At the time I began to fall in love with this sport, I began to fall in love with the nostalgia of the sport. I am in love with it's history and how it even became a sport. It's one of the largest viewed sports live and has still maintained it's personal relationship with it's fans. No other sports allow fans into their locker rooms on game day and no other fans tailgate for three days prior to the event.  As I learn about the history and watch old film reels of cars at Daytona literally racing off the track, I just wonder how did they do it - these men who started out just having fun on the weekends.  This wasn't their full time jobs and it didn't pay enough to be a full time job. It was born out of passion for speed and God bless the women that stuck with them.  You hear about stories of struggling young drivers and how they scraped to pay for replacement parts while trying to put food on the table and raise a family. I don't know if I could be that strong like Lynda Petty, Stevie Waltrip and even Nan Zipadelli. I love my husband enough to turn his interest into my interest, but it doesn't cost me anything. It costs me a Sunday afternoon. These women have had to compete with another passion in their men's lives that often leaves you wondering who is being put second. It's tough for a woman to compete with passion, especially when finances are so tight. I think I would absolutely be livid if my husband was spending money on new tires and we couldn't pay our heating bill. I have a whole new respect for wives and families that have made these sacrifices.

That brings me to how I became a Tony Stewart fan. It was a moment where a wife was thanked and how that changed my view for that driver - and it wasn't even the driver's wife. Tony Stewart doesn't even have a wife, but his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli does. I didn't like Tony when I started watching NASCAR. I thought he was arrogant, temperamental, rude to the media and just thought he gave the sport a bad name. He just couldn't conduct himself that I thought a NASCAR driver should conduct himself. Respectful, Passionate, but, with Intergrity. So when he won the Championship in 2002, I wasn't happy. But something happened at the Championship ceremony that began to change my point of view. At the awards ceremony, Greg Zipadelli spoke, one of the honors bestowed upon the crew chief of the championship team. It was obvious he was nervous, but he spoke with sophistication and control. He thanked his typical list; owners, sponsors, crew, driver, NASCAR and then he began to thank his wife. He went from reading a teleprompter and began talking with his heart. He was still nervous as he continued reading but he was more sincere. He thanked Nan for all the sacrifices she made for him to follow his dream, and even though his voice cracked, it wasn't because he was nervouse, but because he truly meant it and because of her sacrifices he loved he so much. He literally brought tears to my eyes. (I'm a girl - I can't help it)

Come next season, I gave Tony a break, partially in response to Zippy's speech. For someone to be so sincere to his wife in such a public display of affection and maintain a championship team - well there had to be more to it. I think Zippy had what it takes to take Tony aside and say "You're a damn good race driver but some things have got to change." Come to find out -I didn't have to be so harsh to Tony. He began to change. He went through anger management classes and began conducting himself in a way any NASCAR fan would be proud of in a driver. He still gets grief from fans but then what driver doesn't. Zippy explained it perfectly that when you're launched into a super celebrity status and you are doing what you have done every day since you were a kid, the adjustment is difficult for some until you learn how to control it. It was something Tony had to learn to adjust. He learned he would be hunted by the media and he always would be. If this is what you want to do in your life and you know you are only going to get better at it, then the demaind is only going to intensify. Either you change or it will choke you. He changed. He matured into a respectable driver that gives the media what it's due and then some. He has proven time and time again of his compassion and dedication to NASCAR, his fans, and his community. He summed it up in the year 2005, the year of his second championship. He won it for Zippy as well as his crew. He won a championship while giving the sport the respect that it was due. He made his entire crew, sponsors, owners, NASCAR and fans proud he was their champion. He grew as a person and that's why I'm a Tony Stewart fan.

Point proven this past weekend at the Subway Fresh 500. Any team would be upset if their qualifying tires were turned in accidentally and destroyed; especially after qualifying third. Then for it to be Tony Stewart's tires - oh have mercy. Can you imagine how many times they played out that conversation before they actually told Tony? What can you do? You can't do anything about it and he took the high road - all the way to first. Just makes you wonder if the incident hadn't happened if Kevin Harvick would have been able to catch him in those last laps.

Next blog - I'm just here for the Sexiest Driver