NASCAR moms a special, different breed of parent

Cindi Coleman knew she had a soon-to-be racer on her hands when she saw her 3-year-old son fall asleep on his Power Wheels doing laps around the cul-de-sac.

"He had gone around so many times, I looked out and saw his little head nodding. That was our early indication," said Coleman, mother of Brad Coleman, driver in NASCAR's Nationwide Series.

In the years to follow, her son became enamored with racecars and would soon leave the family's Texas home at 14 years old to live with a racing family and further his on-track aspirations. By 18, he was on his own in North Carolina.

Coleman wouldn't be there in the morning to shove a Pop-Tart in his hand on the way to the school bus and snapping the quintessential prom night photo in the foyer would have to wait.

Traditional high school and teenage mother-and-son memories would be traded for trips to racetracks and long-distance phone calls on how to nurse a wound from a hard lick in Turn 2.

Being a mother is challenge enough but being a NASCAR mom, parenting in the fast lane, comes with its own unique set of trials and triumphs.

In light of the upcoming Mother's Day festivities in Darlington, S.C. this weekend, I called on a few NASCAR moms to clue me in on what gears they needed to switch when their young sons said, "Mama, I wanna go fast," or how they learned to support their sons beyond selling candy bars for the PTA board.

Brad Coleman at 13, strapping in for his first race.

What I found out, after hours of good old fashioned girl talk, is that motherhood in NASCAR never really winds down; the demands before them today rival the demands the mother's had when the boys were in diapers and unable to sleep through the night.

Being a NASCAR mom requires an all-hands-on-deck mentality. They run their sons' merchandising operations, fan clubs and personal finances. Dutifully, they sit atop the war wagon nearly every Sunday and keep score for their sons and field countless fan requests.

Gaye Busch knows the life twice as well, as she is the matriarch for Kyle and Kurt Busch, two very accomplished and eager individuals. For her, mothering the boys began at a racetrack and will likely remain at the track for years to come.

In their home town of Las Vegas, Busch was pregnant with Kurt while she officiated over local dirt track races. She supported her husband, Tom Busch, a popular Late Model racer in the 1980s and 90s.

Gaye has been involved with racing for more than 30 years and was more than prepared for the day Kurt decided to go racing professionally. Kyle, well, mom said he knew before the eighth grade.

"Kyle programmed himself at an early age to become a racer," she said. "He was taking summer school in the eighth grade so he could finish high school a year early. He wanted to be Dale Earnhardt"

Like a supportive mother, Busch helped her boys achieve their dreams by providing a loving foundation and a no-nonsense parenting style; long hair, earrings and tattoos were not allowed. Good grades -- As and Bs -- were required or else they couldn't race.

Racing was a privilege, she said, and the boys earned it by being good in school, keeping up on their chores and helping out with the family tool business.

"They both graduated with honors, we never had problems with drinking or drugs, and they never hung out with the wrong crowd," Gaye Busch said. "They were too busy to get into any real trouble. I feel bad they missed out on some fun with their buddies but they wanted to race." (Continued)