Vice President Cheney NASCAR America Supports You.

Technorati Tags: Daytona International Speedway and Daytona Beach Florida or NASCAR and Vice President ot President Bush and America Supports You or Dick Cheney and VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY or Fox Sports Network and cars

America Supports You: Cheney Thanks NASCAR Community, By Steven Donald Smith, American Forces Press Service

Vice President Dick Cheney meets members of the U.S. Army NASCAR racing team July 1 while attending the 2006 Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla. White House photo by David Bohrer.

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2006 – Attending his first NASCAR event July 1, Vice President Dick Cheney thanked the car racing community for its continued support of America's servicemembers.

"I want to thank everybody associated with NASCAR, and especially the drivers and the crew chiefs," Cheney said during the drivers meeting prior to the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla. "I know you guys have spent a lot of time with the troops, ... especially those who are in Afghanistan and Iraq and a lot of other places around the world." Cheney said this support was especially important because NASCAR has a huge following among the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.

"That's deeply, deeply appreciated," he said. "There's a symbiotic relationship there, a mutual admiration - the young men and women in our military who love NASCAR, and NASCAR we praise for supporting them."

Many of the drivers have visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here and the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Md.

"It means a great deal to them that you're willing to spend time demonstrating your support for them," he said.

"On behalf of the president and myself, we greatly appreciate it," he added. "It means a great deal to all of us that you're willing to demonstrate that kind of support for them - (we) know you do a lot in your communities, the major activities and support for the charities and so forth."

Later in the day, Cheney was interviewed on the Fox Sports Network, where he said the 150,000 people at Daytona racetrack was probably the largest live audience he ever addressed.

"It is an awesome undertaking -- just the sheer size of the crowd, the energy, the complexity of what goes on in the pits, and with the teams and the crews." Cheney said. "It's really something."

The vice president said he loved to drive, but had not done so in almost seven years.

"The morning the president -- then governor -- announced that I was going to be his running mate, the Secret Service showed up outside my door and I haven't driven since," he said. "They take over. They do it for security reasons. And it's understandable, but it's very frustrating."

Cheney also said he had the opportunity to spend some time with the drivers and crews of the service-sponsored cars. The Army, National Guard and Air Force all had cars in the race.

"They're down-home people. They're very straightforward, no pretense," he said. "Everybody is measured by how they perform out here on the track, so it's a meritocracy."

Related Site: America Supports You

Relared: Keywords Vice President Cheney, Sunday, July 02, 2006 Interview of the Vice President Fox Sports Daytona, Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Vice President's Remarks with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of Croatia, Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Vice President's Remarks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Vice President's Remarks with Ukrainian President Viktor, Yushchenko, Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Vice President Cheney and Lithuanian President Valdus Adamkus, Monday, April 17, 2006 Vice President Cheney and Mrs. Cheney Release 2005 Income Tax Return, Thursday, February 16, 2006 Interview of the Vice President by Brit Hume (VIDEO), Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Update by the Office of the Vice President, Saturday, January 21, 2006 Vice President, Neil Cavuto, FOX News (VIDEO), Friday, January 13, 2006 Vice President to Travel to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Friday, January 06, 2006 Vice President's Remarks on Iraq and the War on Terror (VIDEO), Thursday, November 17, 2005 Vice President's Remarks 11/16/05, Monday, October 31, 2005 Vice President appointed David S. Addington chief of staff, Saturday, October 29, 2005 Vice President's Statement on Libby Resignation, Friday, October 28, 2005 Resignation of Scooter Libby (VIDEO, Tuesday, October 04, 2005 Remarks by the Vice President to Second Marine Expeditionary Force,