Jimmie Johnson and the Boo-Birds

Johnson comes off as very arrogant. And privilaged. He’s also a bit of a Hendrick Robot. Using canned answers and not showing much emotion. People love/hate Stewart, Busch, and Harvick because what you see is what you get. They seem like guys who you would see in public. Johnson didn’t do much in the Nationwide Series to really earn the Hendrick ride, and he doesn’t come across as a guy who really feels like he is lucky to win anything. He comes off as a “of course I won, I’m the best”. It’s the same reason people don’t like Kyle. He’s the same way, but with a more open personality. He’s not a robot.

I think the problem with Johnson is that he’s dominate but doesn’t have a personality. 3 and Petty were both dominate on the race track but also had dominated personalities that fans loved.

Like Troy. J said, Johnson comes off like a robot. I’ve listened to several of his interviews on the Jim Rome Show and there is nothing there. He’s colorless.

I also believe fans are just worn out by the guy. He’s won so much the past four years that I think people just want to see a new champion. I’m kind of meh on the guy myself and I’m from California like him. He’s definitely the Jeff Gordan of the past five years.

I was hoping my article would get some conversation going.

I think both of you are spot on. Even during the Showtime special on JJ leading up to the 500… nothing there. Just nothing to latch on to at all.

I think another part of it may be that he’s not a guy that any of us really followed too closely as he came up through ARCA/Truck/Nationwide/etc. like some others out there.

They may seem robotic because they’re just “performing their duties” but the way that team is set up, there’s not a lot of room for emotions. It’s all business. All the time. Look at his crew chief, they’re mirror images of one another. They know how to win, they know what it takes to win, they never lose sight of that. Everything else is secondary. Even the private side of their lives is kept to an absolute minimum because it might interfere with the process of winning.

I love it when they interview Max Papis, because he seems so happy to even have a chance to race. We like it when drivers remind us that it was a set of improbable events that led them to be a NASCAR driver. It’s good to see a guy act like he is lucky to be there. Not like he belongs there.

I think the biggest reason why fans cheer agaisnt Jimmie is because they know that if he’s out of the race the chances of their favorite driver winning the race will skyrocket because the #48 team is such a dangerous threat.

This has been the case in Nascar for as long as I can remember. Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were more loudly and lustily when they were winning than Jimmie ever has. It really comes down to a point where people are looking for a reason to hate him but really can’t find a great one and just boo him anyway.

I will say this though. It would be better for the sport if there was a really good reason to hate Jimmie Johnson. The best thing that can happen to Nascar is to have a driver that almost everyone hates dominate because it causes even the casual fan to get up in arms about wanting this driver to fail. With Jimmie I think it’s only the diehards who detest his winning. Imagine the passion all fans would show if someone like Kyle Busch who embraces the role of being the villain won a couple of championships in a row. It’s an interesting dynamic that Nascar fans have to think about.

I was at the race, it was funny listening to the boos. I dunno why but I always laugh at the boo birds for Jimmie, Kyle, etc.

When I realized it was the 48 that spun, I clapped, not so much because he spun but because I knew the yellow was out and that was one less guy Joey Logano, who I was pulling for, would have to deal with.

There was a TON of cheering around me though, especially when he drove by us on the backstretch all by himself.

Johnson’s biggest problem, I think, is he doesn’t really have much of a personality. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call him a Hendrick Robot, he doesn’t really have the kind of attitude that’s generally associated with big time winners, in any sport. Yeah, he smiles nice, says the right things, but who cares? Where’s the passion? Fire? Ass kicking attitude?

I’d like to point out that, say, Peyton Manning is similar in that regard. He doesn’t go off half cocked in front of cameras, tows the company line, says all the right things in press conferences. But, Manning doesn’t have hundreds of pounds of metal separating him from his viewing audience. And I think, in that way, drivers have to work a little harder to connect with their fan base. Does Johnson try? Sure. Does he have the goods to cultivate that personality? I don’t think so, and that probably is where the Hendrick machinery takes over…

Besides, winning, all the time, is one thing. But if you’re just non-chalant about the whole mess, as if it is just second nature, then, well, that can piss people off. Winning should be special, no matter how many times you’ve done it.

Personally, I don’t hate on the guy for being a winner. My father seems to think there’s a NASCAR conspiracy to get the guy in the winners circle. I don’t think that way, really, but it does get old after a while.

“Stewart races just about everywhere. These are the guys who people relate to. It’s the presumption that Johnson would never race at a local track because it’s below him.”

Very good point, and another reason why I love Tony.

I’ve got a lot to say about this, well too long for a comment anyway. I was going to write something about this last night but I got distracted by Earnhardt going to Childress story! I’ll try and post it tonight.

In the NHL, when the Edmonton Oilers were winning all the time, fans of other teams hated (and some still do) them. The only people who like having a dynasty in their sport are fans of that team. So figure there are 43 different “teams” in NASCAR. Maybe Johnson’s a little more popular than the average driver. That still only makes what, 4-5, even 10% of the fanbase are Johnson fans? That leaves 90+% of the fans of someone else who don’t like the fact that some other driver wins so many championships. Even if he had 40% of the fans on his side, there’s still 6 out of 10 that root for someone else and don’t like anybody else winning all the time.

Even if Kevin Harvick won 4 championships in a row, people would get tired of it and he’d start getting booed.