You're In the Army Now - NOT; Stewart-Haas Loses Sponsor

The political and economic pressure is mounting. Several U.S. Senators and Representatives have demanded an end to sports sponsorships by the military. This may be just the first shoe dropping as Ryan Newman loses his Cup sponsor.

Does Rep. Jackson Kingston's district include any of our Georgia RR members?

Jul 10, 11:07 AM EDT

Army pulling out of NASCAR at end of season

By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Army will not return to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, citing a reallocation of its marketing budget that does not include a presence in NASCAR.

SHR said Tuesday it is pursuing a new sponsor.

"The U.S. Army has been a great partner of Stewart-Haas Racing since the team's inception," said Brett Frood, executive vice president of SHR. "It has been a mutually beneficial relationship, with the U.S. Army introducing training regimens that improved our pit crews while instilling the mental, physical and emotional strength of the U.S. Army Soldier in all of us."

The Army has been in NASCAR for 10 seasons, and at one point was a primary sponsor. It moved to SHR to sponsor Ryan Newman in 2009 when the team was formed.

"The sport, our drivers and the passionate NASCAR fans embraced the Army's participation and created a tremendous opportunity for Americans to learn more about the profession of the Army Strong Soldier," Army marketer John Myers said in a statement.

The decision to leave NASCAR comes as Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Rep. Jackson Kingston of Georgia are pushing an amendment that would prohibit military sponsorship of sports.

McCollum lost a House vote a year ago to end military sponsorships of NASCAR, professional wrestling and fishing, but is trying again to have the approximately $80 million in sponsorship cut from the defense budget.

SHR currently fields two full-time teams - one for three-time NASCAR champion and team co-owner Tony Stewart, and one for Newman. The plan was to expand to three teams next season with Danica Patrick, who is running 10 Sprint Cup Series races this year for SHR.

Although Stewart has said he wants to bring Newman back next year, the driver is in the final year of his contract and the sponsorship loss will likely slow contract extension talks.

Guessing 88 is next - though the felon should have an easier time replacing dollars on Dale Jr's car than Smoke and his felon co-owner will on the 39.

Is the Army staying in NHRA with Tony Schumacher?

It's not a law yet, got defeated last year, but the Army may be dropping all sports sponsorships anyhow.

I'm sure his district has to include many RR members and race fans. The Ga. 1st district is the south east corner from Warner-Robbins down to the Florida border. In fact Rep. Jackson say's he's a long time nascar fan....

Seems to me the military could excite the fans and the motor pool guys at the same time, as well as placating Congress, if some inventive soul formed a "coalition" (I hate to use that word) that placed deserving service personnel on an actual team funded by the branches. Perhaps team it up with the NASCAR Technical Institute and voila, we have a training budget being used to both train military technicians and field a NASCAR stocker.

Advertise to the masses that you can join the Army and work on pit road.

Just thinking out loud.