Jimmie Johnson Spills His Guts!
Get ready for the new Jimmie Johnson
Reid Spencer / Special to FOXSports.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Quick!
Think of all the personality traits you'd ascribe to NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson.
Charming, intelligent, disarming, thoughtful, competitive and focused all might come to mind. You could even throw in courteous and kind.
Now you can add outspoken and edgy to the list. That's right. Johnson is using the platform of his championship to dispel the bland, Boy Scout image he knows he projects in public — and thinks is undeserved.
So don't be too surprised if you hear the champ question the cost savings of NASCAR's current sacred cow, the Car of Tomorrow, or take issue with the new structure of the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
This is the new Jimmie, imbued with the authority of his title. Though his delivery might be as low-key and matter-of-fact as ever, the message is not.
Johnson, 31, was in town for Wednesday's Jimmie Johnson Day in San Diego, a celebration complete with proclamations from Mayor Jerry Sanders and the County Board of Supervisors, not to mention a message from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Enshrined in the city's Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, Johnson, who was born in nearby El Cajon, is the first driver in any of the speed sports named athlete of the year in San Diego. After the festivities, at a lunch table on the Hall's second floor, Johnson fielded questions from a handful of writers and made his feelings crystal clear.
"For me personally, it's been hard to have my personality show up on camera, in articles, on the radio," Johnson said. "When I go to work, I put on my work shoes, and that's what I do. I go to work, and I treat it as a professional.
"But after work and away from it, I have just as much fun as everyone else out there. But I've had this labeling put on me as being too 'PC' or too correct, and it's been hard to really see my personality. But it's only because I take my work seriously."
Johnson also takes his sport seriously, and he's acutely aware of the enormity of resources the conversion to the Car of Tomorrow has required at Hendrick Motorsports, which fields his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet.
Jimmie Johnson speaks out on FOXsports.com
Reid Spencer / Special to FOXSports.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Quick!
Think of all the personality traits you'd ascribe to NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson.
Charming, intelligent, disarming, thoughtful, competitive and focused all might come to mind. You could even throw in courteous and kind.
Now you can add outspoken and edgy to the list. That's right. Johnson is using the platform of his championship to dispel the bland, Boy Scout image he knows he projects in public — and thinks is undeserved.
So don't be too surprised if you hear the champ question the cost savings of NASCAR's current sacred cow, the Car of Tomorrow, or take issue with the new structure of the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
This is the new Jimmie, imbued with the authority of his title. Though his delivery might be as low-key and matter-of-fact as ever, the message is not.
Johnson, 31, was in town for Wednesday's Jimmie Johnson Day in San Diego, a celebration complete with proclamations from Mayor Jerry Sanders and the County Board of Supervisors, not to mention a message from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Enshrined in the city's Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, Johnson, who was born in nearby El Cajon, is the first driver in any of the speed sports named athlete of the year in San Diego. After the festivities, at a lunch table on the Hall's second floor, Johnson fielded questions from a handful of writers and made his feelings crystal clear.
"For me personally, it's been hard to have my personality show up on camera, in articles, on the radio," Johnson said. "When I go to work, I put on my work shoes, and that's what I do. I go to work, and I treat it as a professional.
"But after work and away from it, I have just as much fun as everyone else out there. But I've had this labeling put on me as being too 'PC' or too correct, and it's been hard to really see my personality. But it's only because I take my work seriously."
Johnson also takes his sport seriously, and he's acutely aware of the enormity of resources the conversion to the Car of Tomorrow has required at Hendrick Motorsports, which fields his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet.
Jimmie Johnson speaks out on FOXsports.com
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home