She took her first laps around TMS last Friday in a Team Texas Racing School car. That stop in Fort Worth was followed by a quick weekend at home in Charlotte, N.C., then a test Monday in California. Add marketing and media responsibilities to her racing and testing schedule, combine that with motherhood, and it's easy to see why Robinson seems flustered. Husband Jeff Clark is an engine builder at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and a tuner and jackman on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Winston Cup team, so he's on the road most weekends. This career-family balancing act is near impossible.
Danger is no small part of the equation.
Clark also worked for Robert Yates Racing in the early '90s when superstar Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter crash and Ernie Irvan was critically injured in his racecar. All drivers accept the risk of death or injury. Robinson carries the additional weight of maternal responsibility for two toddlers. The only thing he says is he will always be there to look at my seats, look at my belts. He knows the guys who put them in.