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Less than 48 hours after winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Nascar Sprint Cup championship in Homestead, Fla., Jimmie Johnson took a private elevator Tuesday to the observation deck of the Empire State Building with Johnny Damon, the stock-car racing fan (and Yankees left fielder).
Johnson, who was in New York for a series of interviews, said he was enjoying the fourth championship as much as he did the first one. He smiled when asked if he wished he could have brought along some of the 21 crew members who helped him this year.
“I think they’d be a fish out of water with some of it,” he said.
Since he won his first championship, Johnson, a 34-year-old native of El Cajon, Calif., has stressed that his success has been a result of work by his Hendrick Motorsports team — not just him or even Chad Knaus, his crew chief since 2002.
Tuesday was proclaimed Jimmie Johnson Day in New York. When it became dark, the top of the Empire State Building glowed blue, white and yellow, the colors of his No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson was saluted for accomplishing something rarely done in any sport.
“We haven’t seen that in baseball for a very, very long time,” Damon said. He was right: The last team to win at least four consecutive World Series was the Yankees, who won five straight from 1949 to 1953.
Much like Damon, whose Yankees won the World Series, Johnson had help, and lots of it. Rick Hendrick, the team owner, has more than 500 employees, and 84 are assigned to work on the cars driven by Johnson and Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion.
“I couldn’t do it without them, and they couldn’t do it without me,” Johnson said. “It starts with Rick and his vision and what he has given us all to work with in his 25 years in the sport. He’s just done an amazing job. I’m happy to make him happy, I’m happy to make him smile.
“And I look forward to what the future holds for us, as well. I think the company is only becoming stronger. I think I’m only becoming a better race car driver, and our team is working really well together. The fact we took one-two-three in the points also gives the company a lot of pride.”
