NASCAR gave $15,000 to Florida’s Republican Party the day after a judge upheld a new GOP-supported law and refused to unseal autopsy photos of Dale Earnhardt, according to a report Sunday.
Campaign records show the GOP reported the check on June 14, though a NASCAR official said Friday the donation came in conjunction with a June 9 fundraiser in Orlando featuring Vice President Dick Cheney, according to Gannett News Service.
The law was adopted in March after Earnhardt was killed in the Daytona 500 on Feb 18.
NASCAR and GOP officials denied any connection between the contribution and the legislature’s swift passage of the law, which blocks public access to autopsy photos unless a judge grants an exemption. Republicans hold the majority in the state Senate and House.
“We make contributions from time to time,” NASCAR spokesman John Griffin said. “This is not the first time we’ve done it.”
Tuffy hangs tough
Ex-Cub Tuffy Rhodes, who last played in the majors with the Boston Red Sox in 1995, hit his 53rd homer of the season Sunday. With 15 games left, Rhodes needs three more homers to break the Japanese record of 55 set by Sadaharu Oh in 1964.
Say what?
`I wake up in tears because it’s all over. Football still flows through my body.’
–Retired Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona
