Rubio Campaign Press Release - Did You Know the EPA Could Be Coming after Your Homebuilt Race Car?

For years, Marco has been talking about the EPA's affinity for job-killing regulations, but they go after Americans' hobbies with pointless power grabs, too.

Now, the EPA is coming to your local racetrack.

In July of 2015, the EPA issued over 600 pages of proposed rules on "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles."

You might be wondering: What does this have to do with race cars?

Good question. The common sense answer would be nothing. But this the EPA we're talking about.

The EPA recently stated that an emissions-certified vehicle (i.e., a regular car) cannot be modified into a race car in a way that violates the Clean Air Act.

So race cars that range from modified sports cars to Mini Stock cars could be in violation of EPA rules.

The EPA maintains this is merely a "clarification" of its existing rules, not a new rule, but hobbyists are worried their cars are now technically illegal.

Of course the rule could never make any dent in air pollution, but it could get in the way of you or your neighbor's hobby.

SEMA, which represents manufacturers of aftermarket car parts, denounced the EPA's "clarification," saying the following:

The regulation would impact all vehicle types, including the sports cars, sedans and hatch-backs commonly converted strictly for use at the track. While the Clean Air Act prohibits certain modifications to motor vehicles, it is clear that vehicles built or modified for racing, and not used on the streets, are not the "motor vehicles" that Congress intended to regulate.

"This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles," said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. "Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion."

There's now a White House petition to stop the EPA, which gained over 100,000 signatures in less than 24 hours!

For the sake of America and American jobs — and racing fans everywhere — we need a President who will stand up to the EPA and rein in out of control government regulation.