With approximately 20 miles remaining in the 1978 Los Angeles Times 500, Bobby Allison scraped the wall at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Calif., but had enough momentum to bang and bump his way to take the lead. Allison was able to hold off the remaining 25 cars to take a 1.78-second victory over fierce rival Cale Yarborough. Although Allison’s victory in the final race of the 1978 NASCAR season was certainly worth noting, it was Yarborough who dominated headlines in racing news across the country.
By finishing second in that race, Yarborough completed a dominating season, earning his third successive Winston Cup Championship. His domination of the 1978 season was evidenced by the 474-point margin in winning his third championship, capping the season with 10 wins, 23 top-fives and 24 top-10s. Throughout the 1976, ’77 and ’78 seasons, Yarborough was a standout performer and his championship success would surely only be matched by one of similar if not greater caliber. And now it has been.
Thirty years have passed since Yarborough’s three championships and now, Jimmie Johnson has matched the feat, securing his third successive championship after a 15th-place finish in the Pepsi 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Through those 30 years of racing many of NASCAR’s legends have won multiple championships. This list includes Dale Earnhardt, The Intimidator, who won seven championships, back-to-back three times. Richard Petty, The King, earned his seventh and final championship a year after Yarborough entered the record books. Johnson’s own teammate, and co-owner of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, has earned four championship trophies. Despite the successful careers of these champions, no other has been able to match the triple championship feat by Yarborough until Johnson’s run closing out the 2008 NASCAR season.
Later this month, as the drivers of the 2008 season head to celebrations at the New York banquet, Johnson will be receiving his third championship trophy and a check for a few million dollars. His efforts are impressive as this closes only his eighth season racing in NASCAR’s top series. The debate will now erupt as to whether Johnson can be redefined from a good driver to one having earned the right to be classed alongside NASCAR’s elite: Petty, Earnhardt Sr., Gordon and others. An examination of the statistics as well as the differences in racing from today’s standard to those of yesteryear may provide some insight.
Johnson was just a 4-year-old when Yarborough won his third championship. It was not long after that when Johnson began his racing career on 50cc motorcycles in his hometown of El Cajon, Calif. His attention would soon turn to the four-wheeled version of racing as he would compete in various off-road racing series.
Johnson’s break into NASCAR would come in 1999, racing a limited circuit for Herzog Motorsports in the then-named Busch Series. However, sponsorship woes would cripple the team and could have sent Johnson back to the lesser known racing series American Speed Association, where he had previous success. Johnson was thrown a lifeline in the form of an offer to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, instituted by none other than Jeff Gordon’s recommendation. The contract with Hendrick would put Johnson into a development program for part of the 2001 season that included three NASCAR Winston Cup Series starts followed by a full ride for the 2002 Cup series.
“When we hired Jimmie, one of the things that we were impressed with was the fact that he was in the top 10 in points in the Busch, now Nationwide Series, with a team that really wasn’t quite up to the standards or the level that the other teams were, so I feel like not only was he an impressive driver, but he was very consistent and knew how to bring the equipment home in one piece and get the most out of it throughout the race,” says Jeff Gordon of his teammate. “That’s what makes a championship-caliber driver. He’s only been able to add to that since he’s come to Hendrick Motorsports.”
Johnson’s rookie season racing in NASCAR’s top series, 2002, may be in the record books his least successful in his six seasons since. However, the season was full of highlights that many drivers would be proud to have against their name. Johnson would finish the season fifth in the Winston Cup standings after three wins, six top-five and 21 top-10 finishes. His first career victory, the 2002 NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif., came after only his 10th race of the year.
The Statistics Show …
Closing the end of the 2008 season, Johnson has started 255 Sprint Cup Races. Including his 2001 development year, in which he started just three races, his career has spanned eight years and counting. His success rate is astounding in many aspects. In those 255 races, Johnson has earned 40 career victories, 101 top-fives and 156 top-10s. He has an average finish of 11.7. Johnson has never finished lower than fifth in point standings and, perhaps more amazing, he is only 33 years old.
