Jimmie Johnson: Toast of the Coast

With Jimmie Johnson becoming the first racer in history to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships on Sunday, FanHouse motorsports writer Holly Cain took a trip to his hometown outside San Diego last week. This is the second of a two-part series looking at the unlikely start for a stock car great.

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EL CAJON, Calif. -- If not for Gary Johnson's tendency to get seasick, there's a good chance his son Jimmie Johnson might have been a fisherman, pro surfer or a boat racer instead of making his mark as one of the best NASCAR champions of all time.

Gary's father -- Jimmie's grandfather -- spent decades on the ocean as a merchant marine, establishing the family's roots in San Diego, California. His love of the water was passed on to the next generations, the steadiness in the open seas -- not so much.

So when Gary, a heavy-equipment operator, and his wife Cathy, a school bus driver, took refuge from the work week and packed up their three young sons for weekend family getaways, it wasn't the Pacific Ocean 10 minutes away that drew them - but the two-hour drive east to the Southern California desert.

What amounted to weekly family bonding sessions was spent camping under the stars, riding dune buggies and cheering Jimmie on when he raced dirt bikes and eventually off-road trucks.

The rest of Jimmie Johnson's story is history. And the most recent chapter was written Sunday when he won a NASCAR record fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship.

"That's what I did as a kid with my family too,'' said Gary Johnson, "That's where I really believe the family values come in.

"And if we weren't out racing, we had a place on the Colorado River and the boys would be out there riding jet skis -- the old ones where you had to stand up, balance and really ride them,'' he laughed. "I think that's why Jimmie is so good with the cars now because everything that kid did, every weekend, had a motor under it.''

"I'm still pinching myself. We couldn't have planned it, with him doing motorcycles and off-road stuff ... to end up where he is."
- Jimmie Johnson's father, Gary Johnson, 34, held a 108-point advantage over veteran Mark Martin entering Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and needed only to finish 25th or better to claim his fourth consecutive Cup title.

As it turned out, Johnson finished fifth, defeating Martin by a stout 141 points.

Johnson has now accomplished something no one in stock car racing has ever done. Not Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt. Not Cale Yarborough or Darrell Waltrip.

And it's not only Johnson's legacy that stands to distinguish him among these great champions, but the non-traditional journey he took to even join them.

The Johnson family was actually one among many that crowded Main Street late each Friday afternoon in El Cajon's version of rush hour. Trucks pulling campers, dune buggies and trailers lined the road making their way to the freeway access for the long drive east on Interstate 8 headed to the Southern California desert and a weekend of family fun riding 4-wheelers, dirt bikes and racing off-road trucks.

Johnson, as it turned out, ultimately just ended up much farther east.

His arrival in the stock car ranks he has come to dominate, however, was a more a series of fortunate random events than some well-orchestrated master plan.

NASCAR wasn't even something Johnson particularly followed growing up. Like most teenagers from the area, he could reel off the starting grid for the Baja 1000. NASCAR's Southern 500, 3000 miles away in Darlington, S.C., wasn't so much on the radar.

"Jimmie really liked watching Robby Gordon race,'' Gary Johnson explained. "And he even used to tell me as a kid he wanted to race Indy cars because watching the Indianapolis 500 was such a big deal.''

It helped that the Johnson family got the E-ticket experience when it came to Baja. Gary Johnson drove a tire truck for BF Goodrich and he and the boys actually served as a pit stop during the famous Baja races through Mexico and California.

In between his own races Jimmie accompanied his dad in the BF Goodrich truck, servicing an assortment of racing series in the area. And as it does so often in this sport, one thing led to another.

"There was no plan,'' Gary Johnson recalled with a laugh. "It all just worked out somehow. Jimmie got his real big break because my boss liked him and he started meeting all the right people.''

The most important of those was Herb Fishel, General Motors' former point man for racing, who called Johnson to Detroit for a meeting.

"If Herb liked you, you were going places, it was that easy -- and Herb liked Jimmie,'' said National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) racer Ron Capps, Johnson's long-time friend and a former GM driver.

"I remember Herb talking about this kid Jimmie Johnson and saying, 'this kid can drive anything.' If Herb was that confident, you were the guy.''

Johnson's career was launched - first in the famed Mickey Thompson Stadium Series, then the American Speed Association, then a shot in NASCAR's junior Nationwide ranks before landing in the marquee Cup Series only eight years -- and now four championships ago.

Johnson is not just "the guy." He's "the man."

"I'm still pinching myself,'' Gary Johnson said. "We couldn't have planned it, with him doing motorcycles and off-road stuff. ... to end up where he is.''

For all of Johnson's success in NASCAR, most people in his hometown El Cajon are more familiar with Tom Petty than Richard Petty. And when it comes to sports -- the San Diego Chargers, whose stadium sits about 10 minutes away - are definitely top dogs.

"Nothing even comes close to the San Diego Chargers or the Padres, and yet Jimmie Johnson is better than them, I know, I know,'' said Amir Hirmiz, whose family owns Da Boyz Pizza in nearby Rancho San Diego.

His popular, SoCal-sleek restaurant draws a big weekend crowd -- but typically all but one of the dozen large screen televisions are tuned into the NFL on a given Fall Sunday.

"But we do have a loyal crowd that comes in every week to watch Jimmie.''

There are no signs declaring El Cajon "Home of NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson" although the Mayor did declare a Jimmie Johnson Day following his 2006 title. The more loyal following is at the Los Panchos taco stand - Stop One on any Jimmie Johnson Hometown guided tour.

The relationship between Los Panchos and Johnson started out innocently enough, something like this: "Carne asada burrito, American guacamole, cheese, no salsa and five rolled tacos. Please."

And now there are more photos of Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet in the authentic Mexican restaurant than there are Mexican artifacts and decor. A sign over the front door reads, "Jimmie Johnson Drive" and there are framed autographed T-shirts, photos of employees posing with Johnson and even a thank you from the Jimmie Johnson Foundation for Los Panchos' help catering the foundation's annual charity golf event.

Sit in a front booth by the window and you look out over El Cajon's Main Street, about a five-minute, ear-popping downhill coast from the neighborhood in Crest where Johnson grew up.

Los Panchos' manager Juan Romero says he can still count on a good business every Friday afternoon when the trucks and trailers and campers start filing down Crest Mountain to join the traffic on a trek to the desert.

Not much has changed in El Cajon.

"But Jimmie's sure come a long way,'' Gary Johnson says with emotion. "What means more to me than a championship ever would, is that he's a fine young man.''

Gary Johnson has the best of both worlds.