The Virginian-Pilot
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A Minnesota congresswoman has introduced an amendment to a 2011 budget bill to ban the military from sponsoring NASCAR teams.
Military branches have been affiliated with NASCAR teams for years, believing it helped recruiting. The National Guard sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team, the U.S. Army sponsors Ryan Newman's cars, and the U.S. Air Force sponsors AJ Allmendinger's team in the Sprint Cup Series.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., was not available to comment on her amendment Tuesday, but Bill Harper, her chief of staff, dismisses the effectiveness of those sponsorships on recruiting.
"I would challenge the Pentagon to give me one example of someone today in Iraq or Afghanistan who saw the Go Army car going around the race track and that's why they joined the Army," Harper said in a phone interview Tuesday. "It may be the reason why they go to Home Depot but not necessarily Afghanistan."
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston had a different take on the recruiting argument.
"NASCAR fans are the kind of people who fight America's wars, which would put into question the wisdom of banning the military's ability to reach out to them," Poston said.
Citing research done for NASCAR, Poston said 1 in 3 men or women is a NASCAR fan and that 1 in 5 is serving or has served in the military. Poston also said research showed that NASCAR fans were 1.5 times more likely than non-fans to serve in the military.
Harper noted that nothing in the amendment would prevent any military branch from recruiting at NASCAR events; it's just that Rep. McCollum does not see the benefit of spending millions to be on the cars.
Although military branches sponsor race teams on other circuits - drag racing and IndyCar, for example - the amendment is only directed at NASCAR.
Current NASCAR sponsorship totals are unavailable, but in 2009, the U.S. Army paid $11.6 million to sponsor Newman's car - a tiny total in a federal budget that is approaching $4 trillion. But Harper argued that the size of the expense isn't the point.
"We're in a fiscal crisis," he said. "There's an amendment on the floor to eliminate all funding for homeless veterans. On one hand, we're eliminating assistance to men and women who served our country... and on the other hand, we're paying for race cars. That doesn't make sense.
"The question is why are taxpayer dollars being used to sponsor NASCAR race cars? We've got two wars going on. Can we afford it? This is not an attack on NASCAR. There are a lot of private-sector businesses that support NASCAR. The Pentagon is in the war fighting business and not race business."
Harper admitted there is a long way to go for this amendment to become a part of the law.
Congress and the Senate are expected to pass separate bills to fund the federal government through this fiscal year, and McCollum's amendment is attached to the House bill.
Then a committee will merge those bills before sending a measure to the president to sign. Even if the amendment becomes a part of the law, it would be effective only through Sept. 30, the end of the government's fiscal year.
"The question is going to be what do we want to invest our precious tax dollars in as Americans," Harper said. "We are going to be cutting health centers and (aid) to homeless vets and cutting money to homes and kids. Is NASCAR sponsorship a greater priority than those investments in our community and families?"
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sponsorship
The cars in Nascar look great with their richly painted "Go Army" "National Guard" etc., So our wonderful Congresswoman should have her sponsors adorned on her clothing. Go ahead and list the PAC's that sponsor your campaign with Logo's on your tailored made clothing. Ah come on now let see your sponsors more clearly everyday...
updated numbers
According to the USA Today article on the same subject, it seems the Army dropped its sponsorship funding from $11.6 million in 2009 to $7 million in 2010. Seven million dollars is no small sum of money, but it's significantly less than $11.6.
I wonder why the Pilot chose to hightlight a larger historical number rather than the more recent substantially smaller one...
drop in the bucket
The Army alone spends over $1 billion a year in its recruiting efforts, so $11.6 million on NASCAR sponsorship isn't much in the overall scheme of things.
I personally don't care for NASCAR, but evidently the folks at Recruiting Command think they get a good return on the investment. I would assume they know more about it than I, and certainly more than someone who has held elective office since 1987, as Congresswoman McCollum has.
NASCAR Promotrion
You know I could almost agree with the arguement that the military should not be paying for race cars idea when we are fighting a war. But the poor congresswoman has only singled out NASCAR in her bill. Even though the military sponsors Indy cars And NHRA racers. I would think the military has hired an ad agency to help them promote themselves, and they thought the race car ideas were good. Do you really think the joint chiefs had a meeting to decide to buy a race car. I am glad our congress people (pc) are working on the important stuff. Or maybe the congress woman from Michigan is mad they let Toyota in to racing.
Minn = Minnesota, not
Minn = Minnesota, not Michigan.
No surprise here
That the poorly informed congressperson who has no clue about recruiting and marketing for people skills would sponsor a amendment like that.
she spent 25 years in retail sales and management
You don't spend 25 years in retail management without recruiting, marketing and people skills. Do your homework.
yes
Because recruiting 74,500 new soldiers (the Army's FY 2010 recruiting target) and working in sales at a department store (in her case Sears and the now-defunct Dayton's) are the same thing.
Her degree was in education and her professional experience prior to becoming a career politician almost 20 years ago was in sales and management, not marketing. Convincing people to buy Kenmore washers on the sales floor is completely different from advertising to get people into the store in the first place.
wrong
You obviously know nothing about retail. My mom was a GM at Miller & Rhoads and Hecht's stores for over 30 years before retirement. There is PLENTY of marketing involved in retail management, even at the store level. Thanks for trying, though.
really?
You honestly think recruiting for the military - convincing people to enlist in the armed forces for years - is the same as retail sales? They are completely different animals. You obviously know nothing about military recruiting and, incidentally, since all the research I could find about Congresswoman McCollum was that she had "25 years of experience in sales/management" at Sears and Dayton's neither of us really knows what her resonsibilites were. For all we know she sold stoves for 20 years and supervised others doing the same for 5. There's no way to tell if her particular experience is relevant, and I have a feeling if her responsibilities were more significant her bio would say so.
This is just grandstanding on her part.