Perdue takes spin around NC track – as passenger

CONCORD, N.C. — Gov. Beverly Perdue took a spin around a North Carolina race track, avoiding the same result as her predecessor.

Perdue sat on Thursday in the passenger seat of a stock car that took her around Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte at high speeds. A photo from Perdue’s office shows her wearing a racing suit as she slid through the open window of the car from the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

In 2003, Gov. Mike Easley slammed the car he was driving 120 mph into a wall, but he wasn’t hurt. Easley was practicing for some laps he would run for charity at the speedway.

Perdue was in town to sign an executive order reviving a state motorsports council dedicated to growing the state’s racing industry.

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