Governor Perdue Signs Bill Making Stock Car Racing North Carolina’s Official

CONCORD, N.C. (June 21, 2011) – With the stroke of a pen today 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.”

The students worked to get the legislation passed for more than a

year and the bill was ratified last week by the state’s General Assembly. In

proposing the legislation, the students pointed to motorsports’ $6 billion

annual economic impact to North Carolina and noted that Charlotte, N.C., and

the surrounding region is home to Charlotte Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Hall

of Fame and more than 90 percent of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams. More

than 200 businesses in Cabarrus County support the motorsports industry,

which employs nearly 20,000 people in the region.

“It feels really good to know that the bill has finally passed and

nobody disagreed with making stock car racing North Carolina’s state sport,

it feels really rewarding,” said Sierra Bice, a student at Lake Norman

Elementary School.

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).

“When you think about North Carolina and you think about racing, it

really has been unofficially the state sport for so long and I think today

to have the governor sign a bill that makes racing the official state sport

is really neat and special,” said Smith. “It’s an exciting time and a real

privilege for Charlotte Motor Speedway to be such a big part of the

governor’s trip today.”

To view photos from the event, visit:

http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/multimedia/photo/.

Tickets for October races at Charlotte Motor Speedway are on sale

now and can be purchased online at http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com or by

calling the speedway ticket office at 1-800-455-FANS (3267). The Coca-Cola

Four Pack includes tickets, hot dogs and Coca-Cola drinks starting at just

$39.75 per person.

Connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway on Twitter at

http://www.twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy or on Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/charlottemotorspeedway.

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