While stopped at a traffic light the other day, I couldn't help but smile at the driver next to me.

Displayed in the window of her Tahoe was a decal that read: "1/4 Midget Mom."

We exchanged glances and I admired the mom for supporting her child's non-traditional sport of choice in a suburb filled with socialites and soccer moms.

“

Anyone that could actually raise me and not want to kill me or kick me out of the house has got to be a very patient person. That's my mom.

”

TONY STEWART

But as quick as that stoplight turned green, my admiration dissipated and panic set in.

As an expectant mother, I freaked out for a moment. Dreading the thought of raising a race car driver, I thought, "Wholly cow, what if the little boy growing inside me wants to 'go fast' and has me schlepping to dirt tracks all over Indiana from Kokomo to Haubstadt and everywhere in between?"

I immediately brainstormed ways to insulate my future son from the racing world. Deflated, I soon realized that would be next to impossible. We live in Indianapolis, the racing capital of the world, and his mother earns a living by attending and writing about NASCAR races.

Deferring to Plan B, I could enroll my young son into summer theater camps and convince him boys who wear black, skinny jeans are cool. Of course, that would never work considering his father was a three-sport college athlete who secretly wishes he could open his own driving range and live life as Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy.

The entire 10-minute meltdown in the car had me wondering what motherhood was and continues to be like for NASCAR moms such as Carol Bickford, mother of Jeff Gordon; Diane Newman, mother of Ryan Newman; or better yet, Pam Boas, mother of the one and only Tony Stewart.

Oh, you know that woman had her hands full.

"She's a pretty patient woman," Stewart said. "Anyone that could actually raise me and not want to kill me or kick me out of the house has got to be a very patient person. That's my mom. She's a very patient lady with a great heart and she's really good with people."

Getting emotional, I wondered what I would have to do over the course of my son's life to earn such high praise.

After speaking to Boas, who will accompany her son across the proverbial Mother's Day stage at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, I have a pretty good idea. Yes, all the successful race car drivers on the circuit today had father's steering their careers, but it was the support of the moms in the pits providing the unwavering support and constant encouragement that fostered the confidence of drivers such as Stewart.

"My whole family supported me, basically," Stewart said. "Mom was a little more reserved and a little more quiet about it than my father was. My father was kind of the ring leader. He was the one who made all the decisions on what we did and didn't do. While she was a little bit reserved, she was, and still is, one of my biggest supporters."

Boas balances her life in Lafayette, Ind., tending to a slew of grand kids and her own hobbies amid her job as treasurer of the Tony Stewart Foundation.

And though her son is all grown up now and is fast approaching his 38th birthday, Boas said some things haven't changed: like playing games, his love of animals and, of course, being the same "class clown" he was growing up at the Columbus, Ind., elementary school.

Reminiscing back to a few of her favorite stories, Boas shared some anecdotes from Stewart's early years.

"Tony was a good kid but he liked entertaining everyone and sometimes he was called the class clown. He was always trying to help someone else instead of doing his own work. I remember a parent/teacher conference when he was in the fifth or sixth grade. The teacher said, 'I have good news and bad news.' I noticed rows of desks in the classroom and then one desk in the corner by itself. The teacher said, 'That's Tony's desk.' I thought, 'Well, he is not a bad kid, he didn't fight or cause problems,' but the teacher said that he bothers his neighbors."

"He made me a card when he was about 10 years old and the card hard a single flower on the outside. He colored it with a crayon and made it from folded construction paper. Inside he wrote: 'Even though I love racing I love you more.' I still have that. I don't need gifts, really; I just need hugs and to hear that he loves me."

"I'm not one to get too revved up about things. That is one quality I think Tony gets from me. I don't get revved up without hearing the entire story. I'm not a confrontational person. Tony can sit back and look at a situation and know how it should be handled and that is the side of him you are getting to see now. But we taught Tony to be completely honest and it will always come back to you if you don't, but we forgot to teach him how to be, uh hum, tactful."

"Tony never had an interest in bothering my things, he always wanted to see his daddy's things and read his daddy's magazines. He never played cops and robbers. He only loved his match-box cars and took them everywhere we went. He could make a race track out of anything and always played with his slot-car tracks. When he was old enough, he started riding his Big Wheel. He knew how to put that thing into a slide going into a corner. He could put it on two wheels going in either direction. This is how we knew he would be a racer. He tried other sports but never could really get interested."

"Just like when he was young, Tony loves to play games -- card games, video games, board games, etc. He loves Monopoly. When he was injured in 1996 [IndyCar Series] out in Las Vegas, he came to our house in Lafayette to recoup. One night he kept me up until 2:30 a.m. playing Monopoly. I finally said, 'Tony, you win, I give up.' But when the kids were young I made them earn their wins as soon as they could understand."

"There are so many and most are not on a race track or related to the racing. They are the moments where I see his sensitivity and love for animals and kids. It is his willingness to help people no matter the cost. That is what makes me as proud as anything. To know his heart is so big and that he is has grown into such an amazing man with real integrity."