It won’t all be “Black Lives Matter” messaging at Sunday’s NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Corey LaJoie’s No. 32 car at the Brickyard 400 is being sponsored by a conservative political action committee and will sport a “Trump 2020” paint scheme.
Patriots of America, which is supporting President Trump’s reelection bid, will back Mr. LaJoie’s Ford Mustang for nine races.
The car will be painted in red, white and blue and “Trump 2020” signage.
“With an estimated 75 million NASCAR fans out there, I was surprised that about 15 million of those fans are not registered voters,” Mr. LaJoie said in a statement reported by Fox Business News. “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.”
Go Fas Racing, which owns the No. 32 car, is led by a Trump supporter.
“I am honored to be part of the President’s re-election campaign through the Patriots of America PAC,” team owner Archie St. Hilaire said. “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 us bring this country back and Keep America Great!”
The race comes just a couple of weeks after NASCAR banned once-ubiquitous Confederate memorabilia and a pull rope at a garage assigned to Bubba Wallace, the NASCAR Cup Series’ only Black driver, was wrongly taken for a noose. The mistake resulted in several NASCAR drivers and the organization making pro-BLM statements and all the Cup Series drivers accompanying Wallace on a lap.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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