House votes to continue military sponsorship of NASCAR teams

The House voted 281-148 on Friday against Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum's amendment to ban military sponsorship of NASCAR teams. 

UPDATE: McCollum's office issued a statement Friday after where she "intends to introduce legislation to prohibit taxpayer funds from being used for sponsorship of race cars, dragsters, Indy cars, and motorcycle racing, as well as repeal the $45 million special tax earmark for NASCAR and race track owners included in the 2010 law that extended the Bush tax cuts and added $858 billion to the federal budget deficit.'

Her office also stated that McCollum did not vote on the NASCAR amendment or comment on the outcome of the because she was traveling on official government business to the Middle East honoring a longstanding obligation to the Pentagon's National Defense University to address a national security conference.

Most Democrats backed McCollum's amendment on Friday, while Republicans overwhelmingly voted against it.

The measure failed in a recorded vote just before 2 p.m. Eastern.  It had failed by voice vote on Thursday night, but McCollum called for a recorded vote.

The National Guard sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr., the U.S. Army sponsors Ryan Newman and the U.S. Air Force sponsors AJ Allmendinger.

The Army pays $7.4 million to sponsor Newman's car. The  Air Force pays under $2 million, including activation, to sponsor Allmendinger. The National Guard decreased its sponsorship fees 35 percent from last year when it paid $20,075,000 in sponsorship fees on the No. 88 team last year and $12,700,000 in sponsorship fees for the No. 24 team at Hendrick Motorsports (for a total of $32,775,000 in sponsorship fees).

Officials from the various military branches have defended their programs, saying they help with recruitment and awareness.

Lt. Gen Benjamin Freakley could not say how many potential Army recruits reached through the NASCAR program joined the military but said there’s more to it than that.

 “It’s to get them to be more aware and get them to be more engaged in having the discussion … of should the military be for me,’’ Freakley said at Daytona International Speedway. “There’s less and less discussion about the military in my future as young person from what our statistics tell us.’’

He noted that the Army had leads with more than 150,000 candidates through its motorsports programs.

Freakley also said that “we look year-to-year at these programs and make sure we’re getting the best return on investment.’’

U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said in a phone interview that he supported the military sponsorship of NASCAR teams.

“I don’t think (McCollum) appreciates the recruiting value of sponsors in NASCAR,’’ he said. “The only reason companies sponsor cars or races is because they can see marketing value from the exposure that they get or they wouldn’t do it. Nobody wants to throw away their money. 

“The same thing is true when the military has sponsored cars. If the military thinks this is the best way to do their recruiting, along with the other things they do, I think you have to let them make that decision. They’re going to spend money on recruiting one way or the other.’’

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