AS A DRIVER, HE'S A PRETTY GOOD TALKER: CNN's account of North Carolina governor Mike Easley's recent 165MPH visit with the wall at Lowe's Motor Speedway contains a comic gem:

"It was fun for about four or five laps, but the last part wasn't too good," said Easley, who was wearing the HANS device, a head-and-neck restraint system mandated by NASCAR in October 2001. "I was pushing and the car was running tight and it got loose on me and I wrecked."

Track spokesman Jerry Gappens noted that "he's got some of the racing lingo down."

Bob Newhart couldn't have said it better.