Coming SOON #49 Barack Obama Toyota?

I heard the news of this possibility earlier today, an announcement could be made soon and the for first time a Presidential candidate will be a primary sponsor for a car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The rumor is the car will run in the August race at Pocono in Pennsylvania.

Why NASCAR? Well believe it or not, of all the major TV sports NASCAR telecast's ratings are rising while the rest have been declining, I don't know the specifics, but I believe that sponsoring a car for ONE race can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a pretty hefty price, especially since the #49 car usually is nowhere to be seen during the broadcast, due to performance.

I am sure that the added notoriety of a candidate being the sponsor will get major airtime, I could only close my eyes and wonder how the call of the race would be.......

"The final lap... Obama's #49 Change Dodge TOYOTA leads the field heading into the tunnel turn, five car lengths separate the first three cars!!
Shadowing Obama is the #08 McCain POW/MIA Chevrolet and the #86 car.

McCain dives low heading into turn 3, Obama holds the line..

THEY ARE SIDE BY SIDE heading into turn 4!!!

THEY TOUCH! Both cars wash up the race track!! SMOKE billows as the cars brush the OUTSIDE WALL!!

Diving inside and clearing the wreck to take the VICTORY at the Pocono 500!!!

The #86 US Voters Hell No to the Status Quo FORD Fusion"

I can dream

Here's an article on this possibility:

sportsillustrated.com

SI.com has learned that for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR's premier series. According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing's No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days.

corrected title and post, thanks DocMoreau

[edit on 7/11/2008 by JacKatMtn]

It opens new possibilities for political campaigns - boxing, wrestling and such can follow too. How long to gladiators?
Do not mind me - this is envy talking. Our elections are so dull....

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


You make a point there, instead of Golden Palace Casino painted on the backs of boxers, presidential candidates?

Ahhh you have to love marketing...

Apparently the BAM racing number 49 car switched from Dodge to Toyota this season.

BAM Racing is a NASCAR racing team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau. The team's #49 Toyota Camry runs part-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, although the team is currently inactive.

further down...

The team switched from Dodge to Toyota before the Goody's Cool Orange 500, along with announcing Microsoft's Small Business division as their sponsor.BAM promptly announced that they would be withdrawing from the next two races at Texas and Phoenix to refocus the team's efforts

en.wikipedia.org...

It also seems like this Racing Team is in dire need of sponsorship.

I also read somewhere, although I cannot find it at the moment, that the team owners are staunch Republicans. I wonder if it is a case of needing money so badly, or actual support for Obama over McCain. I would think that if they supported McCain, they would have at least tried to offer him the car first...

aww it was cnn/si...

Obama will also be present for a second private fundraiser on July 30 in Miami, in which team owners Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau -- staunch Republicans -- will give the Democrat an opportunity to spread his message of change. Randy Moss and Fergie are among the celebrities confirmed to be a part of that fundraiser in support of the candidate and his venture into NASCAR.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com...

Crazy... I guess this is the biggest example of Obama 'swinging to the right', right?
DocMoreau

I think it's pretty cool, and a clever idea.

NASCAR gets huge exposure, although personally I prefer high-tech open wheel and sportscar racing (F1, Indycar, ALMS)... and don't get me started on MotoGP and Superbike motorcycle racing, I'll never shut up

reply to post by DocMoreau


You are correct!!! I will update the title, I forgot that they switched to Toyota earlier this season.

Thanks for the correction

Not a problem!

Here is some Eye Candy I created (I altered an image I found online of the 49 car in Microsoft paint) to mock up what the Obama #49 might look like...



Enjoy!
DocMoreau

edit to add... seeing it posted up is way cool... ALthough I thought I sized it right, its a bit cropped in the thread.

[edit on 11/7/2008 by DocMoreau]

[edit on 11/7/2008 by DocMoreau]

My parents are HUGE race fans. And they hate Obama. If this happens then, for the first time in their lives, they'll turn off the races.

I'm going to go call my mom now and tell her the rumor on this.

Ya'll .. listen for the explosion on the other end of the phone .. I'm sure you will all hear it from where ever you are in the world.

reply to post by DocMoreau


Nice work!

