Currently a part of the NASCAR world as a part-time driver and a team co-owner, Jimmie Johnson was once the popular name on the grid for very different reasons. A record-holding champion in his own right, the 50-year-old has seen the highest of highs in proudly American sport, built in 1948.
However, a stellar admission by Johnson himself has revealed that his original trajectory had him heading somewhere completely different from NASCAR.
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Looking at the sunset years of his racing career, Johnson made a stunning revelation about how none of his NASCAR achievements would have come to be, had it not been for the events that unraveled in the late ’90s.
Speaking to Johnny Roberts during the Lights Out Podcast recently, Johnson shone a light on his path to the NASCAR realm, which is hugely contrasting from most.
Always receiving strong support from Chevrolet, Johnson had spent most of his formative years racing in the off-road realm. As such, he believed that his path would inevitably lead him to IndyCar. General Motors (GM) had strategic moves in place, and everything was going according to plan until GM decided to step away from the series.
Once that happened, Johnson knew that he did not have a clear pathway into IndyCar, leaving him worried about what was to come. In walked Herb Fischel (Head of Chevrolet Racing at the time), who told the young driver to look for a path into NASCAR racing.
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There was no looking back for Johnson from there on, who ended up buying a one-way ticket to Charlotte with friends ready to offer him a couch to crash on.
“I bought a one-way ticket to Charlotte, had some friends that I knew would offer me a couch, that was Ron Hornaday, and I bought a one-way ticket in April 1997 and have been here since.”
Johnson’s decision to move to Charlotte could have gone either way, but he still decided to take the leap of faith, only for it to pay him back heavily. He went on to become one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, picking up a record seven Cup Series titles through his career.
And it is the same risk-taking ability that he wants to instill in every up-and-coming driver out there. He wants people to know that there is rarely a clear road out there for people to follow, but “if you’re passionate about something, you pursue it.”
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Having achieved all the success he could have imagined for himself as a driver, Johnson now hopes to enjoy the same feeling as a team owner. And as things stand, it looks like he is on the right path with LMC adding a third Cup car to their fleet to take on the biggest teams of the sport.
