RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ Auto racing great Richard Petty was charged Wednesday with bumping his pickup into the back of a car and taking off, weeks before election day in his campaign for secretary of state.

Petty, the GOP nominee for secretary of state, will be arraigned next month on misdemeanor charges of hit and run and reckless driving, state highway officers said in Thursday’s edition of The News & Observer.

``I have not had a chance to talk to Mr. Petty other than to tell you that, again, it was a very, very minor incident,″ said Tom Grady, Petty’s lawyer.

ADVERTISEMENT

Highway Patrol Capt. H.M. Overcash said the driver, James Forest Rassette, claimed he was hit three to four times from behind Sept. 11 while driving on Interstate 85 about 30 miles north of Charlotte.

``Mr. Rassette said that he slowed down, and it’s my opinion that he assumed the truck hit him on purpose,″ Overcash said.

Rassette gave a trooper Petty’s driver license plate number and the trooper pulled Petty over a short time later driving a Dodge pickup. He was issued a citation and released.