Early ventures (pictured in 1967) first met in 1962 while Clapp was working for Cos Cancilla. The two became lifelong business partners and friends afterward. After his discharge from the Navy, Clapp took a job with the Weatherly Motor Company, a
Chrysler and
Dodge dealership, in
Ventura, California. However, after five weeks with the company, he was let go after only selling one Chrysler within the period for less than the invoice price. After becoming friends with
NAPA Auto Parts businessman Hubert Catlin, he took a job at Catlin's business in nearby
Oxnard as an outside salesman. He left the job in the summer of 1961 to work as a general manager at his mother's business, Macil's Fashion, which had recently expanded to
Lafayette. sold "more than 100,000" pom-poms in 1964, which Clapp stated was "more than we'd initially hoped for, but certainly less than we envisioned once we decided to go ahead".
Motorsports career beginnings Clapp promoted his first motorsports events in 1966, collaborating with fellow Acalanes High School alummus and personal friend Gary Gorman to promote NASCAR-sanctioned races at
Vallejo Speedway. Gorman, who was not a motorsports fan, joined Clapp because "it was a nice way of extending our friendship". The first event the duo ran occurred on July 31 for a
NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model (now known as the ARCA Menards Series West) race; despite hot temperatures and a large amount of discounted tickets sold for the event, the race drew a crowd of 3,700. According to Clapp, both he and Gorman each earned profits of $3,000 (adjusted for inflation$, ) from the event. The duo ran more events during the year at Vallejo that achieved further success, including an event on Labor Day weekend that made a profit of $17,000. Clapp and Gorman continued their partnership until 1968, running races at various Northern California racetracks, including Vallejo Speedway,
Altamont Speedway,
Shasta Speedway, and the
Alameda County Fairgrounds. After a race at Vallejo in May 1968, Gorman stepped away from auto racing promoting due to a lack of interest; the two remained lifelong friends afterward. (pictured above). After Macil's Fashion was sold in 1968, Clapp began to pursue a career in motorsports more heavily. Starting in 1967, with the help of
San Francisco Chronicle writer Gordon Martin, Clapp began discussions with the owners of a project of what would eventually become
Sears Point International Raceway (now known as Sonoma Raceway), which led to the owners giving him an offer to become a vice president and consultant at the track. The following year, Clapp signed a long-term lease to host
United States Auto Club (USAC) and
NASCAR-sanctioned races at
Sears Point International Raceway (now known as Sonoma Raceway), which at the time was under construction. With the facility now complete in 1969, Clapp was hired as the vice president and director of public relations at Sears Point in October. His time at Sears Point was brief and lasted for under a year before the track was shut down in May 1970 due to financial issues. During his time at Sears Point, he took credit for canceling a concert at the facility in what would eventually be known as the infamous
Altamont Free Concert, which was originally set to be held at Sears Point but was cancelled and moved on short-notice to
Altamont Speedway. According to Clapp, he was convinced to call his superiors to argue the cancellation of the concert after witnessing a 13-year-old woman with a newborn baby, which was accepted. which at the time was struggling both financially and with its reputation. Clapp agreed on the basis that he would not commit to the job long-term and that he would "do what I could". Clapp's time at Altamont was unsuccessful due to low attendance, and he departed the job by August of that year. He later blamed a multitude of external factors during his tenure at Altamont, including heavy wind, a smell of rotten eggs due to a nearby well that had large amounts of
sulfur, power failures, foul-smelling bathrooms, and the track's reputation from the Altamont Free Concert. working with both NASCAR and Bob Barkhimer Associates (BBA), the latter of which he worked as a vice president. By the end of the year, Burke began paperwork to sell 75% of BBA to Clapp, giving him operational control. The purchase, which included all of Burke's shares and half of Barkhimer's, was finalized by New Year's Eve of 1977. With the purchase, Clapp gained operational control of 12 racetracks owned by BBA. Four years later, Clapp bought out the rest of Barkhimer's shares in the now-named California Auto Racing Speedways, Inc., and shortly after was able to expand to 19 racetracks. In March 1983, Clapp,
Les Richter, and France Jr. began negotiations with Bonnie Marchbanks to buy the abandoned
Hanford Motor Speedway for $900,000, with plans to renovate the facility to host Cup Series racing. However, the group failed to follow-up with Marchbanks in the following months due to them feeling that following-up was not "necessary, because we'd been told that there was no urgent movement to sell the place"; Clapp later described the decision as an "honest mistake". Two months later, the group found out the track was sold to a dairy company who bought the track for $1,300,000, demolishing the track for grazing land. (pictured in 2016). On December 16, 1983, Clapp was promoted to NASCAR's vice president of western operations. Two months after, Ken and Jackie welcomed eventual successor to Bill France Jr. as NASCAR's president,
Brian France, to their home. Brian, who was mentored by Ken, stayed approximately seven months at the Clapps' home. Beginning in 1987, Clapp and France Jr. proposed plans to pave the track at the
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds for the potential to host Cup Series racing due to the impending closure of
Riverside International Raceway. A plan for the track was officially submitted in December, which included plans to expand seating capacity and pave the track at a cost of $4–5 million. However, the plan fell through after the duo were dissatisfied at the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors' response to the project. According to Clapp, the duo felt they were treated poorly by the supervisors, including an instance where a supervisor pressured France Jr. to make several renovations unrelated to the track "in a way that sound[ed] almost dismissive". After the failed San Jose proposal, Riverside's two Cup Series dates were moved to Sonoma Raceway and
Phoenix International Raceway (now known as Phoenix Raceway); both moves were organized by Clapp. In 1994, Clapp joined the board of directors of the then-planned
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, headed by Richie Clyne,
William Bennett, and
Ralph Engelstad. However, he resigned from his position in August 1996 after Engelstad "was constantly asking when LVMS would get a Cup date" to no avail despite pushes by both Clapp and Engelstad. However, he remained involved in obtaining a Cup Series date for the track, finalizing a deal with France Jr. in 1997 to host its first Cup Series race in 1998. In 1996, Clapp was moved to become NASCAR's vice president of marketing development, where he worked with Brian France. A year later, Clapp served as a consultant for the 1997
made-for-TV film
Steel Chariots.
