Studies have shown Americans can spend more than 15 hours a week in their cars. That's more than 32 days a year.

That kind of time with your vehicle is enough to warrant a major relationship. No wonder we humanize our cars by giving them names!

NASCAR drivers do it all the time -- name their race cars, that is -- so I thought it best to name mine as well.

She's a sporty, black compact four-door that smells of Bath and Body sun-ripened raspberry, coffee and dog slobber. It's an environment I'm most comfortable with.

I could rip a name once used by Dale Earnhardt Jr. but something tells me "Wild-Eyed Crazy Mary" doesn't quite capture my driving style.

Nevertheless, car names are essential and have been floating around since the days of racing on the beach at Daytona.

"You have to name your race car," Earnhardt said. "It has a personality already, so you've got to give it a name. That's only fair. Only fun, too. It's better than some number, you know? Everybody has got numbers stamped all over them."

Earnhardt has made a habit of naming his race cars just like his grandfather and legendary fabricator Robert Gee used to do.

"Yeah, just for fun. We used to name them all the time," Earnhardt said. "I had the 'Mach 5' and the car I raced at Myrtle Beach and the late models I built from the ground up, we called it 'Wild-Eyed Crazy Mary.'"

The name came from a song Pearl Jam sang called Crazy Mary, written by Victoria Williams, and more cars and names followed.

"The car that I burned down to the ground at Nashville in late models was called the 'General Lee,' because it was built in Richmond, Va. We had some Busch [Nationwide Series] cars called 'Red-Headed Stepchild' because the chassis was red. We had a lot of different names for some of our cars." (Continued)