people like me that are older and say, well, I remember, well, you can remember all you want to, but it's not gonna be like that anymore. Yeah, it's not the same.

No, the world's got to go on, and it's got to go on differently. And that's where I think, between the characters that are in the garage area now, Steve O'Donnell's unique experience versus his broad thinking. Ben Kennedy's just a master of understanding a modern consumer and translating that to a fan.

That's why I think we're geared up, but it's a different world. I don't think I could be leader of the company today. One of the funniest things that I've learned this year is Rick Hendrick has a TikTok account. Do you have a TikTok account? I do not. But I'm surprised Rick does.

I think somebody's signing him up. I got a text from Rick one day, and it was a TikTok video. And I was like, what in the world? How did we communicate through TikTok? But, I mean, it has changed. And I think social media has changed just the way that the world works, unfortunately. And I think I'm like you. I mean, that time that we were able to race and live in

and not have to worry about all those things, It's a very challenging time for the drivers, for your management group and ownership group and all the things that are constantly changing in the world. But it's always going to change. Evolve or die. That's what I always tell our people every week. We can either keep doing it the same way, or we can either evolve or die. But you're a race fan, and that's what got you into this business.

Do you have a favorite place to go? Do you have a favorite track? Right now it's Martinsville. Yeah. I love being at the racetrack. Yeah. You still go a lot? I do as much as I can.

I do a lot of sports car, emso races. Jim's family's involved in motorcycles, so I get to go to motorcycle events and everything. Motor sports fan. I just love being at the racetrack. It's when Monday through Friday and you're sitting in meetings or you're having conflicts with people that you've got to sort out or be part of decision-making processes,

it's going to the racetrack fixes all that. It makes it all worth that. Yeah. And it did 40 years ago, and it still does today. When I get to the racetrack, I mean, it just feels like your people. Your home. Yeah. And you're around people that you love to be around.

And it's just hard to find in today's world. Yeah. And, you know, I think in today's world, it's just it's hard to find a group of people that are better to be around in this group of people. All right. Last question. and what's the maddest that you've ever, what's the maddest you've ever been at me? Do you remember that meeting?

Which one was it? If I had to pick, the maddest I've ever seen you was at Martin, or I was at Richmond. And you came in that trailer, and you had the 21 team lined up down one side of the hauler. You had my team lined up down the other side of the hauler. And I was sitting at the far end of the hall, and you came in the back door,

you slammed the back door open, and all he said was, you caused a, I won't use all language, you caused a bench clearing brawl and you drug me up in that trailer and that's the maddest I've ever seen you. So I don't know, I don't remember being overly mad

other than that was probably the most fatherly moment that I remember between two of us. Yeah. Some of the greatest relationships I had were with people like you that I started off being a big brother too, then I ended up being a father to. And now I feel like I'm the great-grandfather

to some of them if I get involved. But I guess when my responsibility evolved to the point where I felt like I was custodian of an incredible, incredible sport that needed to be what it was. When there was something that distracted from Victory Lane when the race was over. Yeah. Now, I would tell you today, whatever you wanna do,

you know, whatever your kids wanna do. Can I have money back? No, you can't get it. Can I get a refund? There's nothing to this. Yeah. But I think, I felt like I was a guardian of the guy in Victory Lane should be getting all the attention.

So if there was something else going on that everybody else would rather pay attention to, then that's not fair to him. So I would, but that didn't last long. I mean, we had our moment in the hollering. That's what I liked about those days. We'd get it over with in the holler and then we'd walk out, arms around each other's shoulders.

That's what I tell people all the time. They're like, man, it just seemed like you had a rocky relationship. I'm like, it was rocky at moments. And I think for me, when Jim Hunter was around, it was, he was kind of the, He was the mediator for me. So Hunter and I had a deal when I knew whether it was you and there was several other characters.

And I had to be... You had a handful of misfits you had to deal with you had to do with. I had to be the parent. I told Jim, I said, go check on so-and-so because I was kind of tough on him and I want to make sure he... And so Jim would go in as the grandfather's... Yeah.

And say, well, you'll be okay. Or his soul and style. But he was the only person that. could do that. He was the most incredible individual of being able to cut through and just be Jim Hunter. Yeah. And I got to tell you, you know, thinking back on that, I think back to those meetings that you probably called and how many, how much smoke I inhaled in that motorhome and how many hot dogs I had to eat during that time. But I mean, those were the greatest times ever. I mean, with the cast that you guys had with John Darby and Jim Hunter

and yourself and O'Donnell was already in the mix. I mean, there were just, it was a great time to be a part of the sport. And I just, you know, I can't thank you enough for everything that you did for me and the sport and in general and here today taking the time to just talk about racing. It's glad to do it. And I hope you really understand. I think you do that, how much respect I've got for you and Delana and your whole family. You and Delana have just been part of motorsports.

once you stepped on the property. Even before you got the any level of being able to show the world how much talent you had. And you've kept that. You've done everything. But my deepest respect for you was because of having to step in in that 29 car, when 3 went to 29, there was no way you had signed up for that

at the beginning of 2001. But the world had to have. to go on and you were one of the greatest healers in that going on because you did it. And you did it with your own way and your own style, but you stepped in in most difficult circumstances a driver could walk into. And then you kept on going, you kept winning races,

you kept you and Delana had your own truck team. You're watching, building your son's career right now, And that's what NASCAR is. NASCAR is a family sport of multiple generations. And you kept us glued together in one of our most difficult times. Well, there isn't anywhere else that I'd rather be than at this racetrack. I'm just like you.

I love being here. I love the people. You know, it wouldn't change the way that it went. I think every moment teaches you something. And, you know, people always ask what you would change. I'm like, I wouldn't change anything because the hard moments are what made you better. better and the better the good moments you were able to celebrate so thanks for taking a time today I appreciate all the conversation and everything that you do for

this sport same here thank you