AS: No. In the beginning of my career, I was really uptight about getting on a plane and leaving. I'd cry. I was born and raised in Louisiana. I never left Louisiana. Traveling was bit scary for me. Then I got to the point this was no problem -- I loved it -- and sitting at home for more than three days in a row got to be boring. But I was single, I didn't want a boyfriend, my career was my life, winning the championship was everything.

Now I've accomplished my goal. I've won a championship. I do have a husband.

We are talking about having children one day. We don't plan on it being any sooner than three years from now, but we know it's going to happen one day. It's going to happen when God wants it to happen for me, and there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'm starting to get to where that young part of me is gone, the part of me that wants to go out every night and wants to go to the beach. Now I just want to stay home and be in my house. So it's getting tougher as time goes by to get back on the plane. I'm not scared like I used to be, but it's a little depressing. At the races it's fine. When I go back to my hotel room at night, oh, God . . .

DRO: ONE OF THE NASCAR DRIVERS, TALKING ABOUT SHAWNA ROBINSON RECENTLY, SAID, "YOU CAN'T SEND A BROAD TO DO A MAN'S JOB." WHAT HAVE YOU HAD TO FACE?

AS: If I ever say they gave me a hard time or they give me a hard time and they read (that), I often hear, "You need to stop crying. Nobody messes with you anymore." So I sometimes lie and say, "Oh, no, it's changed. I'm 100 percent respected. I have lots of friends out here." But it's not true. There's still at least one guy who, even though he won't say it to my face anymore, can't stand me and wants me to leave and go home. I don't have any problems with anybody. This is the truth -- Nobody messes with me anymore. It wasn't that way in the beginning. Now, whether they're being two-faced or honest, they're all nice to me. They tell me I'm an awesome racer. What are they going to say? I'm the world champion. They can't say that I suck. I hear that I'm cheating quite often. Now, none of them will say it to our faces, none of them. Not one.

This is such a gossip environment, a traveling-circus soap opera. (Friends) will come to me and say, "I'm so sick and tired of them crying about you cheating." Then I'll go to them and say, "Do you think I'm cheating? Look at me in my face and tell me: Do you think I'm cheating?" And they'll say, "No. I never said that about you." I guess you'd have to ask them how they feel, and then they're not going to tell you. I think what goes around comes around. If you're good to people, it comes back to you. If you're mean to people, negative energy comes back to you.

DRO: HOW BAD DID IT GET?

AS: For the most part, I had friends. As usual, I guess it's a natural thing that people do, you look at the bad more than the good. There might have been one guy who gave me a bad time and I blew it out of proportion. Instead of focusing on the guys who were really nice to me, I let this one guy get to me. And I did hear, "Strap on your balls and race like a man." I did hear, "Go back to the kitchen where you belong." I did get spit on by one competitor at the end of the track. He made it look like he was doing it by accident but later admitted to someone he was trying to spit on me. Now this man is a very good friend of mine and acts when he sees me like, "You go, girl. You're kicking ass. I'm so proud of you." It just took him a while to realize I wasn't a joke.

DRO: HAVE YOU COME TO ANY CONCLUSION WHY THEY REACTED SO ANGRILY TO YOU?

AS: I totally understand why they felt the way they felt and why they did the things they did. Here comes this little bitty girl and all of a sudden knocks the wind out of their sails that they are big, macho strong men doing this crazy motorcycle racing. And here comes this little bitty girl who does it and wins. So anybody can do it, right? This is easy. I understand that's what they think it made them look like, a bunch of wussies. And it's not true. I didn't mean to make it look easy. It's not. Not just anybody can do this. There have been girls besides me come along -- Peggy Llewellyn and Stephanie Reaves. It's not easy. And what proves it's not easy is there's a handful of winners in our category. Every year we get one more, and (the competition) is getting better. There was a time when there were only two people in the whole United States of America who could win a Pro Stock Bike race -- John Myers and Dave Schultz. And if anybody else won it was a pure accident.