NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: If Johnson’s Vanilla, It’s With Sprinkles
Jimmie Johnson has won four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championships no matter what flavor he is...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 15, 2010   Concord, NC
Jimmie Johnson leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings by 36 points. (Photo: LAT Photographic))
The man who has won the past four Sprint Cup championships, who has represented NASCAR professionally in all manner of business situations, who puts his best foot forward on almost every media occasion, who dazzles people he meets with his ability to relate to them, continues to battle the weird idea that he’s “vanilla”.

It is not a topic Jimmie Johnson enjoys. Imagine debating people who think you’re boring.

Yet he addressed it again this week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a track where he has been entirely non-vanilla over the years. The context was this – Stock car racing isn’t as attractive as it should be to the general public because its long-running (and seemingly perpetual) champion – Johnson, of course – is too plain, and people are tired of seeing him win everything in sight.

Johnson answered as if he has heard the question too many times.

“I know that I’m not the reason for those things, and I sure as hell know I’m not vanilla,” he said. “I think it takes anybody some time to get comfortable in their shoes and their sport. I went from being like a C-level driver in Nationwide and through all the other things in my career to drive for Hendrick Motorsports to having success early.

“At the end of the day, I want to be a professional and do my job. And some people formed opinions then, and it’s unfortunate that if it still lingers around because I think I’ve done plenty to show that I’m far from vanilla.

“At the same time, I'm getting more comfortable as each year goes by in how I act and what I do and with who I am. When I come to the track, I just want to make sure I’m doing my best job and representing my sponsors. I think I’m finding a better balance of that. And from the success that we’ve had, it’s just unfair to put it on a driver’s success.

“So I just kind of chuckle about it, and if people want to spend time talking about it they can.”

People waiting for Johnson to do something wacky and out of the ordinary must have missed his infamous golf-cart “surfing” episode that resulted in a wrist injury. Or the tales about the high-performance parties he’s attended. Or the photos of Johnson with his top-rung Hollywood buddies.

Contrary to popular belief, he’s a fun guy.

He particularly seems to have fun in November every year.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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