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NASCAR made North Carolina's official state sport

PUBLISHED Tuesday, Jun 21, 2011 at 5:16 pm EDT

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue signed a bill Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that makes NASCAR the state’s official sport.

The bill was an idea that came from North Carolina elementary school students, who discovered North Carolina lacked an official sport.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue, left, signed the bill on Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (AP Photo)

Among those on hand for the signing were 2011 Hall of Fame inductees Bobby Allison and Ned Jarrett, current Sprint Cup Series driver David Ragan, and the students who originated the bill.

"Sometimes it takes really bright kids to tell all of us grown-ups what we ought to be doing," Perdue said. "And that's what these students are about today."

The students had worked over a year to get the bill passed.

According to a Charlotte Motor Speedway release, the motorsports industry employs nearly 20,000 in the Charlotte, N.C. region.

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