Norris McDonald, Toronto Star
Motorsport Writer
July 17, 2008
The man who in large part rescued the career of Canadian driving icon Paul Tracy and then nurtured it until legislation forced his company to end its auto racing involvement has died.
Robert (Bob) Bexon, who spent nearly 30 years at Imperial Tobacco starting as a salesman and ending as president and CEO, died as a result of injuries suffered in a cycling accident in the Eastern Townships of Quebec on Wednesday.
He was 56.
When Tracy was fired by Roger Penske following the 1997 season, his career was in jeopardy. No top rides were available in the CART series and his tendency to be hard on equipment made all but the most financially secure of team owners wary.
Bexon, who was senior vice-president of marketing and sales at Imperial's U.S. affiliate, the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., had a deal with Australian Barry Green for a one-car CART team (with Dario Franchitti aboard) to promote Kool cigarettes.
Although it's never been clear whether Green approached Bexon about Tracy's availability, or vice-versa, the end result was that Green's budget was doubled, Tracy climbed into a second car and the famous Team Kool Green was born.
Tracy and Franchitti won many races but botched just as many others. In their first season together, for instance, Tracy wrecked Franchitti – who was leading – while trying to pass him late in a street race at Houston, Tex. Green was furious and he and Tracy exchanged words and came very close to blows.
In an interview I had with Bexon last year, he laughed about the incident.
"There was a story going around that Barry (Green) wanted to fire Tracy and came to me for permission to do it," Bexon said.
"Nothing could be further from the truth. Tracy was perfect for our brand (Kool) and I wasn't going to let anything happen to interrupt our relationship with him.
"Barry and I had a regular meeting scheduled the day after Houston. He had been making the case for an increase in (sponsorship) money – running two cars was costing more than he'd originally estimated – and so we agreed on an increase and that included extra money to extend Paul's contract.
"So, while the timing might have looked a little strange on the outside – you have a fight with your boss and he gives you a raise – it was a perfectly normal business transaction."
At the conclusion of the 2002 season, Green's team (then owned by Michael Andretti and partners) joined the Indy Racing League and Tracy moved to a CART team owned by Gerald Forsythe that had been sponsored since the mid-1990s by Imperial's most famous brand, Player's cigarettes.
By that time, Bexon was president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco and he told me in that interview that he essentially "opened the bank vault" to ensure that Tracy had whatever was needed in terms of manpower, talent and equipment in order to win the CART championship.
Tracy didn't let anybody down that 2003 season. He finished on the podium 10 times and won six poles and seven races, including the Molson Indys in Toronto and Vancouver.
Although some would argue that his championship was tainted because so many of the top drivers had either retired or gone over to the IRL, Tracy's 2003 season was still one of the best in racing history, which gave Bexon great personal satisfaction.
After all, it was Imperial Tobacco that had bankrolled the career of Jacques Villeneuve in his pursuit of the CART series title and the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 as well as his world championship run in 1997. With anti-tobacco legislation looming, Imperial was looking for a way to go out in a blaze of glory and Tracy's championship in 2003 proved to be "the final job," as Bexon termed it.
The passage of the federal government's Tobacco Act, which banned cigarette advertising and sponsorship promotions as of Oct. 1, 2003, meant Tracy had to finish his championship season "light," meaning his car did not have Player's decals on it.
It was up to an emotional Bexon to make the official announcement that it was all over.
"It is with sadness, yet also with considerable pride, that we announce" Imperial's withdrawal from racing, Bexon said at a reception prior to the 2003 Molson Indy Toronto.
It marked the end of 42 years of involvement in Canadian motorsport, going back to 1961 and Canada's first international racing event, the Player's 200, which was held at Mosport. And Imperial Tobacco supported racers, not just races.
In addition to Tracy and Jacques Villeneuve, Player's supported the careers of Gilles Villeneuve, Claude Bourbonnais, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani, Bill Brack, David Empringham, the late Greg Moore, Lee Bentham, Bertrand Godin and Andrew Bordin, among others.
"It's pretentious to think that if we are not involved (in racing), the world will come to an end," Bexon said. "But I would rather stay in racing, if I had the choice. I, personally, will miss this very much."
Following his retirement from Imperial Tobacco, Bexon partnered with Carole Brohman in a Montreal-based national risk management/assessment firm, Bexon Brohman and Associates.
Funeral arrangements and full obituary details have yet to be issued.