Cindy McCain at NASCAR Event: 'I'm a Lead Foot'

By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall

Monday August 04, 2008 06:30 PM EDT

Cindy McCain with NASCAR president Mike Helton

Carolyn Kaster/AP

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Sliding out from behind the wheel of the tricked-out Corvette pace car at Sunday's NASCAR Pocono 500, Cindy McCain wouldn't say how fast she was driving – except to acknowledge with a wink that her miles-per-hour was in the triple digits.

"I'm not going to tell you," she told PEOPLE. "I don't want my husband to know, primarily."

The wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain added with a laugh that her speeding habit is not much of a secret back home in Arizona. "There are a few highway patrolmen around Phoenix who know me pretty well," said McCain, 54, a trained racecar driver, who was sporting white Lucky Brand jeans and Chanel ballet flats. "Absolutely, I am a lead foot."

McCain shared the grandstand at Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pa., with 24 star Kiefer Sutherland. Earlier this summer, John McCain told PEOPLE that, as an avid fan of Sutherland's 24 character Jack Bauer, he hoped for the actor's endorsement. No word from either camp whether Mrs. McCain used Sunday's joint appearance to make a personal appeal.