Trump Reelection Sponsor Causes Controversy, NASCAR Should Outlaw Politicians on Cars

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by Julian Spivey
Over the last month or so in NASCAR there seems to have been more interest on what’s wrapped around the racecars than who’s driving them or their performance on the track.
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More controversy over what’s on a racecar struck the sport this week when it was announced the No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford Mustang driven by Corey LaJoie would be sponsored by the Patriots of America PAC, a political action committee advocating for the reelection of President Donald Trump and the car would prominently feature ‘Trump 2020’ on its hood and rear quarter panel.

The Patriots of America PAC sponsorship for the No. 32 team will be a nine-race deal with the paint scheme debuting in this Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one of the sport’s biggest races of the season.

According to Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports, the PAC paid Go Fas Racing $350,000 on June 29, but it’s unclear if that payment is for the full nine-race deal or if there will be future payments.

The PAC previously sponsored a car driven in the Xfinity Series by Joe Nemechek for Mike Harmon Racing earlier this year. It’ll be the first time President Trump’s name had appeared on a Cup Series car since Reed Sorensen had a ‘Trump/Pence’ paint scheme for Premium Motorsports on his car just days before the 2016 presidential election.

Of course, Go Fas Racing being sponsored by a Trump for reelection committee has caused backlash toward the team, the driver and the sport. It’s the second time in the span of a month that something wrapped around a racecar has caused a lot of backlash for the sport after Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. raced a car with Black Lives Matter on it at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia on June 10. That car was not actually sponsored by the Black Lives Matter group but was a statement by Wallace and his Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 team with racial injustice being a major topic at this time in the country.

Go Fas Racing team owner Archie St. Hilaire said: “I’m honored to be part of the President’s re-election campaign through the Patriots of America PAC. As a Trump 2020 supporter, this team will do everything possible to secure victory on and off the track electing President Donald Trump to a second term. Let s bring this country back and Keep America Great!”

LaJoie, who currently sits 27th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings with one top-10 finish in 15 races, said: “With an estimated 75 million NASCAR fans out there, I was surprised that about 15 million of those fans are not registered voters. I will give my best effort to get NASCAR fans registered to vote, through our team efforts on and off the track. When they see the car, hopefully it makes them race to the polls in November.”

After receiving backlash to his car’s newest sponsor LaJoie has turned his Twitter profile to private and according to popculture.com turned off the comments to his latest Instagram post and cropped out the ‘Trump 2020’ decal in a photo that featured his car.

NASCAR teams rely so heavily on sponsorships that it can be hard for a small team like Go Fas Racing to turn down opportunities, though it’s clear the owner of the team fully supports President Trump. But many are claiming fans should take it easy on LaJoie for the sponsor of his car.

While drivers aren’t always in control of the sponsors on their rides they are, of course, in control over whether or not to drive for those teams. This is a hard situation for LaJoie to be in, there’s no doubt about that. If he were to refuse to drive under this sponsor, he would simply be replaced with another driver who would. However, that is an option he could take. And after the courage we’ve seen from at least one other driver in the Cup Series within the last month it’s valid to question his decision to drive the car with that sponsorship.

My belief is that NASCAR should make it policy within the sport that cars cannot feature sponsorship of politicians. That would keep fans from getting angered by seeing names of politicians on cars, it would make the sport stop seeming like it’s siding with one political party or another and most importantly it would keep drivers like LaJoie from either receiving backlash or having to make potentially career altering decisions.

NASCAR does have control over team sponsorships. In 2017 driver Carl Long was forced to remove a sponsor logo for Veedverks, a Colorado-based marijuana vaping company, from the car he owned and competed in.

There’s always going to be the chance that some sponsors are going to be controversial or offend people. Many didn’t like Wallace’s Black Lives Matter scheme (though, again, it wasn’t a sponsor) and I’ve always despised the National Rifle Association sponsoring cars driven by Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr. and others in the past, as well as sponsoring races at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s going to be nearly impossible to please everyone. But it makes sense for the sport to want to eliminate political candidates from using cars as political ads, especially in today’s climate. Hopefully, the sport will look into that for the 2021 season. 

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