Interview with NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson

San Diego is home to many champions, and when the green flag drops this month to start the 2016 NASCAR season at the Daytona 500 on February 21st, our local favorite Jimmie Johnson will begin his quest for his seventh Sprint Cup Championship. Winning the Championship would place him in the rarefied air with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for most career championships in NASCAR history. NASCAR is one of the most of grueling sports, hosting a schedule that crisscrosses the nation, offering 36 races over 38 weeks from February through November. You asked, readers, and Jimmie Johnson answered; here are his responses to your most pressing questions.

You started riding motorcycles at the age of 4; how long was it before you started driving on four wheels?

I actually started on four wheels competitively around 1993. My mentor from Supercross, Rick Johnson, was able to line up a meeting with an executive from General Motors and they gave me a shot for an off–road truck. My first actual racing on pavement was in the ASA Series in 1998. 

In–car cameras are great for showing the viewers the action on the track, but can you tell us how it feels to be in a car that is traveling upwards of 200 mph?

It’s hard to explain. There are so many g–forces pulling on your body, you don’t realize how fast you are going because everyone around you is going the same speed. The tracks are bumpy and imperfect so the car has a lot of movement inside, you feel every bump. It sure does make a 35 mph road seem slow, though. [Laughs] 

What are your favorite tracks to race at? 

I love Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Dover is a concrete beast—it just suits my driving style. Martinsville is a half–mile and we go around it 500 times. It’s crazy. And Texas is just fast, and we have performed and won many times on all three.

Would you like to see NASCAR add more road courses to the schedule? 

I don’t know the answer to that, since my best tracks are short tracks and mile and a half tracks. I like visiting the two current ones—Watkins Glen and Sonoma. I’ve won at Sonoma, but Watkins Glen is one of the four tracks I have never won on. 

Back in the ‘90s you raced trucks off–road, then skipped the truck series in NASCAR and went directly into the Busch series (now Xfinity), why was that?

It was just opportunity. They don’t necessarily work like AAA baseball—racing in the Truck Series is tough racing—you don’t have to go through the succession of Truck, Xfinity, then Cup. It’s just opportunity, sponsorship and open seats. 

As some drivers have tried it, have you ever considered running in the Indy 500 and the Coca–Cola 600 in the same day?

[Laughs] It would be nice, but I would have to ask my wife’s permission to do that. It’s tough to do both in one day, but it’s also hard to make it to Indianapolis the entire month of May for practices and qualifying. I have 100% focus on my Lowe’s team, so that’s where my priorities lie. I do like watching the 500 from the infield of Charlotte before we race though. 

In 2006, along with your wife, you started the Jimmie Johnson Foundation and host a golf tournament each year that has raised millions of dollars to date in supporting social needs. What are some of the causes you’re most passionate about?  

Education and fitness. Focusing on youth has always been important, but childhood education and our new wellness challenge, being healthy and focusing on school, are the two essentials for setting kids down the right track. My wife Chandra and I enjoy the work we do through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. 

It appears to many that Mr. Johnson was born with wheels on his feet and is as close to being a natural born driver as there is. Now, after driving in several different series throughout his career, he is at the pinnacle of his profession with years of competition in him. We foresee Mr. Johnson winning another Sprint Cup or two before he hangs it up and leaves the track. Don’t miss out on supporting Mr. Johnson next month at NASCAR’s only local stop of the season for the Auto Club 400 on March 20^th in Fontana. Good Luck Mr. Johnson, may this season be lucky number seven—we’re all rooting for you!