{"id":906471,"date":"2026-09-23T10:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/906471\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:24:32","slug":"why-jimmie-johnson-is-a-legend-of-nascar-and-goodwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/906471\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jimmie Johnson is a legend of NASCAR \u2014 and Goodwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 50-year-old also happens to be a dedicated fan of racing history and a faithful friend to Goodwood, who just last weekend revelled once more in racing at the Revival presented by Dunlop.<\/p>\n

A podium third sharing Fred Wakeman\u2019s Lister-Jaguar Coupe in the\u00a0RAC TT Celebration<\/a> capped a memorable weekend for Johnson, who also raced an Alfa Romeo Giulia in the St. Mary\u2019s Trophy presented by Motul<\/a> and joined H\u00e9lio\u00a0Castroneves and Scott Dixon in the moving demonstration of the 1-2-3 trio of 1966 Le Mans Ford GT40s<\/a> on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

As the GRRC of America prepares to put down roots, let\u2019s remind ourselves why the west coast star of stock car racing is so well-loved.<\/p>\n

\"GRRC<\/p>\n

GRRC of America<\/p>\n

Find out more<\/p>\n

Off-road, then taking stock<\/p>\n

Born in El Cajon, California, Johnson cut his racing teeth on motorcycles from the age of five and won a 60cc class title at eight. Given where he grew up, it\u2019s also no surprise that his first four-wheel competition was racing trucks off-road.<\/p>\n

The switch to stock cars followed in 1998. Across two seasons in the well-regarded American Speed Association series, Johnson scored a couple of wins, then stepped up with his team Herzog Motorsports to NASCAR\u2019s second tier \u2014 then known as the Busch Series. Tenth at the end of his rookie season, he scored a breakthrough win at Chicagoland in 2001, the same season he made his Cup debut in three races for Hendrick Motorsport. The legend of the no.48 was under way.<\/p>\n

Child\u2019s play<\/p>\n

From his first full season in the Cup with Hendrick, Johnson\u2019s potential was all too obvious. Eventually he\u2019d succeed team-mate and fellow Californian Jeff Gordon as NASCAR\u2019s brightest star, but there were some creases to iron out in those early years following his rookie season in 2002.<\/p>\n


\n \"Johnson
\n <\/p>\n

Johnson extends his lead of the
\nNASCAR Winston Cup NAPA Auto Parts 500 race at California Speedway, on his way to scoring his first NASCAR victory in his rookie season, April 2002.<\/p>\n


\n Image credit: Getty Images
\n <\/p>\n

Johnson extends his lead of the NASCAR Winston Cup in Fontana, California, April 2002.<\/p>\n

Teamed with crew chief Chad Knaus, the combination hit gold early, scoring a pole position straight off the bat at the Daytona 500, with the first Cup win soon following in April on Johnson\u2019s home turf at Fontanta. Across their first three seasons together, the Johnson-Knaus combo scored 18 wins, but the relationship became known for the radio blow-ups between them. This was a combustible partnership.<\/p>\n

Speculation intensified that crew chief and driver would split, until team chief Rick Hendrick got them together to thrash out their differences. At the so-called \u201cmilk and cookies\u201d meeting, where Hendrick got them to eat off Mickey Mouse plates, the duo were told in no uncertain terms to stop acting like children. Given the run of success the pair were about to embark on, it seems the novel tactic worked a treat.<\/p>\n

Golden years<\/p>\n

Johnson claimed the Big One at the start of 2006 by winning the Daytona 500 from ninth on the grid, then claimed four more wins through the season to clinch his first Cup title. Now there was no stopping him.<\/p>\n


\n \"Johnson
\n <\/p>\n

Johnson celebrates in victory lane having made his way through the grid to win the 2006 Daytona 500.<\/p>\n


\n Image credit: Getty Images
\n <\/p>\n

The following year he notched up a personal-best ten wins across the season, including four in a row during the play-offs, a format that had been introduced to NASCAR in 2004 and in which Johnson would remarkably make the cut every year until 2019.<\/p>\n

The milestones continued. Johnson matched Yarborough\u2019s three consecutive titles in 2008, then continued his streak to make it five on the bounce up to 2010. The run was then broken, but Johnson gained a new nickname as \u201csix-time\u201d in 2013, the year in which he won his second Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

Three years later, he moved beyond Dale Earnhardt\u2019s win tally, and in the same season joined The Intimidator and Richard Petty as NASCAR\u2019s only seven-time Cup Champions. All achieved while building a parallel legacy with his wife Chandra, with whom he established the Jimmie Johnson Foundation which has raised millions for a variety of good causes.<\/p>\n

New adventures<\/p>\n

In 2017, Johnson scored his 11th win at the \u2018Monster Mile\u2019 in Dover, a single-venue record \u2014 and with it equalled the overall victory tally of Yarborough. The pair sit on 83 Cup wins apiece, behind only Richard Petty, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip in the roll call of NASCAR heroes.<\/p>\n


\n \"Johnson
\n <\/p>\n

Johnson passed Kyle Larson in overtime in to secure his 11th win at Dover International Speedway, in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, June 2017. <\/p>\n


\n Image credit: Getty Images
\n <\/p>\n

His final full season with Hendrick was in 2020, when he only just missed out on the play-offs, after which Johnson bravely embraced new challenges far out of his comfort zone. He\u2019d tested a Formula 1 McLaren in a seat swap with Fernando Alonso back in 2018, and now Johnson pitched himself fully into single-seaters, joining Chip Ganassi Racing for a high-profile attempt to crack IndyCar.<\/p>\n

The two-season adventure took him to the Indianapolis 500 in 2022, and although he fell short of scoring big results, further respect was won for his commitment and class in and out of the cockpit.<\/p>\n

Johnson also travelled to the Goodwood Revival for the first time in \u201922, beginning a new racing love affair. Then the following year he joined Jenson Button and Mike Rockenfeller in a special entry at the Le Mans 24 Hours in a Chevrolet, the first time a NASCAR had appeared in the French enduro since the 1970s. They made the finish, too, in the race\u2019s 100th anniversary edition, the raucous Chevy proving a firm fan favourite.<\/p>\n

Now in his 50s, Johnson is moving out of the frontline of motorsport as racing driver, but through his charitable foundation it\u2019s clear he still has so much to give.<\/p>\n

\"GRRC<\/p>\n

Become a Founding Member<\/p>\n

Sign up<\/p>\n


\n \"The
\n <\/p>\n

The 1963 Lister-Jaguar Coupe of Johnson and Frederic Wakeman finished third in the 2026 RAC TT Celebration presented by Dunlop.<\/p>\n


\n Image credit: Joe Harding
\n <\/p>\n

The Founding Patron role with the GRRC of America offers another string to his bow, with the initiative offering members access to a year-round programme of driving tours, track experiences, social gatherings and much more. Look out too for a new Goodwood flagship event in the US, to be held at Willow Springs Raceway in 2028.<\/p>\n

The next phase of Jimmie Johnson\u2019s racing life has only just begun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Main image photography by Tom Baigent. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

race<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

historic<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jimmie Johnson<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

revival 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 50-year-old also happens to be a dedicated fan of racing history and a faithful friend to Goodwood,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-906471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}