Rife, who made one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start in 1954, moved here from Pennsylvania in 1990 so he could assist the Frances when the family patriarch was slowed by Alzheimer's disease.
Rife's primary duty was to drive France around town to keep various appointments.
"He was a great man," Rife once said of France. "He saved my life once."
That was in 1957, after Rife crashed in a race and suffered a severe head injury. France made arrangements for a highly skilled neurosurgeon to take care of his buddy.
After a six-hour surgery followed by 28 days of unconsciousness, Rife woke from the comatose state. Nine days later, he walked out of the hospital. Rife never got a bill -- France picked up the entire tab.
Rife was one of stock-car racing's true characters and wackiest promoters. He always had a cigar in hand, wore a stylish cowboy hat and string tie.
"He was one of the last great promoters," NASCAR Hall of Fame historian Buz McKim said in a telephone interview. "I mean fireworks and parachutists.
"He was one of the great showmen of the sport."
Rife was in his mid-20s when he built Lincoln Speedway, a 3/8th-mile dirt oval in New Oxford, Pa.
He not only built the track and promoted races, but was himself a race driver. Just seven months after fracturing his skull, he drove a Plymouth Golden Commando stock car more than 122 mph on the beach in Ponce Inlet.
Rife was never short on storytelling. One of Rife's favorite tales was his promise to pay Daytona Beach driver Marvin Panch appearance money to run at Lincoln. Panch won the race in a car prepped by local mechanical legend Ray Fox, then asked for his under-the-table cash.
"You don't need that money," Rife said. "You won the race."
"Every time Marvin saw him, he would say, 'Here comes Hilly with my deal money!' " McKim said.
"Hilly was a great friend," Fox said Friday. "I knew him for many, many years."
Long before there was electronic social networking, there was the "Hilly network system." He seemed to know everybody and know everything about everybody. He was one of the most connected promoters in the sport.
"It was Hilly who started the Northern swing for the Grand National (now Sprint Cup) Series in the 1950s," longtime friend Dick Fleck said by phone. "Hilly would run them on his track and helped set them up on other little tracks up there. Hilly hosted seven Cup races over the years."
Racing wasn't Rife's only career. For a time, he repossessed airplanes to make extra money and bragged about "only crashing three times."
He had many a close call in his life, including losing a thumb and breaking both legs in different racing accidents. Just a few years ago, he was inside the Jacksonville Mayo Clinic, when his heart stopped beating.
Rife was quickly revived and never had another major cardio issue.
And there was one more aspect to Rife's life -- his culinary skills.
"Hilly's chili was the best," Fox said.
"He made the world's best french fries," McKim said. "He sold more fries at his racetrack than anybody else in country. Of course, that was according to Hilly."
Several family members, including his wife, Becky, survive Rife. Services are pending. Lohman Funeral Home, Ormond Beach, is in charge.