Involvement in attempted NASCAR expansion to Japan Beginning in 1990, Clapp went on a series of trips to
Japan to negotiate with Japanese promoters on the possibility of hosting a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the country, with hopes of hosting the first race by 1992 according to Tom Higgins of
The Charlotte Observer. Although races in Japan were scheduled in 1992 at the
Fuji Speedway according to the
San Francisco Chronicle, the event was scrapped after the Japanese stock index, the
Nikkei 225, experienced a meltdown that eventually led to a decades-long economic stagnation period in Japan known as the
Lost Decades. Clapp, this time with Brian France, began negotiations again to host a race in Japan starting in 1993, finalizing a deal in 1995 for a race at the
Suzuka Circuit in 1996. The race ran at Suzuka for two years before moving to
Twin Ring Motegi for two more years. The project was scrapped after the 1999 event due to lower than expected crowds in NASCAR's race in Japan. Clapp later stated in his 2022 autobiography that "we all worked hard to beat the drums for these races... but you can never predict with certainty how you'll be receive when you introduce a sport that is foreign — literally and figuratively — to a new audience."
Involvement in founding of NASCAR Truck Series race in 1995. Clapp played a key role in the founding and creation of the series. Although originally selected to oversee it, he was replaced by Dennis Huth before the series' first full season in 1995. In 1992, Clapp began discussions with France Jr. alongside five California off-road racers consisting of Dick Landfield, Jim Venable,
Jim Smith, Bill Stroppe, and
Frank Vessels to negotiate the possibility of hosting a paved truck racing series in NASCAR as a support series for the
NASCAR Winston West Series (now known as the ARCA Menards West Series). After discussions with France Jr. he approved the construction of a test truck in the winter of 1993. A test truck constructed by racing driver
Gary Collins was completed nearing the end of the year. The first exhibition races with the truck were run in 1994, with
P. J. Jones winning the first event at
Mesa Marin Raceway on July 30. Although Clapp was originally appointed to oversee
the series, at the start of the
1995 season, he was replaced with Dennis Huth, with top NASCAR leadership transforming the series' from Clapp's original plans of a support series on the West Coast to a national touring series. Clapp later stated that "[NASCAR management] were looking farther down the road than I had been. And, honestly, the Truck Series caught on, nationally, much faster than I thought it would."
Retirement from NASCAR, transition to consultant In February 1999, Clapp retired from his position as NASCAR's senior vice president of marketing development; however, remained with NASCAR as an independent consultant in which what Clapp described as "something agreed on a handshake with Bill [France] Jr." In 2005, Clapp, in collaboration with Mexican businessmen
Carlos Slim and
Carlos Slim Domit, negotiated the hosting of
NASCAR Busch Series (now known as the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) events at the
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez starting that year, which were the first events NASCAR held in Mexico. In the same year, Clapp alongside Stockton 99 Speedway majority owner Bob Hunefeld announced in September that they were considering selling the track despite a previous statement given earlier in the year to
The Stockton Record that the duo had no intent of selling. A deal to sell the track was made in January 2006 to Wilson Way Development, with plans being made to demolish the track to make way for a housing development. However, Wilson Way Development experienced severe financial troubles in 2007, leading to the purchase falling through the following year due to missed payments. Within 2008, local racer Tony Noceti acquired the track's lease, saving the facility. Clapp served as a consultant for two more motorsports-related movies, including 2005
Disney film
Herbie: Fully Loaded and the 2006 comedy film
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. In 2009, he began a stint as a voter for inducting members into the
NASCAR Hall of Fame, starting with the organization's inaugural 2010 class. The following year, Clapp was elected to the board of directors for the
National Hot Rod Association (NHRA); he held the position for seven years before leaving the organization. In 2013, Clapp was appointed as a consultant for the
Iowa Speedway after the facility was purchased by NASCAR, guiding the track's new management. In 2019, Clapp ended his consultancy with NASCAR after the sanctioning body cut him. In his autobiography, he stated that the termination of his consultancy "bothered me" but that he was "not mad" at the decision, stating that "it was just disappointing, because I didn't see it coming". Since his retirement from NASCAR, Clapp has been involved heavily in several businesses. He is currently the chairman of the
West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame, having been involved since the organization was formed in 2002. He is also on the board of directors of
World Wide Technology Raceway, the
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and the
National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Outside of racing, he is an investor in a nursery business he has been involved in since 1982 and iPull-uPull, a car salvage company. In 2022, Clapp published an autobiography alongside racing historian Bones Bourcier, which covered his experiences and motorsports history on the American West Coast. According to Clapp, the book, which took three years to write with Bourcier, was a "pressure initiative" made to "restore the history of the West". ==Personal life==