I would love to see the McCain and US Voters' car from my fantasy race call

[nudge, nudge]

reply to post by JacKatMtn


It took me about an hour to find the proper images for the Obama car. If my wife knew she would kill me!

If I find time to make the other cars I will, but I welcome other ATS photoshop gurus to take a swing since I wont even be able to touch this for a while. (Wife is off in a few hours until Monday, and I need to catch up on the time I wasted on ATS today)

Thanks for the kudos.
DocMoreau

You can dream, but first Obama and McCain have to pass Jimmie Johnson.

Obama Declines NASCAR Proposal

The Barack Obama campaign has reportedly declined the proposal of BAM Racing to be hood sponsor of the No. 49 Toyota driven by Ken Schrader at the Aug. 3 Pocono race.

In one respect, this is too bad for Obama. NASCAR fans are famous for crazy sponsor loyalty. Only the Gods of Beer know how much more Budweiser was sold because it sponsored fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. I mean, if Charles Manson sponsored Junior's car, pretty soon fans would be saying, "You know, that Charlie, he's a good ol' boy...." On the other hand, a losing outing for Obama's car — and Schrader has as much chance of winning as Jesse Jackson has of getting the democratic vice presidential nod — might actually hurt Obama with NASCAR dads. That would be, in the words of the Rev. Jackson, "nuts."

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Thanks for that link I needed the laugh

It is surprising that the possibility would make headlines one day and the very next, nixed?

I wonder if the Obama campaign, who is net savvy, took a pulse reading overnight and thought...

"oh no, this isn't going well"

...and decided against it.


It would have been a risky move anyway IMO, but I would have loved to see the #49, #08, and the victorious #86 battling out the final laps at Pocono this August.

I'd love to see the Obama car back out of the race and claim "independence from a broken Nascar system". It would just indicate that the Obama team doesn't have to follow to agreed upon rules like the other drivers.

It's change you can believe in.

reply to post by jetxnet

The Barack Obama campaign has reportedly declined the proposal of BAM Racing to be hood sponsor of the No. 49 Toyota driven by Ken Schrader at the Aug. 3 Pocono race.

Did you miss this statement before you decided to make one of your 'trademark' misplaced, snarky comments?

Plus backing out of auto race doesn't entitle you anything, so it would not indicate that the 'Obama team doesn't have to follow to agreed upon rules like the other drivers.' Sorry.

Your premise is flawed.

Nice try. You almost managed to do a good job discussing how the McCain campaign is upset because they cannot legally withdraw from Public Funding. It would be fraud. Back when they were dead broke, and used public funding as collateral on their loan, they should have thought about it. Maybe they his campaign should have done a better job actually reaching out to the public for funding, instead of trying to pander to them with staged town hall meetings.

There I did it for you, although in much more detail than you would have used. You would have said something about Obama 'not playing fair'
DocMoreau

Originally posted by jetxnet
I'd love to see the Obama car back out of the race and claim "independence from a broken Nascar system". It would just indicate that the Obama team doesn't have to follow to agreed upon rules like the other drivers.

It's change you can believe in.

Too bad about Obama not sponsoring a car.

But I think the real reason he declined is because he found a company to sponsor that's more fitting for his personality.

reply to post by DocMoreau


Hey, Doc,

Very cool bit of photo-shopping there!

I think that this is sad, very, very sad.

As if buy August we'll have forgotten who the candidates are!!!!

This crop of candidates has spent more money than God and putting them all on some Cup cars isn't going to make me like them more or less.

Cup, being from the south originally, could be used as a platform to reach out to the voters of the south.

reply to post by jamie83


Nice work Jamie! You were able to find a image of a feminine hygiene product and then apply the slogan "Obama '08" on it. Props to your skill as an artist and as a comedian.

For someone who originally claimed to be a Clinton supporter, you have really set the bar very high. Unless of course you original support for CLinton was more of a ruse.

That it became public knowledge that the McCain campaign was paying internet trolls to spread their message two days before you joined ATS is just a coincidence as well.

I tried to figure out something clever about 'it takes one to know one', but realized that would be too close to calling you a douche.
DocMoreau

Edit to add thanks to Wolf for the props.

[edit on 13/7/2008 by DocMoreau]