Born October 28, 1930 in Suffolk, England, Bernard “Bernie” Ecclestone is the president and CEO of Formula One (F1) Management and Formula One Administration. He also owns a healthy stake in Alpha Prema, the parent company of the Formula One Group of companies.

Because of this, Ecclestone is often considered to be the primary authority in F1 racing. The tabloids commonly address him as “F1 Supremo.” Ecclestone also co-owns the Queens Park Rangers Football Club. In his early years, Ecclestone was a racing competitor and manager of drivers Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jochen Rindt.

At the end of WWII, Ecclestone went into business for himself, trading spare parts for motorcycles. He eventually formed the Compton & Ecclestone motorcycle dealership with Fred Compton, and even entered the 500cc Formula 3000 series. He limited himself to few events, but had to give up racing all together after a serious accident in 1951 at the Brands Hatch circuit.

After the accident, Ecclestone began a lucrative career in real estate and loan financing, and managed the Weekend Car Auctions firm. In 1957, Ecclestone returned to racing and managed Lewis-Evans and purchased the F1 Connaught team.

Ecclestone continued to manage Lewis-Evans when he moved to the Vanwall team, but would retire again after being shaken up during a crash in which Lewis-Evans suffered fatal injuries during a Moroccan Grand Prix crash. However, Ecclestone's friendship with former teammate Roy Salvadori led him to manage Rindt and become a partial owner of the Formula 2 team, Lotus.

Rindt also suffered fatal injuries in a crash on the Monza circuit. After the two deaths, Ecclestone gave up on managing and moved into owning full time. In 1972, he purchased the Brabham team and began an advocacy for team control of F1, ultimately forming the Formula One Constructors Association with Frank Williams, Teddy Mayer, Ken Tyrrell, Max Mosley, and Colin Chapman.

Ecclestone would become chief executive of FOCA in 1978, and alongside Mosley, negotiated legal issues with the FIA which eventually granted television rights for FOCA. Soon after, Ecclestone established Formula One Promotions and Administrations, giving the teams 47% of the revenue, 30% for the FIA, and 23% for FOPA. Throughout the 1990s, television rights were shuffled between Ecclestone's companies, teams, and the FIA, only to see Ecclestone emerge on top again in 1997.

In 1999, Ecclestone underwent major heart surgery, but has remained energetic and as business savvy as ever. He is one of England's richest citizens, and isn't the least bit shy about donating some of his enormous wealth to a worthy cause. Ecclestone is also the primary reason for F1 Racing's worldwide popularity.

Without TV exposure, F1 would only reach a miniscule percentage of its current fan base. As a testament to Ecclestone's salesmanship, he sold a London home that he never lived in to steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal for £57.1-million (over 100-millionUSD).