The curse of the National Guard?
May 31st, 2011 | NASCAR | Posted by Phil Creed
Both major Memorial Day weekend auto races — NASCAR’S Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 — featured dramatic collapses by the drivers who entered the final lap in the lead.
In NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr. — who hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race since June 2008 — ran out of gas on the last lap of the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. Kevin Harvick passed Earnhardt and won, while Junior ended up finishing 22nd.
Earlier in the day, in an even more heartbreaking finish, rookie driver JR Hildebrand inexplicably hit the wall in the final turn of the Indy 500. He managed to guide his car across the finish line, but not before Dan Wheldon drove by him and captured the checkered flag.
Two races on the same day, two excruciating collapses. The one thing both drivers had in common?
Both of their cars were sponsored by the National Guard.
Cue the Twilight Zone music.
Hildebrand hits the wall:
Dale Jr. gasses out:
Amendment to end Pentagon’s NASCAR sponsorship fails in House
February 18th, 2011 | Army NASCAR | Posted by Phil Creed
Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. can rest easy tonight: Rep. Betty McCollum’s amendment to end Pentagon sponsorships for NASCAR racing teams was voted down today in the House of Representatives by a 148-241 margin.
McCollum had proposed the amendment last week, saying that “[t]axpayer-funded NASCAR race cars are an absurdity at a time when the Republican Tea Party is cutting federal support for homeless veterans, law enforcement officers, and firefighters.”
Three racing teams are currently sponsored in part by the Pentagon — Ryan Newman’s Army car, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s National Guard car and AJ Allmendinger’s Air Force car.
In a sign of how any political issue can bring out the worst in people, the McCollum amendment was apparently so offensive to one idiot that he/she sent a death threat to the congresswoman. Sigh.
Legistlator wants to end DoD’s NASCAR sponsorships
February 17th, 2011 | Army NASCAR Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Ryan Newman is greeted by members of the Virginia National Guard during driver introductions for the Crown Royal 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
As the deficit spirals to record levels, there’s no shortage of politicians eager to cut the fat from the federal budget. What exactly constitutes “fat” is usually a matter of perception, and a proposal by Rep. Betty McCollum to end the Pentagon’s sponsorships of NASCAR race teams illustrates how even the smallest of proposed cuts can generate a lot of pushback.
McCollum’s amendment to the 2011 budget has been met with resistance from NASCAR, where three cars — Ryan Newman’s #39 Army car, Dale Earnhardt’s #88 National Guard car and AJ Allmendinger’s #43 car — are sponsored by the military. On Ryan Newman’s official Facebook page, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner has posted an appeal to fans to tell their congressman that they “support the U.S. Army’s involvement in motorsports.”
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston argued in favor of the sponsorships, saying they’re effective in connecting the services with the type of people who
“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 told the Virginian Pilot.
The director of the Army’s sponsorship also defended the program, telling the Wall Street Journal that the service finds it to be effective.
““Youth surveys show that motorsports is a passion point for young Americans,” Col. Derik Crotts told the paper. “It is critical that the Army use these passion points to communicate with prospects and their influencers.”
McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, said on her website that sponsoring race teams while we’re proposing cuts in programs that support veterans and law enforcement is irresponsible.
“Taxpayer-funded NASCAR race cars are an absurdity at a time when the Republican-Tea Party is cutting federal support for homeless veterans, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. I know NASCAR fans are passionate and patriotic. This amendment gets the government out of NASCAR and gives them the opportunity to encourage the private sector to demonstrate its patriotism by donating a military sponsorship,” McCollum said.
What do you guys think? Are these sponsorships — more than $100 million in the 10 years DoD has sponsored race teams, according to McCollum — worth the money? Is it a wise investment for recruiting or a needless waste of taxpayer dollars?
Get your face smashed in — on the Army’s #39 NASCAR Chevy!
September 17th, 2010 | Army NASCAR | Posted by Phil Creed
Love NASCAR? Love NASCAR crashes? Ever wanted to be part of one? Well now you’ve got a chance, if you’re a vet.
