All NASCAR drivers give money to charity.  So do lots of people who don’t drive race cars.  So why do I say Tony Stewart is the real deal?

Well, first off, he drives for Joe Gibbs Racing.  Joe Gibbs, also the coach of the Washington Redskins (I’ll forgive him for that, being a Cowboy’s fan), is known to be an influential Christian and a good judge of character.  He has chosen his drivers carefully.  When Stewart had problems a few years back (Including the pushing of a photographer on pit road), Gibbs stood by him.  So did Home Depot, Stewart’s sponsor.  Perhaps, they saw what I did:  a good man who was having a bad time.

Now Stewart is happier and has won a second championship (without making life hell for his crew).  He is also one of the greatest supporters of Victory Junction Gang Camp (from the beginning).  Yesterday he gave a check for a million dollars to the Pettys, who started the camp to honor their son Adam, killed at the very track where Stewart presented the check.  He pledged another million within five years.

But what he did was more than that.  He convinced Pattie Petty to come to the track where her son was killed, so the her husband, NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, would find it easier to race this weekend.  And while Pattie Petty cried as she accepted the check, Stewart gently held her hand.  He looked at her, as a son would his mother and lead her toward healing.

Read the whole story.  An article on NASCAR.com  states that “Stewart — like dozens of others in and out of the sport — had barely gotten to know the magnetically likable youngster. But he’s embraced Adam Petty’s legacy — Victory Junction — in a bear hug.

“Obviously, [making a donation to camp] is such a totally different emotion than it is winning a race, but it’s more gratifying than winning a race,” said Stewart, who easily described the joy he gets from frequent camp visits.

“This is something that, no matter how many race wins or championships I get in my career, the donations we made are a part of something that’s hopefully going to last a lifetime.”

But Pattie Petty said, “So I feel like what [Adam] went and did was he went to God and banged on God’s shoulder and said, `There’s this guy down here in an orange car and he’s really good.

‘He believes in my dad and he believes in Victory Junction. Would you bless him with enough money to give to camp.’ I believe, in some way, that’s how Adam called home.’”

It’s not like Stewart needs a mother.  He has one and was photographed with Pam Boaz at the track Mother’s Day weekend, just as he was with his father a few weeks later.  No, it’s that Stewart is not only a kick-butt race car driver, considered by many the best today, but he’s also a fine human being.  And saying so, does not mean other drivers are not.  It just means I believe that Stewart is the real deal.

Victory Juction Gang Camp, located in Randleman, NC, ”enriches the lives of children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses by providing life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun, and empowering, in a safe and medically sound environment.”  Bill and I were very impressed when we toured the camp a few years ago.