In front of the cameras, Jimmie Johnson can come across as Mr. Perfection. He doesn’t go on about issues within the sport, nor does he cause a bunch of wrecks.
In a way, some people see him as the perfect corporate spokesman. Some people could even go to the extent of saying he is too perfect for NASCAR.
As Evanescence says in the song Everybody’s Fool, "Perfect by nature […] Look here she comes now/Bow down and stare in wonder/Oh how we love you/No flaws when you’re pretending."
Those that think that should take the chance and listen to Jimmie’s father, Gary Johnson.
"I know Jimmie can come off as corporate," Gary Johnson was quoted in the article "The Soul of a Champion" in 2006. "When the cameras are on, he doesn’t always say what he’s really thinking, because that’s not the right time. But everyone should know that Jimmie wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth."
According to those that know Johnson, he was born with a pitch fork in his mouth due to how tough his journey turned out to be.
Jimmie Johnson was raised in a small town by the name of El Cajon; El Cajon is located in California on the foothills of Laguna Mountain, fifteen miles north of San Diego. Johnson was raised by parents Gary and Cathy in a two bedroom house with his two brothers Jarit and Jesse.
It was not easy for Gary and Cathy, who worked hard to raise their little boys. Gary would get up at four in the morning to drive a truck for B.F. Goodrich, while Cathy drove a school bus for extra money.
Even though they didn’t have the money, Gary managed to scavenge some old parts together and gave Johnson his first bike at the age of four, with training wheels of course, on Christmas Day.
He started his journey to championship stardom by traveling around the area with his brothers, racing against friends. He turned out to be successful at racing, winning his fist local championship at the age of eight.
However some of his friends were killed in accidents, so Gary pushed his son towards off-road truck racing, hoping it would be safer. Instead, Gary’s worst fear almost came true.
Johnson went and entered the Baja 1000 at the age of 19. Over nine hours into the event, he was leading, yet he was also tired. Just for a second, he dozed off and rolled it down a cliff.
Lost in the middle of nowhere, Johnson had no hope of rescue. This turned out to be a good thing, as he thought over his career and how things had gotten to that point.
"I was young, and all I thought about was going fast and being aggressive," Johnson was quoted in the article "The Soul of a Champion". "Well, I realized that night in the desert that I needed to be smarter. I still needed to push the car, but also I needed to bring it home clean. I needed to find that balance, and I began to find it that night in Mexico."
This incident in Mexico began Johnson’s true journey to the champion he is known as today.
His journey to stock car racing truly began, though, when Johnson had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, to live with then two-time Craftsmen Truck Series Champion Ron Hornaday Jr.
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