There are some names that everybody should know. Whether you know their life, follow their craft, or saw their name on Twitter, some names are just universally known. Among those, the name Jimmie Johnson should be included.
Jimmie Johnson, for NASCAR fans in the 2000s, was the man, plain and simple. Three simple words struck fear into every fan and every competitor: 48, Lowe’s, Chevrolet. If you saw that car, it was making its way to the front. This Sunday, in Phoenix, Arizona, Jimmie Johnson will try to make his way to the front for the last time in his illustrious career, as the El Cajon, California, driver will be turning in the keys of the 48, and walking away, to pursue a career in the world of IndyCar.
Jimmie Johnson has stats and records that look like they come from a video game. 83 wins in 685 starts, 18,937 laps led. That’s all fine and good, but what Johnson is most known for is his championships. Johnson is tied for NASCAR titans Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt with seven championships, in doing so, he set an unbreakable NASCAR record, winning an outrageous five championships in a row from 2006-2010.
On top of all that, Johnson is the embodiment of the argument that NASCAR drivers are indeed athletes. Johnson has competed in half marathons and triathlons. He’s won the Coca Cola 600, the longest endurance race in NASCAR, four times. Jimmie Johnson started 663 consecutive races from 2002-2020, with that streak coming to an end at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a false positive COVID-19 test.
Where does a guy like this come from? A man with all this success, who is one of the most charitable drivers of all time, who drove a Superman car to victory lane, who married a model, surely he was destined for greatness.
Believe it or not, Johnson comes from humble beginnings. With NASCAR being a primarily Southeastern sport, it’s tough for a California kid to get noticed. Still, he did what he could, racing off road trucks and dune buggies from 1993-1997. From there, he began his asphalt career, driving in the American Speed Association (ASA) before heading to the NASCAR Busch Series, the second highest level of NASCAR.
In the Busch Series, driving for the Herzog family, he found limited success in his four year tenure from 1998-2001. After running three and five races his first two years, he ran the full schedule in 2000-01. In those years, he finished in the top 10 in points both years, winning his first race at Chicagoland in 2001. After the season, the team lost its sponsor and had to cease operations. Scrambling for a ride, Johnson took a chance and approached the best driver in the garage at the time, and it was the best decision he ever made.
While Jimmie Johnson is a name that everyone should know, Jeff Gordon is a name everyone does know. The four time champion was Jimmie Johnson before Jimmie Johnson. Johnson approached Gordon in the Winston Cup garage, and made an immediate impression on him. It just so happened that Gordon’s team, Hendrick Motorsports, the Yankees of NASCAR, was expanding to a four car team for the 2002 season. Gordon insisted that Owner Rick Hendrick tapped Johnson to fill the spot. Hendrick listened to the star driver, and announced that Johnson, a man very few had heard of nationally, was going to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. After securing sponsorship from Lowe’s, Johnson was paired with another unknown as his crew chief in Chad Knaus. These two could not have meshed together any better than they did.
Johnson and the 48 team took the league by storm as a rookie in 2002, winning three races and finishing fifth in the final standings. Additionally, he was the first and only rookie ever to lead the point standings. From then on, Johnson spent the next three years fighting for the championship, but not being able to pull it off. Then in 2006, something changed.
The season did not start off as expected, as Knaus was ejected from the Daytona 500 for an illegal part. That didn’t stop Johnson, as he fought through fog to win the race, his first of two Daytona 500s. Johnson dominated the regular season and went into the 10 race Chase for the Nextel Cup as the second seed. The first four races of the Chase were a disaster, and after getting wrecked from second place on the last lap at Talladega, Johnson found himself in 8th place, 156 points behind the lead. From that point, Johnson and the 48 team showed the determination and resiliency that would define him.
After a second place run at Charlotte, Johnson would lead 245 laps and win Martinsville, skyrocketing to third in points. After a second place run at Atlanta, Johnson repeated the finish next week at Texas, Johnson would retake the points lead from Matt Kenseth. After a third straight runner up at Phoenix, it was all wrapped up. He would run ninth in the finale and claim his first championship. That run would set off a firestorm for the next four years.
