After taking heat from some in the Congress for years over spending millions to sponsor car racing teams as a way to bolster recruiting efforts, the Army National Guard announced on Thursday that it would drop its sponsorship of NASCAR and IndyCar teams in 2015.
“Significantly constrained resources and the likelihood of further reductions in the future call for more innovative and cost-effective ways of doing business,” said Major General Judd H. Lyons, acting chief of the Army National Guard in a statement.
The Army National Guard said it had spent $44 million in 2014 on car racing sponsorships - $32 million for the team of Dale Earnhardt Junior and $12 for Graham Rahal in IndyCar.
The move drew sharp criticism from a Republican from the heart of NASCAR country."I am deeply disappointed that extreme political pressure from the Administration and Senate Democrats led to an irresponsible decision to end the Army National Guard’s partnership with our motorsports industry," said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC).
"The success of the National Guard using professional motorsports to recruit young men and women has been proven and well-documented," Hudson argued in a statement - though critics have questioned whether the millions really did anything for recruiting.
But others like Sen. Clare McCaskill (D-MO) were pleased, arguing the sponsorships were not money well spent.
"Claire is a NASCAR fan, and loves the National Guard — but spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a recruitment program that signed up zero recruits, and that has been abandoned by the other service branches as ineffective, just makes no sense," spokesman John LaBombard told the Associated Press.
"I commend the National Guard's decision to terminate its wasteful NASCAR sponsorship," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) on Twitter.
"Cancelling this contract is a victory for taxpayers," McCollum added.
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