Amid election season, millions were nearly spent on a NASCAR team
In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump was outspent by the Democratic party. However, he went on to become 45th President of the United Stated.
2020 is another election year, Trump came into election season with a much larger budget than his opponent, Joe Biden.
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Shortly after the inauguration, Trump filed for re-election. His team have been piling up funds ever since.
$1.1 billion was raised from the beginning of 2019 through July. $800 million of that has already been spent according to the NY Times.
In July, Bill Stepien replaced Brad Parscale as the head campaign manager. That led to a crossing off of many things that could have been, including a NASCAR sponsorship.
Mr. Parscale stated via twitter that less than $11 million was spent on two SuperBowl ads. One of which was run on the post-game portion of the telecast.
When Mr. Stepien’s took the position, he tossed aside a $3 million dollar plan to sponsor a NASCAR team.
$3 million would have landed a Trump paint scheme on a very fast team. That would have been a NASCAR Cup Series sponsorship with team capable of winning a race.
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Trump 2020 car
Currently, Corey LaJoie drives the Trump 2020 car in select races of NASCAR Cup Series competition.
“I have taken a lot of grief over it. A lot of the bigger teams didn’t want to get into the political game, or they didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to take the deal,” St. Hilaire said, per Bangor Daily News in August.
He added, “I had no problem taking it. I support the President. He has done a decent job.” The sponsorship started as two small Trump 2020 logos during the doubleheader races at Pocono, but it has since expanded to cover the entire No. 32 Ford Mustang.
The deal brought only $350,000 to Go Fas Racing. However, the funds did not come directly from the Trump campaign. The deal was put together by Patriots of America PAC.
Go Fas Racing is a smaller team. Funds go a long way when competing with powerhouse organizations.
“We have a $7 million budget and 18 employees,” St. Hilaire continued. “The big teams like Gibbs Racing, Hendrick and Stewart-Hass have 400-500 employees and a $25-$30 million budget.”
Related: Trump 2020 NASCAR race car to debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
