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Motor Sports

White House honors NASCAR champions, drivers

August 20, 2009 - 7:52 am
 
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WASHINGTON — Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson had the gas to get to the White House on Wednesday, where President Barack Obama honored the 2008 winner as well as auto racing.

"NASCAR is a uniquely American sport," Obama said beneath the South Portico, flanked by nine of the 12 drivers who competed last year for NASCAR’s top prize. Three drivers had scheduling conflicts and could not attend.

Obama said NASCAR drivers work to support U.S. troops, local schools and environmental innovation. Obama said the sport certainly has grown since "moonshiners" raced in Daytona Beach, Fla., to become a service-oriented organization known around the world.

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