Report: Army wins fight to keep spending money on NASCAR sponsorship [w/poll]

[Haltech]

Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Marketing/Advertising



Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum is a Democrat looking at areas where the budget can be cut. Her current target is military spending. More specifically, she is focused on banning the military from spending money advertising in NASCAR. She introduced a measure to this effect, and it was shot down by a vote of 241-148.

The US Army spent $7 million in 2010 to sponsor a car in NASCAR and has a signed contract with Stewart-Haas racing to put its logo on a car for 2011. In contrast, the Marines, Navy and Coast Guard all ended NASCAR sponsorships back in 2006.

McCollum feels that spending money in this arena is an inappropriate use of military funds. Ramsey Poston, NASCAR's Managing Director for Corporate Communications, sees things a little differently. According to 2009 data gathered by Experian, one in five NASCAR fans have served in the military, while one in three active service members are fans of the sport. Also, the Army states that it received 46,000 recruiting leads in 2010 thanks to the racing team.

And so, we ask you: Should the United States Army sponsor a NASCAR team?

View Poll



[Source: The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Inside Line | Image: John Harrelson/Getty]Report: Army wins fight to keep spending money on NASCAR sponsorship [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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