At the same age, Yarborough had very distinctive statistics. Yarborough made his Cup debut at 18 and by the time he was 33 had competed in 199 Cup races. Of course, most of these races were before NASCAR made monumental changes to its structure in what became known as the “modern era,” where races were cut to 31 a year, the points system became more structured and fewer cars were racing, but it is still worth a comparison. In this timeframe, Yarborough had won 14 races, with an average finish of 19. He had won no championships. He continued racing until he was 49, finishing his 31-year career with 83 victories.
During Yarborough’s successive championships, he would drive for car owner Junior Johnson. Johnson, who was a formidable driver but as an owner has shown greater success. Junior Johnson commented earlier this year during an interview with ESPN on the difficulties and differences facing Jimmie Johnson and Yarborough. “I think it is basically the crews most of the time. When they win one or two championships they relax a lot,” he said. “If you worked with Cale Yarborough you couldn’t relax. He was so determined to go to the front and win the race.
“He’s a great race driver,” said Junior Johnson of the 2008 champion Jimmie Johnson. “They have great equipment. Chad [Knaus] puts a great car underneath him 99 percent of the time. You can’t beat a car where two guys get along and work together and understand what the cars are doing.”
Yarborough also commented on sharing the record with Johnson during an interview with NASCAR.com. “I’ve watched Jimmie,” said Yarborough. “He’s the kind of driver that likes to run up front. That’s the way I drove. I can see a lot of Jimmie in me.”
Comparing Johnson’s career to Yarborough’s will bring multiple debate points regarding the difficulty in racing in today’s standard as opposed to 30 years ago. Also, the modern era versus pre-modern era will raise questions. But a comparison to a legend such as Earnhardt, if one should dare, may bring a different perspective.
Earnhardt debuted in Cup racing in 1975 at the age of 24, similar to Johnson. His first four years were run at a limited schedule, competing in only nine of the 120 races available. However, after his first eight years, Earnhardt had competed in 128 races and accumulated seven wins with an average finish of 18.425. Again the arguments of the difference between now and then will arise; however, consult the likes of Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker and you will hear plenty of stories about tough racing during this era. Earnhardt did win one championship in his first eight years of racing (1980) but showed more success in his career from 1986-1994, when he earned his six other championships and won a large portion of his 76 career victories, before his tragic death at age 49.
Waltrip, a multiple Cup series champion, missed three successive championships in 1983 by a mere 47 points, after his 1981-1982 victories. “It’s only been done once and that was 30 years ago,” Waltrip said during a recent interview. “That tells you it’s very difficult to do. Great drivers, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, you name it, anyone that’s won championships, if it was easy, there would be a bunch of us sitting here with three or four in a row. Just keeping the intensity and keeping the desire, and not getting to the point of saying, ‘Well we’ve won a couple, it ain’t no big deal.’ Chad Knaus is the engine that drives that whole train.”
Many statistics show drivers hitting their peaks after four to eight years’ experience, or into their early 30s. Petty won only five races in his first four years, however in the following four years he won 27 races. From when Petty was 30 years of age until he was 35, he had his most successful five-year period of his 35 years of Cup racing. Petty amassed 92 of his 200 victories during those five years.
Among today’s active drivers, it could be argued that Gordon is the most successful. Johnson has been Gordon’s teammate for the entirety of his career. Gordon has also been co-owner of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet. There’s no doubt that Gordon earned earlier success than Johnson, with three consecutive years of earning 10 or more victories in a single season (1996, ’97 and ’98). Gordon also won three championships within his first eight years of racing, as now has Johnson; however, Gordon’s were all before he had turned 28. His fourth would come in the 2001 season. Gordon finishes the 2008 season with 81 career victories over his 17-year career with an average finish of 12.4.
Hendrick Motorsports
So surely the statistics place Johnson in a prime position to catapult his career to new heights. His association with Hendrick Motorsports places him with a team that has won eight Cup championships since 1995. Between Hendrick’s four Cup drivers, Gordon, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and new for 2009 Mark Martin, they combined for 1,849 starts and 174 victories. This team, with little doubt, is the most experienced with regard to drivers in the NASCAR garage and will have ample opportunity to share precious information that will better their chances at dominating on the track.
