They are the unsung heroes. The ones who all too often sit back, pace

the floor and worry endlessly when a trusting father puts their “baby”

in a high-horsepower race car. They are the ones who provide the wind

beneath the wings of champions.

They are the moms.

Past and present Top Fuel champions Clay Millican (six-time IHRA), Tony

Schumacher (six-time NHRA) and Shirley Muldowney (three-time NHRA,

one-time AHRA) all credit a large portion of their success to strong

maternal support.

Millican describes Martha Millican, a.k.a. “Momma”, as his cheerleader,

coach, protector and counselor all rolled up into one. He credits her

with helping him to attain a championship attitude and molding him into

the man he is today.

“Momma not only supported me in every way she could but she also

greatly influenced the way I drove a race car,” Millican said. “Dad

taught me the skills of how to drive a race car but it was momma who

influenced my attitude and the way I approached situations. She made me

a better race car driver.

A Mother’s Day Tribute …

They are the unsung heroes. The ones who all too often sit back, pace the floor and worry endlessly when a trusting father puts their “baby” in a high-horsepower race car. They are the ones who provide the wind beneath the wings of champions.

They are the moms.

Past and present Top Fuel champions Clay Millican (six-time IHRA), Tony Schumacher (six-time NHRA) and Shirley Muldowney (three-time NHRA, one-time AHRA) all credit a large portion of their success to strong maternal support.

Millican describes Martha Millican, a.k.a. “Momma”, as his cheerleader, coach, protector and counselor all rolled up into one. He credits her with helping him to attain a championship attitude and molding him into the man he is today.

“Momma not only supported me in every way she could but she also greatly influenced the way I drove a race car,” Millican said. “Dad taught me the skills of how to drive a race car but it was momma who influenced my attitude and the way I approached situations. She made me a better race car driver.

“She could take an impossible situation and make it manageable. Momma has a good spirit and the best part of that is that it transfers over to others.”

Millican may call her Momma but when he travels around his small hometown of Drummonds, a suburb of Memphis, he’s quick to realize that he’s not the only one. Folks around town know her as the nice lady who runs the local grocery. She’s the kind spirit who never meets a stranger or is ever too busy to counsel anyone with a problem. Millican promises that when you would leave the small family grocery store that you’ll have a good grip on your situation.

“Everybody’s mom is special and mine is not only special to me but to the whole community of Drummonds,” Millican proclaimed proudly. “She was good at therapy 101 for a whole lot of people. She has that ability for people to see things in a different way. What looks horrible might not be all that bad.”

Millican almost lost his mother a few years ago when she was the victim of a senseless act of violence perpetrated by someone she’d known since he was a child. During the commission of the robbery, the suspect shot her in the face.

Martha was able to call the police but it became clear that if she didn’t get help in a hurry the situation would turn bad. Millican said as she was being loaded into the ambulance that he learned a lot more about his mother’s character.

She pleaded with the police and a growing group of vigilantes assembling for the well-being of her assailant.

“She told them … don’t you hurt him … he’s sick,” Millican recalled. “Please don’t hurt him. I heard her20say it with my own ears.”

Then her next instruction was to her son who was scheduled to fly to Dallas for an NHRA event. Millican had decided that racing was unimportant.

“She was clear to me … if I didn’t go to that race she’s take a switch to my butt and whip me if I even thought about staying home,” Millican said.

Would she?

“Absolutely,” Millican said.

Martha, Millican said, is protective of her son. You’ve heard stories of overbearing mothers but Millican insists she was just looking out for her son.

Millican sheepishly admits Martha called chassis builder Brad Hadman and chatted with the talented craftsman long enough to feel comfortable with her son getting in one of his race cars.

Schumacher knows a thing or two about having a supportive mother.

Susan Schumacher was supportive of her son’s drag racing endeavors up until her death a few years ago. The highly successful nitro racer knows the realm of influence a mother can have on their offspring.

“If it wasn’t for the mothers and mommas we couldn’t be out doing what we do,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher pointed out that his mother supported his racing and drew satisfaction out of watching her son compete.

“It just made her day when she could come to the races,” Schumacher said. “She was never afraid of the race car, she abso lutely loved watching me drive it.”

Schumacher’s fondest memory with his mother was when he the opportunity to take her for a ride in a race car. Granted, the race car he drove was nothing remotely close to the 8,000 horse rocket he presently drives on the NHRA Full Throttle tour but he believes the reaction might have been similar.

He was the appointed driver for the Richard Petty Driving School that day.

“We hit the first turn and she was screaming bloody murder,” Schumacher said, pausing to laugh.

Schumacher believes it was his mother’s unconditional support that contributed to his success as one of the most prolific Top Fuel drag racers ever.

“She brought the total package as a supportive mother,” Schumacher said. “She never had a bad word to say about racing. She just absolutely loved everything about what I did.”

When it comes to determination, the first lady of drag racing, Shirley Muldowney believes when you see her you actually see the relentless spirit of her mother Mae Roque. A lady she describes as one of the most determined ladies she ever met.

At 91 she still beams proud of her fast driving daughter’s accomplishments as a drag racing pioneer and champion. She might not have known what nitro was all about when she decided to go Top Fuel but she understood what the look on her daughter’s face was all about when she won the 1976 NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio.

That was the first time she had seen her daughter run Top Fuel.

Mae had braved her first airplane flight to the track just to watch her daughter race.

“If she was scared she didn’t show it,” Muldowney said.

Mae kept close tabs on her daughter’s accomplishments and was also there to see her daughter become a two-time world champion in 1980. Muldowney keeps a photo on her desk as a constant reminder of the first time she shared a world championship win with her mother.

“I still have a photo from that race that I stumbled upon while going through my files,” Muldowney said. “She and my son John were at the finish line and they were having fun. She always knew how to have fun.”

Having fun meant supporting her daughter’s racing career.

There are many stories Muldowney could tell but it’s a 1990-something story of shop aprons that she says describes her spirit. Muldowney was still racing Top Fuel when she mentioned to Mae the team needed aprons while working in the shop.

Muldowney delivered the heavy duty cloth, a large roll of the material and Mae labored tirelessly to deliver above and beyond what her daughter expected.

Mae has impressed many as a self-taught seamstress and she cut the patterns for the aprons by hand and sewed the seams on a portable sewing machine.

“She made 25 of the greatest shop aprons e ver made,” Muldowney proclaimed. “I remember fans begging me for them. They were absolutely great.”

Muldowney was so inspired by her mother’s creations that she had them embroidered with the team’s logo and the image of their pink dragster.

As quickly as she boasted of the aprons her story turned to regret.

One of Muldowney’s duties with the team was to launder the team’s shop rags and aprons. She accidently mixed the prized aprons in with the dirty rags and as soon as she shut the door on the laundrymat washer she realized her mistake.

There was nothing she could do but watch the bleach ruin the vibrant appearance of the prized Mae Roque creations.

“I watched those aprons lose their color before my eyes and when they came out, those beautiful aprons were ugly and gray,” Muldowney admitted. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her what had happened but eventually I did.”

What transpired was indicative of the woman Muldowney had patterned her life after.

“She made another batch,” Muldowney said.

That’s why every time Mother’s Day rolls around Muldowney, a mother herself, knows that she’s blessed.

“She had a difficult life and my sister and I have done everything we possibly could to make it up to her,” Muldowney added.

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