With the stroke of a pen Tuesday, June 21st at Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed Senate Bill 322 into law, making stock car racing the official state sport and adding to the legacy of fabulous firsts at the historic 1.5-mile superspeedway. Perdue was joined by a host of special guests on hand to watch the bill signing ceremony, including Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway; NASCAR Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Bobby Allison; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Ragan; and a group of fourth and fifth grade students from Lake Norman Elementary School and Mt. Mourne IB School in Iredell County, who originated the bill. In addition, 12 grassroots Legend Car and Bandolero drivers, industry leaders and dignitaries who are members of the North Carolina Motorsports Advisory Council and Charlotte Motor Speedway fans were in attendance.
“Sometimes it takes really bright kids to tell all of us grown-ups what we ought to be doing. And that’s what these students are about today,” said Perdue. “They found something that should have been right under our noses because we all love NASCAR, we love Charlotte Motor Speedway, we get really excited during race season. So it’s pretty cool for these students to understand that we needed to do better.”
North Carolina now joins other U.S. states with an official state sport, including Alaska (dog mushing); Colorado (snowboarding and skiing); Massachusetts (basketball); Minnesota (hockey); and South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming (rodeo).(CMS)(6-22-2011)