Also to Johnson’s advantage is the relationship he has with crew chief Knaus. Knaus is no stranger to racing, having served his “apprenticeship” with his father, where the father-son/driver-crewman team combined for numerous victories in the Rockford Speedway Series, Great Northern Series and Winston Racing Series.
Searching for a career in racing, Knaus would move to North Carolina and take a job with Hendrick Motorsports. As a tire changer and working in the chassis and body construction program, Knaus had success with Gordon and the No. 24 team with two championships in 1995 and 1997. Knaus would move teams, eventually returning to Hendrick in 2002 to become crew chief for rookie driver Johnson. His efforts during that season with Johnson would earn him the IRWIN Crew Chief of the Year award.
Knaus is no stranger to controversy. During his partnership with Johnson he has served two lengthy suspensions in what some would call cheating and others would call pushing the envelope. Despite these two suspensions, in 2006 and 2007, Johnson was still able to secure victories and finish with the Sprint Cup Championship.
“Jimmie, he and Chad [Knaus] both have really developed this professional approach to racing for a championship,” says team owner Rick Hendrick. “Jimmie and Chad both are willing to do whatever it takes. Jimmie’s approach to fitness, to communicating with Chad in the past testing, he’s willing to do whatever it takes. He’s almost like a computer giving you feedback on what the car is doing and his download during the race and even after the race is phenomenal. Chad is always trying to figure out new stuff to try and new approaches to set-ups. … The longer you’ve got good people working together the better they become. They just keep refining what they do every year. So I think the chemistry has just been better but nothing beats experience.”
Adversaries
Perhaps one of the biggest hindrances in Johnson’s path has been brought on by NASCAR’s appeal. Young promising drivers are scrambling each weekend under the pressure of limited rides now available in racing and the precious starting positions each weekend. Up-and-coming superstars are pushing themselves to capacity, leaving some of the veteran drivers in their wake. Through the 2008 season, young star on the rise Kyle Busch finished the season with eight wins, dominating the first half of the season. With drivers such as Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, all under 30 years of age and all making the 2008 Chase for the Cup Series, the number of hungry drivers is certainly on the rise.
Added to this mix of drivers are those who remain competitive and are reaching, or have reached, their mid- to late-30s. Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all have wins this season and also made the chase. Mark Martin, who at 49 competed in only 24 races through 2008 but was still able to finish 28th in the driver’s points standing, bettered nine drivers who had competed in more races. There’s little question that these drivers, and plenty of others not mentioned, still have the desire to compete successfully at NASCAR’s top level.
Destiny
If Johnson maintains his current winning average of approximately one win every seven starts, he could earn another 45 wins before he turns 40. That said, his total wins could surpass 80, placing him among NASCAR’s elite. Johnson is already second to Gordon in most Sprint Cup Series wins by active drivers and stands 15th in all-time wins. If Johnson elected to retire at 40 (there are many drivers who compete well past that age) he could end his career with approximately 85 victories, two ahead of Yarborough on the all-time winning list.
“What a special year,” said Johnson after winning his third championship. “I’m so proud of this race team and the fight this race team had in it. We got off to a slow start and really worked hard to get back into championship form. [I’m] very proud of all at Hendrick Motorsports and can’t thank my teammates enough.”
If a third successive championship does not earmark Johnson for potential greatness in the sport, then perhaps his already impressive record could. With the high level of competitiveness on today’s racing circuit, Johnson continues to remain on top. As a part of the strong, well-funded and experienced Hendrick Motorsports, a proven relationship with his crew chief and team and the right attitude to success, Johnson has all that he needs to race on his path to become a legend on the sport. Already the team has mentioned the 2009 season and racing for a fourth championship. “As long as they continue to work together the way they are, and not every day is pretty, but they know how to get the results at the end of the day,” says Gordon. “If they don’t let anything get in the way of that, there is no telling how many they can win.”
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