Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

Drivers invited to White House donated to Republican Party: President
Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon welcomed 17 current and former
NASCAR drivers to the White House to honor the sport’s 2008 champion
Jimmie Johnson, but if their campaign contributions are any
indication, they might have preferred to have been greeted by a
Republican president. The invited drivers have given a total of
$113,625 in federal campaign contributions since the early 1980s, all
of which went to Republican candidates and party committees, a
POLITICO analysis of federal campaign finance records found.
(Politico.com)

Here are the total federal contributions given by the NASCAR stars
invited to the White House Wednesday:
Darrell Waltrip: $60,625
Richard Petty: $23,450
Dale Jarrett: $6,200
Kurt Busch: $5,000 *
Jeff Gordon: $4,300
Tony Stewart: $4,000
Greg Biffle: $3,500
Jeff Burton: $3,000
Jimmie Johnson: $2,300
Kurt Busch: $1,000
Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte: $250
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/misc.html

President Obama: NASCAR can help with American Automakers' recovery:
President Obama said it was important for the Big 3 American
automakers to remain in NASCAR but said it is "understandable" that
they would cut back their sponsorships during tough economic times.
"It's about as good advertising as you can get," Obama said of the
auto companies' NASCAR sponsorship. "If somebody's excited about
NASCAR, that means their excited about cars. We want to make sure
people know what great American cars are." The president was
optimistic about the future of the American auto industry and the role
NASCAR can play. "Over the long term if you look 5, 10 years out I
think they're going to come back stronger than ever and I think their
association with NASCAR makes a great difference," he said. (ABC News)
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/chevy.html
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/dodge.html
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/ford.html

President Obama hopes to attend NASCAR race: Here is the last probing
question the "NASCAR Now" panel asked: "When are we going to get you
to a race?" The answer: "I would love to do it. I was supposed to do
it during the campaign but we just ended up having to travel too much
and we weren't able to devote the amount of time that I wanted to.
Hopefully sometime during my presidency I'm going to get out there."
So that seems to mean President Obama hasn't been to a NASCAR race?
Ever? (LA Times)
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/misc.html

Edwards and Ambrose to team up for Grand-Am race: NASCAR stars Carl
Edwards and Marcos Ambrose will team up in Montreal for the Grand-Am
Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal on August 29. Edwards
and Ambrose will co-drive the No. 77 Ford DP car owned by Doran
Enterprises, Inc. in the two-hour race. Aflac is the primary sponsor
with Subway as a secondary sponsor for Edwards and iRacing.com and
Aussie wines as secondary sponsors for Ambrose. The Montreal 200 at
Circuit Gille Villeneuve will precede the Nationwide race next week
and marks the duo's debut in the series.(Roush Fenway PR)
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/drivers/news/carl_edwards.html
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/drivers/news/marcos_ambrose.html

New roller coaster featuring Dale Earnhardt's likeness to be unveiled
in 2010:
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/index.html

Brief filed in Mayfield vs. NASCAR case:
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/news/nascar.html

Terry Labonte in the No. 08:
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/index.html

Johnson to be induced into Auto Club Speedway Walk of Fame:
http://www.gnextinc.com/nascar/drivers/news/jimmie_johnson.html

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