Champions Week ready to honor 12 series titlists

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR will crown Jimmie Johnson as the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion this week in New York, but he won't be the only one sporting a 2006 championship ring at the world-famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Along with Johnson, the champions from all of NASCAR's other 11 racing series are invited. They'll take part in the festivities and have their own dinner celebration on the eve of the Cup Awards Banquet.

	Jimmie Johnson
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For the past several years, NASCAR had gathered its champions for a commemorative photo opportunity, which was usually held at the site of the Cup season finale. In 2002, this gathering was moved to New York, and for the champions it became the experience of a lifetime.

The 2002 champions posed for photos with members of the Fire Department of New York, an especially poignant moment as NASCAR and the nation remembered the department's fallen heroes from the Sept. 11 tragedy the year before.

The following year, "horsepower" took on new meaning as the champions assembled in New York's Central Park, for a photo with one of the park's trademark horse-drawn carriages. A light snow began to fall during the photo shoot, creating a picture-perfect memory of the Holiday season in the City.

The snowy Central Park shoot was also a first in the lifetime of one champion. Auggie Vidovich, a native of Lakeside, Calif., and that season's AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series champion (now racing in the NASCAR Busch Series) had never seen snow before that day.

RED CARPET AUCTION The NASCAR Foundation will have a Red Carpet Online Charity Auction for fans to bid on clothing and accessories worn by NASCAR celebrities at the Nextel Cup Series Awards Banquet in New York.  The auction will go live during the banquet on Dec. 1 -- so check back for more info.  •   NASCAR Foundation

In 2004, the champions were brought to another New York landmark, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. On board the former U.S.S. Intrepid, that season's champions paid homage to military history and NASCAR's visit to New York by posing for photos on the deck of the massive aircraft carrier.

Another first -- the Cup champion owner, Jack Roush, joined in the photo. It was also Kurt Busch's second all-champions photo shoot. As the 1999 Southwest Series champion, Busch had gone to Atlanta Motor Speedway for that year's photo op.

In 2005 the group stayed indoors for photos with NASCAR president Mike Helton, at the Waldorf-Astoria, but the moment was nonetheless a special one. At no other time during the year are all of NASCAR's champions together in one location.

This year, following the NASCAR/NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon on Thursday, the champions will convene for photos at Rockefeller Plaza.