A few weeks before NASCAR resumes at Daytona, Angie Skinner can easily burn through a dozen cell-phone batteries.

She's just that busy. Busy because Skinner's the wife of a racer preparing for a season full of long road trips and short stints at home.

“

Whenever Mike talks he always says 'we' and gives me lots of credit.

”

-- ANGIE SKINNER

From correcting botched haircuts, approving hero card photos and cleaning out the motorhome and restocking it with this year's sponsor-friendly attire, her list goes on and on. They may call her husband -- Camping Word Series veteran and its first champion, Mike Skinner -- the gunslinger but Angie is the clipboard flinger!

"I was just sending an e-mail to Toyota asking them to please not use the following photos of Mike. Just send them to me because he gets a crazy eye every once in a while," Angie said.

She laughs about the "crazy eye" but it is serious business because the photos will be used for promotional purposes for the rest of the season, just like the bad grade-school photos your mom passed around all year long.

"Exactly, and right now I tell everyone it's my back to school time," Angie said. "We've been having a lot of fun but now it's back to school season. Our friends want to go out and do things but the closer we get to February the less we can do."

Closing in on her 11th NASCAR season, Skinner is not just her husband's keeper -- a duty most wives hold -- she also is his manager. Calling personal service sponsors, negotiating contracts, designing uniforms, ordering safety equipment -- it all falls on her "honey-do" list.

"I still have to call Uncle Jay [Frye] and ask if Red Bull want its senior athlete this year," she laughed. "One of my favorite things to do is hats for Victory Lane. If you're on our truck or on the uniform I have to always have a hat for Mike in Victory Lane."

(Mike, who will turn 53 in June, made seven Cup Series starts for Red Bull in the No. 84 Toyota in 2008. Frye is the team's general manager.)

While what Angie does appears to be organized chaos, this season is a breeze compared to this past year.

"A blessing, because around this time last season we were still scrambling for a job," she said.

Mike was under contract to drive for Bill Davis Racing through 2009, but the team was sold and ceased operations before the start of last season. Then on Jan. 29, 2009, it was announced that Skinner would drive a truck for Randy Moss Motorsports.

Skinner won three races in the No. 5 Toyota and finished third in points. In 2010, there are high expectations from the team's headquarters in Statesville, N.C., where the Skinners have relocated and hence, adding one more thing on that to-do list for Mrs. Skinner.

"I go, go, go until I crash," she said. "Yeah, so we sold our house in Florida, packed out of that house and now are putting stuff in a condo but we are also building a trophy room and barn at our place in North Carolina."

Still with us everyone?

"I was thinking about how I am this week, getting all this crap done, and I am thinking I am fine," Angie said. "But Mike is telling me I am a mad woman and moody ... maybe there is a reason he nicknamed me "Monster" and claims it to be a term of affection. But after my yoga I'm smiling again!"

Inner peace will prevent her from throwing clipboards this season. Yoga also is an activity Angie conned Mike into doing. Bribery via the cute instructor, she claims.

Meanwhile, Angie is ready to return to her list refreshed and focused.

The favorite helmets need ordered as well as the backup to the favorite helmet, devices must be up to code per NASCAR safety rules, new driving gloves need a good fitting and Mike needs all of his racing licenses. He also needs to make it to his annual physical. He must be healthy by NASCAR's standards in order to race. Don't forget the golf carts all need insurance and the racer needs a disability plan. Rates have gone up so policies must be renegotiated.

"I think golf-cart insurance went up by like $1,000," Angie said. "I've got to call some other drivers and get the inside scoop."

These are all things that must be done before Mike can even think about getting in a truck for Daytona.

"I was talking to DeLana Harvick -- we both have aggressive, type-A personalities -- and I said, 'Why did we not just decide to go shopping,'" Angie joked.

Angie has passed on the stereotypical image of what it is to be a driver's wife because she wants to be involved and values personal achievement. She also serves as the executive director for her husband's charitable foundation and planning for the fourth annual Toyota Skinner Round Up is under way.

"Whenever Mike talks he always says 'we' and gives me lots of credit," she said. "He appreciates the fact that I gave up my broadcasting career at 27 in exchange for this and that is why we are happy together and have respect for one another."

And that's why she can call him "Crazy Eye" and get away with it or contort the man into downward dog or child's poses on a tiny foam mat!

So as the days fly by and it gets closer to green-flag time, Skinner must lace up her Nike Shox and find those comfortable jeans she broke in last year and get to work.