Snapshots of a friendship
Saturday, Mar. 28, 2009
Former Gov. Mike Easley and NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick have been friendly for years. But state travel and other records show Easley and Hendrick were in contact frequently as the N.C. Motorsports Association's interest in public policy was increasing. A glance at mid-2003 through 2004:
May 9, 2003: Easley goes with his campaign manager to Lowe's Motor Speedway. Wrecks car while practicing for charity laps.
May 15, 2003: Easley holds press conference at Lowe's. Hendrick later says he sees “how much influence [the N.C. Motorsports Association] was capable of.”
May 17, 2003: Easley, his son and four of his son's friends fly on the state-owned jet to NASCAR all-star race at Lowe's.
Aug. 1, 2003: Grant application filed with Golden LEAF Foundation for economic impact study.
Sept. 23, 2003: Hendrick made vice chairman of the N.C. Motorsports Association.
Sept. 30, 2003: Easley flies from Raleigh to “Rick Hendrix” for an unspecified public-service announcement, according to flight log.
Oct. 9 2003: Easley used Hendrick's car museum in Concord to host a reception honoring Nextel Communications, then sponsor of NASCAR's top racing series.
Dec. 15, 2003: Motorsports association announces grant money awarded for economic study of racing industry.
Jan. 15, 2004: Easley flies to Iowa on Hendrick's jet to campaign for then-Sen. John Edwards' presidential bid. The Edwards campaign paid $2,251 for the flight.
March 17, 2004: Easley flies on a state helicopter to grand opening of Hendrick Lexus in Charlotte. Easley said he met with top Toyota executives there.
June 1, 2004: Easley flies to Charlotte to award Hendrick's parents with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
Aug. 5, 2004: Easley signs bill providing money for cancer hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill. Introduces Hendrick, a cancer survivor who sought treatment out of state, as an example of someone the hospital will help.
Oct. 5, 2004: Easley attends event in Mooresville for the release of racing studies that recommend legislation for motor sports. He goes to Concord and stays four hours before returning to Raleigh.
Oct. 12, 2004: Easley flies on the state jet to Charlotte. Within days, Easley campaign reports donations from a number of people tied to racing, including Hendrick and several relatives. Hendrick, a Republican, gave Easley the maximum allowed campaign contribution of $4,000.
The Charlotte Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since charlotteobserver.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The Charlotte Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
@Nyx.CommentBody@