ON RACING AT CALIFORNIA THIS WEEKEND:
“We’re excited. It’s been a very busy week and a very fun week. It’s been a week that’s been really rewarding for my wife and me. We went back to San Diego and saw the four (Habitat for Humanity) homes completed that we’ve been working on over the last two years with our fundraisers that have gone on. We have three families in the homes and are looking for the fourth (family) now. To see the kids running around and the homes finished, there’s a little play area for them, and just everything was really, really neat to see it and the finished product. That was great. We had our fundraiser, our dinner, and our golf tournament and in this tough economy we were still able to raise over $500,000 that will all go back to the San Diego community with school grants.
“I’ve been just blown away by the generosity and by the support that our tournament has received. We roll into the weekend here and I have the great honor of running the Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the car. Lowe’s again has stepped up in more ways than just being a team sponsor. It has allowed us to finish off the week with the paint scheme. And then we have the Helmet of Hope that we’ve all been looking at for the last six weeks and I’ll be wearing that as weekend as well. At the auction, the helmet went for over $27,000, which really blew me away again (laughs). So it’s just been an amazing week. Hopefully we can cap it off with a great performance and do what we need to in the grand scheme of things and gain points on Mark (Martin).”
DID YOU HAVE SEVERAL OF YOUR FRIENDS PLAY GOLF WITH YOU?
“We did. There was I think six drivers that came and a variety of different athletes and some folks from the L.A. Hollywood world and some people from the San Diego community as well. So, all in all it was a great event. It was sold out, which we were surprised to see from the dinner aspect and even over to the golf.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA SAID IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT IN HENDRICK EQUIPMENT, YOU’D BE HARD-PRESSED TO MAKE IT ANYWHERE. IS THAT A FAIR ASSESSMENT?
“I’d say for the majority, yes. When you look at what (Brian) Vickers has been able to do, I really commend him and he kind of led the charge to leave Hendrick Motorsports and try something different and he’s done a great job and has been more competitive in the Red Bull cars than he was in a Hendrick car. And I really think it boils down to people. You look at the environment Casey Mears was in and different crew chiefs and a lot of changing and it led to his departure and obviously Mark (Martin) being available sped that up as well and knowing what an asset Mark Martin would be. But it is tough. I had that fear in my own mind when I started at Hendrick. Jeff (Gordon) hand-picked me and put me in the equipment he won with the year before. And I knew that I had to get the job done. And I can’t tell you how much relief I experienced and how the weight of the world was off my shoulders when I won here (Auto Club Speedway) in the tenth race of the 2002 season. It sounds funny but I turned to my friends and turn to my parents and smiled and said, ‘I’ll have a job now.’ That’s really what it boiled down to.”
WITH THE OLD CAR, THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT AERO AND HOW SENSITIVE THEY WERE. HAS THAT IMPROVED ANY WITH THE NEW CAR?
“I think we’ve made a lot of gains with the COT. On 1.5-mile and two-mile tracks we still have some ground to make up. In my opinion, I think the opinion of the vast majority; we’ve actually made the cars more aero sensitive. We have less to work with from mechanical grip standpoint and from an aero grip standpoint, and we have a much bigger vehicle. As you’re further back in traffic, there is more turbulent air than what we had before. Earlier in the year, we had a couple of meetings with the officials and team owners and drivers and we addressed some different ideas then. So, I feel that we all know we can make it better and when the economy recovers and the teams are more stable with their financial situations, there are some changes that could be introduced and I would hope would be introduced, to help take away some of the aero-sensitivity and improve the racing on the bigger tracks. At short tracks, we put on a great show. I think at road courses we do. Talladega and Daytona we do. It’s just these high downforce tracks where the cars a little more sensitive than before.”
WITH WHAT YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THE CHARITY, HOW ENRICHING IS IT TO YOU?
“In my mind growing up, I’ve always felt like good things happen to good people and I’ve been very fortunate, even before driving Rick’s (Hendrick) stuff, I had the great fortune to have a hobby turn into a career and all the great things that it brought me and I felt like I needed to give back and offset the good that I’ve experienced. Before I had a foundation, I’d participate and go to local children’s hospitals and just do things that I could in the community to help out. There’s a feeling when you do it that’s indescribable and it hits you deep. It feels great. So to have everything come together and to do it on a larger scale and really give back and reach more people and help, it’s great. It really is. What makes it so special is to see the people and meet the people. These homes that we’ve been building have been a two-year project up to this point. A lot of photos and drawings and paperwork and different aspects of it, but to actually meet the families and see the kids and see the finished product and visualize what life would be like and how you are going to impact someone’s life makes it all the better.”
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