The Army and Stewart-Haas Racing have announced a promotion for veterans to put their faces on Ryan Newman’s #39 Army-sponsored Chevy for the Kobalt Tools 500 Sprint Cup at Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 14. That’s right, if you’re a veteran, you may be able to get your mug painted on the bumper of the #39 car — the same bumper that could put that weenie Jeff Gordon into the wall or get rear-ended by crazy man Carl Edwards.
“All veterans are eligible for inclusion among the photos in the special paint scheme,” a story on the official Army blog said. “[Images] selected will be featured on the hood, trunk, side panels and bumpers when Newman gets behind the wheel of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet in Phoenix.”
The deadline to submit your photos is Sept. 24. Go here to enter.
Guy who drives the Army car thinks moon landing was faked
March 29th, 2010 | NASCAR | Posted by Phil Creed
Buzz Aldrin poses with the U.S. flag during the Apollo moon landing on July 20, 1969. (AP Photo/Neil Armstrong, NASA, file)
A few things to know about NASCAR’s Ryan Newman, the driver of the No. 39 Army car: He loves his 1949 Buick Roadmaster, would like to meet Clint Eastwood, has almost 100 fishing poles, is concerned about overpopulation … and believes the moon landing was faked.
Newman gave his thoughts on a wide variety of topics in an interview with the (Greensboro) News & Record, but none stood out quite like his belief the historic lunar landing in July 1969 was a big conspiracy.
I watched the documentary on it, and it’s pretty easy to believe. The flag was standing straight out when there’s no wind up there. When they step on the surface, there should have been a big cloud because there’s no atmosphere.”
Newman’s views, which have been refuted numerous times, are hardly unique some 40 years after Apollo 11. Heck, if you Google “moon landing” four of the first six results are to sites that talk about the moon landing being a hoax.
I wonder what Navy pilot and Korean War vet Neil Armstrong thinks of Newman? Or better yet, retired Air Force pilot and Dancing with the Stars sensation Buzz Aldrin, who famously punched a conspiracy theorist a few years ago.
Watch the Army car wreck at Daytona 500
February 16th, 2010 | Army NASCAR | Posted by Phil Creed
Ryan Newman’s Army-sponsored Chevrolet was involved in a pretty vicious three-car wreck at Sunday’s Daytona 500. Elliot Sadler triggered the wreck when he “got loose,” in race-speak (according to Fox’s broadcast team) and hit Newman’s car in the right rear and sent him straight into the wall.
As Newman’s demolished car rolled to a stop on the grass, NASCAR legend and Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip quipped: “That’s the Army of None right there. None left.”
While the Army car was left a smashed mess, Newman was able to get out and walk to the ambulance afterward. He finished in 34th place.
The guy knows how to make an entrance
November 17th, 2009 | Army Marine Corps NASCAR | Posted by Phil Ewing
Super-joint: A Marine Corps space shuttle pilot drove a NASCAR pace car out of an Army Reserve CH-47 Nov. 8 at Texas Motor Speedway (AP Photo)
Sure, you learn to fly the space shuttle and all of a sudden no vehicle is off limits to you — let’s say, for example, you wanted to drive a pace car down the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter onto the course at the Texas Motor Speedway. Yep. You can do that, apparently.
Marine Col. Doug Hurley, who has flown the space shuttle Endeavor, was himself flown onto the track in Fort Worth by Maj. Tank Sherman and his Army Reserve crewmates from Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. Sherman told After Action the approach and landing on the racetrack was simpler than putting down his helo on an unimproved field over in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“There was a lot less dust,” he said, “and I didn’t have to worry about anybody shooting at me, unless they were drunk.”
There were some similarities to a combat mission. Sherman and his crew practiced on the ground with Hurley to make sure Hurley could drive the pace car — a brand-new Chevrolet Camaro — out of the Chinook’s cargo bay as quickly and safely as possible. And just as in a tactical situation, Sherman flew to a hold point before he deposited Hurley and the pace car, so he’d be in place when race officials were set up for the landing.
But the Camaro was easier to secure than a Humvee, and there was one other big difference, he said: “All the people standing and clapping for us. That doesn’t happen out in the back 40.”