Posted on 05/10/2005 3:15:24 PM PDT by Howlin
Gov. Mike Easley climbed into Hendrick Motorsports' No. 48 car at the Executive Mansion today, blasted out of the driveway and promptly lost control, missing a parked Mercedes sedan and a utility pole by mere inches. He crashed a retired No. 48 car into the wall at Lowe's Motor Speedway two years ago this week.Updated: 3:28 PM
Gov. Mike Easley is pushed from a curb after he lost control of a borrowed race car. The incident occurred seconds after he peeled out of the Executive Mansion driveway in downtown Raleigh. Easley narrowly missed crashing into a utility pole and a parked car.
Easley missed hitting a silver Mercedes sedan and a utility pole by mere inches. No one was hurt, including Easley, who wasn't wearing a helmet.
"He came dashing out of the gates of the mansion, lost it some there and then corrected with panache," said bystander Cherie Braun. "He just missed hitting something by the skin of his teeth ... It was a Kleenex away."
Of course, aggressive driving is nothing new for Easley, who crashed a stock car into the wall at Lowe's Motor Speedway two years ago this week.
Easley's trip on Tuesday wasn't his morning drive to the office. The governor wanted to tout the state's high interest in motorsports and kick off a tour of the NEXTEL trophy.
Easley stayed in the car while four handlers pushed it back into the street. He drove slowly on his way to the front of the Legislative Building, about a two blocks away.
By the time he rounded the final turn, the engines were revving loudly again.
Easley parked the car, popped out of the window and stood on the window frame like a cup winner and thrust his arms into the air.
Gov. Mike Easley may
want to keep his day job after a mishap with Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 car for the
second time.
http://www.wral.com/index.html
For the video: scroll down; it's on the left.
Difficult to steer eh.
For reference:
Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2003
Governor wrecks, climbs into
a 2nd car and runs more laps
By JIM UTTER and RONNIE GLASSBERG
ThatsRacin.com and The Charlotte Observer
CONCORD, N.C. - In his first 24 laps in a race car at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley reached speeds averaging 165.8 mph.
It was Lap 25 that gave him trouble.
At the second turn about 11:45 a.m., he started spinning out. He couldn't straighten out.
The front of the car he was driving struck a foam barrier on the inside of the track. He spun around and slid about 350 feet. Then, the rear of the car hit the barrier, too.
Easley wasn't injured and was getting out of the car by the time emergency workers arrived, about 30 seconds later.
"This could have been a serious accident, but fortunately all the safety equipment worked," said speedway spokesman Jerry Gappens.
The driver's compartment wasn't damaged, and the rest of the car is designed to absorb the energy of a crash, Gappens said.
Easley said he was just embarrassed.
"It's a lot of fun, but I feel bad about wrecking that car," said Easley, dressed in a blue racing suit, his face flushed in the hot air.
The governor was practicing to drive laps before The Winston race next week in a fund-raiser for an anti-school-dropout program, he said. He still plans to drive the charity laps.
"When you've got a tight budget, you have to have a creative way to find money for education," he said.
The No. 48 Chevrolet, owned by Hendrick Motorsports and formerly driven by Winston Cup driver Jimmie Johnson, will be repaired at the racing team's expense, a company spokesman said. Its value is estimated between $75,000 and $100,000.
The crash wasn't unusual, said Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler.
"What happened to him is going to happen a whole bunch of times in the next two weeks by the best drivers in the world," Wheeler said.
"You have to expect that. That's what happens at race tracks. People crash."
Easley, who has practiced on the track at similar speeds before, was wearing a HANS device, one of two head-and-neck restraints approved by NASCAR. The restraints were mandated by NASCAR in October 2001, several months after seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt died of head injuries in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500.
Last October, Easley drove behind the pace cars for two parade laps before the Winston Cup race in Concord. He had planned to run a third lap in honor of Earnhardt, but a rain delay and damp track conditions cut it short.
