WHY do taxpayers pay for this? National Guard adverts & Nascar

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-25-2005/0003249163&EDATE=

***This is part of the Army National Guard's youth outreach program.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Drive for Diversity(SM)
announced today that the Army National Guard will once again be the primary advertiser for driver Morty Buckles and Belnavis Racing in the 2005 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series (NDWS). Buckles will run the No. 54 Ford Late Model Stock Car at several NDWS tracks this season, including Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050325/CGF003 )
Splitting last season between Southampton Motor Speedway in Capron, Va., and Motor Mile Speedway, Buckles posted five top-five finishes and ten top-ten finishes in 21 NDWS Late Model Stock Car events. He put up some of his best results in the four 200-lap races at Motor Mile Speedway, finishing in the top six each time.
The Army National Guard has played an active role in Drive for Diversity initiatives over the past two seasons, including participation in the program's youth outreach initiative at the October 2004 race in Charlotte and the recent Drive for Diversity Motorsports Forum at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.
"We are extremely excited to continue our partnership with the National Guard this season. Together, we hope to continue to reach toward our common goal of helping talented drivers achieve great success within NASCAR," said Greg Calhoun, CEO of Access Marketing and Communications.

there are NASCAR racers sponsored by

U.S. ARMY
U.S. NAVY

The drivers are intensely loyal to the sponsors...for instance, if they are interviewed after a race, the first words out of their mouth are:

"I wanna thank the Navy and the whole U.S. Navy team for this great opportunity"

It's part of the deal with sponsors.

Edited to remove inappropriate endearment :)

Army to be an official sponsor of NASCAR: The U.S. Army is becoming the first branch of the military to become an official sponsor of NASCAR and will spend at least $16 million as part of its deal with the sanctioning body, according to this week's Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal. The Army, which had already announced plans to sponsor driver Jerry Nadeau in MB2 Motorsports' renumbered #01 Pontiac this season, is also working on media buys for NASCAR events on Fox and NBC. Reporter Terry Lefton says a deal with International Speedway Corp.'s 12 Winston Cup tracks is complete, and additional venue deals are being negotiated. The Army plans mobile marketing recruitment stations at all NASCAR races, along with "Army Nights" at NASCAR Weekly Racing Series events. The story says MB2 is changing the number of Nadeau's car from #36 to #01 to reflect the service's "Army of One" campaign.(Winston Cup Scene Daily Newsletter)(1-6-2003)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Sy-qeZhlUNIJ:www.jayski.com/teams/nascar-sponsors.htm+military+nascar+sponsor&hl=en&client=firefox-a

involved with nascar for a few years now, altho' in a limited capacity.

with recruitment down, they are going after 'nascar dads'. i think they will find a lot of 'nascar moms' opposed however. being a nascar fan myself, i'm not sure the growing number of women who enjoy the sport will fall in line with the neocons. my nascar friends tend to be far to the left of 'nascar dads'.

most of the fans i find at racetracks are past the age of recruitment and/or parents of kids who they may not wish to become bush cannon fodder. race tickets ain't cheap and the average teen would probably rather put that money into their ipod.

i am hopeful that this recruitment idea will bomb. (sorry)

ellen fl

Between using a race car to reach your target market or purchasing a commercial during a football game. They're going to spend a certain amount of their budget on recruiting & advertising anyway. A Nascar car is simply a moving billboard.

A commercial for the military doesn't attach itself to any particular group, even though it might be played on different shows (I've seen the military commercials on TDS). It's just some sign-up info going out in the broadcast arena in general. When taxpayer money goes for military and some special interest group advocacy, it goes too far. What if the military decides to go after the youth in Boy Scouts? No military advocacy for any private corporate groups with my taxmoney, please.