The U.S. Army has decided not to renew its sponsorship with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in 2013 as a primary sponsor of the #39 Chevy driven by Ryan Newman due to a reallocation of its marketing budget that will not include a presence in NASCAR. SHR is actively pursuing a strong brand to partner with the team and its roster of sponsors that also includes Office Depot, Mobil 1, Quicken Loans, GoDaddy.com, Haas Automation, Chevrolet, WIX Filters, Outback Steakhouse, Aspen Dental, Tornados, Coca-Cola, Oreo, Ritz, Bass Pro Shops and Code 3 Associates.
Brett Frood, Executive Vice President, Stewart-Haas Racing: ‘The U.S. Army has been a great partner of Stewart-Haas Racing since the team’s inception. 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. We remain very proud of our representation of the U.S. Army and its brave Soldiers who are 100 percent committed to our country. We will continue to activate on behalf of the U.S. Army for the rest of 2012, while also growing our other dynamic partnerships at Stewart-Haas Racing for the future.’
John Myers, Director, Marketing Support Element, Army Marketing and Research Group: ‘The U.S. Army has worked with Stewart-Haas Racing in a mutually beneficial and highly successful relationship for the past four seasons, and they ‘ve performed superbly as our partner on and off the track. The same can be said of other members of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series family we have sponsored during the past 10 seasons. 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.’(SHR)(7-10-2012)
U.S. Rep. McCollum Comments: U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum has won her two-year fight to get the Army to ‘stop wasting taxpayer dollars’ on sponsoring a NASCAR racing team. The Army announced Tuesday that it would stop sponsoring the Stewart-Haas Racing team. The sponsorships were supposed to be a recruiting tool, but McCollum had argued it’s an ineffective one. See McCollum’s press release on the issue at the Pioneer Press and another at USA Today.
Army to return to NHRA Army officials are in the process of signing a contract extension with Don Schumacher Racing through 2013 to continue the long-running sponsorship of the Top Fuel dragster for seven-time NHRA champion Tony Schumacher. ‘That’s our intent,’ said John Myers, director of marketing support for the Army Marketing and Research Group. ‘The NHRA is a valuable part of our motorsports outreach portfolio. We are working on an agreement through 2013. The NHRA gives us a great return on our investment.’(ESPN)
AND U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) plans to meet today with National Guard officials ‘to discuss their backing’ of the Hendrick Motorsports #88 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevy driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.(in part from Sports Business Daily)(7-11-2012)