Easley's wife, Mary, said in a telephone interview that she would support her husband's continuing to drive on the track.
"Being in one of those race cars is probably a lot safer than being in regular automobile traffic on I-40 at 6 p.m. at night at rush hour," she said.
In a 2001 investigation, The Observer found that more than 260 people, including 29 spectators, died in U.S. auto racing from 1990 through 2001. At least 31 more people have died since that report. That review excluded racing schools.
Speedway fatalities among nonprofessional drivers, however, are rare. In October 1997, a 57-year-old man from Springfield, Mo., taking a three-day racing course from an unaffiliated school at Lowe's Motor Speedway was killed after he hit a wall at 85 mph. The soft foam barrier was installed in fall 2000.
That student's death, from a head injury, was apparently the first at a racing school in at least 10 years. About 10,000 people per year participate in such schools.
Despite his crash, Easley returned to another Hendrick car - an old No. 5 Chevrolet driven previously by Terry Labonte - about an hour later.
Before that second run, Wheeler told the governor, "You're not a real racer until you hit a wall."
This time, he was a bit slower, driving 162 or 163 mph for seven laps, said Frank Edwards of Hendrick Motorsports.
"I don't want to mess up two Hendrick cars in the same day," Easley said. "He might not speak to me again."
As he climbed out, Easley told Wheeler he liked the new car better. "I felt a lot more comfortable in that one," he said.
Easley joked that he might need earplugs for the drive out to his brother's wedding Friday night with his wife and son.
Mary Easley said she's glad she wasn't at the track.
"That would have been tough to listen to and watch," Mary Easley said.
U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., whose district includes the speedway and who formerly owned part of a Busch race team, said he thinks it's great that Easley is driver race cars. He said he's glad the governor wasn't hurt.
"After three years of left turns," Hayes said, "I guess he chose the wrong time to turn right."
In fact, the Democratic governor may have avoided serious injury when he veered left into the foam barrier.
As an NC resident and a fan of fast cars I would make the following observation.
The fact that he had a mishap at the raceway 2 years ago while embarassing, does not seriously reflect on his character.
The fact that this AH, our esteemed governor, saw fit to hop into a racecar on the public streets and promptly put life and property at risk by his own incompetence, stupidity and arrogance, makes me think that he is not fit to serve.
What a jerk.
This happens to anyone else (not that anyone else would get the same chances he has had) and they would be facing serious consequences.
"After three years of left turns," Hayes said, "I guess he chose the wrong time to turn right."
LOL!
What a fool he is. I only wish I had seen this in person.
NASCAR bump
Only a Democrat could embarrass himself like this, crash the car and still raise his arms in victory.
Well, I suppose after years of self-dellusion, maybe it comes naturally.
Take cover the Gov is driving crashing the 48 car again Ping
""Being in one of those race cars is probably a lot safer than being in regular automobile traffic..."
For the governor, yeah. But not for other motorists and pedestrians in the immediate vicinity.
Trajan88
I wouldn't take this guy lightly. He ran 12 points ahead of Kerry and is very popular among conservative Democrats in eastern North Carolina who voted for Bush and Richard Burr. He's probably one of the best candidates for the Democrats in 2008.
Yessir, and this guy is used to making high speed left turns. Kerry may have ended up in second place (the first loser) last season, but 10 extra points can get you onto the stage in New York... LOL
Sheesh... didn't anyone from Hendrick tell him these Chevys run 800 horse? Lucky no one was killed, including the goof behind the wheel.
Geez, get him a tricycle.
I guess he's bucking for the Ernie Irvan Award.
A little NASCAR levity for you all...
I hope he pulls out his own checkbook instead of taxpayer money to pay for the damages. This is NOT a travel expense.
Goes without saying that if any of us did this they'd lift our license and slap us with a reckless driving citation right quick.
I guess I'll not wait for the NC newspapers to start asking those hard questions like how come the guv wasn't cited.
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