SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was in Sioux Falls Thursday to announce the state of South Dakota would be sponsoring a race car.
The sponsorship is part of the state’s Freedom Works Here marketing initiative aimed at attempting to convince people from other states to move to South Dakota in order to fill job vacancies.
Noem unveiled a car at the event that would advertise the campaign. It features the Governor on both sides sporting a backward baseball cap. Racing the actual care will be B.J. McLeod, who has no wins, no top 5 or top 10 finishes yet this year and had had 3 D.N.F.’s, or Did Not Finish. The team is near the bottom in NASCAR points.
The sponsorship, according to Noem, came about when “individuals from NASCAR” reached out and told her: “We love your campaign, we love how you’re embracing blue-collar workers — that is our heart as well and we wanna support you and we wanna do what we can to support South Dakota too because we love the fact that you stand for freedom and that you’re working to get people into jobs and embracing the good old-fashioned value of a work ethic.”
The car unveiled at the event is just a show car, Noem noted, which will tour South Dakota for 10 days. Noem’s face will not be on the actual car, which she announced will race at Richmond, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee.
It is not clear just how much the state of South Dakota is paying for this sponsorship. Asked about the cost of the car sponsorship, Noem said at the event that it was part of a $5 million advertising program. The specific cost of the sponsorship itself was not given.
