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FONTANA, Calif. — More than once while meeting with reporters in the Auto Club Speedway media room Friday, Jimmie Johnson motioned to a framed poster showing a 15-years-younger version of himself celebrating his first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory here at his "home" track in 2002.
That was 79 victories, seven championships ago — a definitive day in his career and life.
And still, Johnson smiled — even bristled just a bit — receiving immediate questions about when he might win a race this season after only one top-10 finish through the first four races.
"Sixteen years, 80 wins, and seven championships and people want to question us? I mean come on," Johnson said. "You can’t be on top forever. I think that we do have some work to do, especially on the short run. We haven’t executed as cleanly as we need to.
"Daytona, we are running second or third and get crashed. Last week we were a good top-five — maybe top-three — car on the long run, but finished with some short restarts that was our weak point. Yeah, sure, absolutely we have work to do, but nobody should panic."
Johnson certainly is not in panic mode, and certainly not here. He left the press conference to be enshrined in the track’s Hall of Fame. He is the defending winner of this race and has six victories here in all.
This is home for the California native.
And even for one of the sport’s biggest champions, that feeling is warm and distinctive. Listening to Johnson recall the importance of that inaugural win on this particular venue, on a warm spring afternoon, it’s easy to see the difference it made for him. And, ultimately, for NASCAR.
"If any driver could script their first win, I think they would choose a path similar to what I went through," Johnson said. "It was my 13th start ever in the Cup Series, 10th start of that season, running my home track. You just couldn’t script it any better and when I look back, I’m still amazed that it turned out that way. I’m still amazed that it has turned out how it has to start with.
"When I go back mentally to that point in my life, I just wanted to win a race. I’ve said it many times — and I’m very serious about this — with Jeff (Gordon) winning the championship the year before and they gave me his inventory of cars and equipment, I felt like I had to win. Deep down in my heart I felt like Lowe’s signed up because they felt that I could win.
"There was this pressure," Johnson acknowledged. "Granted it was early in the year, but standing there climbing out of that car and the minutes that followed that, the relief that came off of my shoulders knowing that I could win. … I was very relieved and that triple chin smile (in the photo) is more about the relief of all this pressure that I had put on myself to win and I was able to do it very early at my home track."
Johnson said he and wife, Chandra, took their two young daughters, Genevieve and Lydia, to visit his small hometown of El Cajon, about two hours south of the Fontana track. Johnson, a high school sports star, still is a hero in the area, which is located just outside San Diego — a gateway between beach and desert.
In showing his children the house he grew up in, Johnson said he was quick to remind that his upbringing was very modest compared to the luxuries he has been able to share with his young family as a multi-time NASCAR champion.
"It’s so different," Johnson said. "And as a parent I know that I want my kids to appreciate what they have and work hard for the world they want to create for themselves. And my kids are starting a heck of a lot better off than I did from that perspective.
"I grew up in a house full of love and understanding and highly motivated parents that pushed me to chase my dreams, and I want to give that to my children as well, obviously. But, to take them back and show them the street I played on — and I even saw some of my old bicycle jumps that are kind of eroded away now on the side of the road up in Crest (California) where I grew up.
"They are young, but I feel like they need to see that, and to hear my daughter Genevieve’s comments about the house and how small it was and things like that, it’s like, ‘Yep that is why we are here.’
"Certainly, from their standpoint it was great to show them around, but for me it’s just such a nice reminder to go back. I do shake my head and find it hard to believe that is where I came from and that I made it to where I am, but more than anything the memories — it’s just wild how the old memories and stories come up. I just pepper my wife with these stories and she is like, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard that 15 times and that one 20 times.’ So it is just fun to open up the memory bank and experience those things again."