Johnson would win 10 races in 2007, taking the title away from his mentor in Gordon. The two of them would fight it out for a win in the spring Martinsville race, with Johnson holding him off in what proved to be a passing of the torch. NASCAR was no longer at the hands of Jeff Gordon, it was Jimmie Johnson’s world now, and nothing would stop him.
Not only was Johnson winning, but he was driving the wheels off his car every week with the best control out there. From battling Bobby Labonte for the 2005 Coca Cola 600, racing Matt Kenseth at Texas in 2007 or his mad dash to finish second at Atlanta in 2008, Johnson got the most out of his race car every week. He wouldn’t wreck somebody for a win because he never had to. The 48 team could not say die.
So what’s the catch? This was a man that could simply not be stopped. How can anyone support a guy like that? How do people still tune in? There’s a simple reason: Jimmie Johnson is one of the kindest, most humble athletes anyone could ever ask for.
Johnson has been put in many high pressure situations, and he has always risen to the occasion with grace and humility that anyone can respect. In 2004, 11 members of Hendrick Motorsports were killed in a plane crash heading to Martinsville. Among them was Ricky Hendrick, son of Rick, who was in position to take the team over whenever his father called it a career. The team still had to go to Atlanta and race, and who else should have won that race but the 48 team. As he crossed the line, the first words out of Johnson’s mouth voiced what everyone was thinking at that dark time.
“In loving memory, all the way,” Johnson said.
Johnson was always a man that showed incredible gratitude for the position he was in. Nowhere was that made more clear than in the events that took place on November 20, 2016. 40 drivers headed to Homestead-Miami for the NASCAR Cup championship. Four drivers were fighting for the Championship, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards looking for their first championships, Kyle Busch was looking for his second consecutive and second overall, and then there was Johnson, looking for his seventh.
Johnson rode in the top 10 all day, but wasn’t much of a threat until late. After Logano and Edwards made contact and took each other out of contention, it was down to Johnson and Busch for a two lap shootout for the championship. Johnson, restarting second, got the restart of his life and drove away to his record tying championship.
In victory lane, everybody came over to congratulate Johnson on the accomplishment. Among those to appear was Johnson’s teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., son of Dale Earnhardt, who won seven championships as well. Johnson never got to meet Earnhardt, as Earnhardt lost his life at the final lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhardt Jr. gave Johnson a hug in victory lane and told Johnson what his late father would think of him. “I wish my old man could be here to shake your hand,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He would think you’re a badass.”
At the year end banquet, Johnson gave nothing but thanks. He thanked Tony Stewart, who retired at the end of the season. He thanked Hendrick and Gordon for giving him a chance. He thanked Lowe’s for their support for 15 years. What he didn’t do, at any time, was make the moment about himself. He never dwelled on his accomplishment in tying Petty and Earnhardt in championships.
“I will never be the King or the Intimidator,” Johnson said. “I’m just a guy from California who always wanted to race.”
A racer will always want to race. In recent years, NASCAR has seen Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all retire. All of those drivers have run at least one NASCAR sanctioned race since their supposed retirements except Stewart, who runs dirt track races year long while running a Cup team of his own. Johnson will continue to race as well, although he is moving to a different discipline.
Johnson will be moving to the world of IndyCar, as he will run a part time schedule with Chip Ganassi Racing for the next two years. While Johnson will no longer be in NASCAR, he will never be forgotten. When looking back on him, fans will not remember his three year winless drought these last three years. They won’t remember his one win in the Busch Series. They won’t remember him breaking his wrist falling off of a golf cart. They will remember him as arguably the greatest driver to ever strap into a NASCAR stock car. On top of that, they will remember the classiness, the exemplary way he conducted himself, and all the lives he touched.
He is not the King, he’s not the Intimidator. He is Jimmie Johnson, seven time champion, from El Cajon, California. He just wanted to go racing, and he’s done that and then some. The sport of NASCAR has been greatly benefitted for his time here, and will never be the same now that he is moving on.
This story was written in Nov. 2020 for a Journalism class at Missouri Western State University.
Cover photo courtesy of MotorTrend.com
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