There was a time when stock car racing was an outlaw sport. Some of the greatest of the early drivers learned their skills hauling moonshine. Most conspicuously, Junior Johnson who did a stretch in the federal crossbar hotel. But the days of Junior, Richard, Dale, and the rest of them are long past. NASCAR went corporate and like all “mature industries,” it learned how to play cozy with Washington.
A tax break for racetrack depreciation is facing the ax in one of those temporary fits of Congressional fiscal prudence. The loophole (a term NASCAR disputes, it is an “incentive’) became law, as Bernie Becker of The Hill writes:
Those in favor of the tax break are hauling out the usual arguments:
And, then, there is the argument that NASCAR and its tracks should get tax breaks equal to those extended to Disney and its theme parks.
NASCAR pleading to be treated like Disney.
Say goodbye to Thunder Road.
