M*****-F*****in Jimmie Johnson!!!!

[Natalie201]

Damn him!!!!!

I know nobody else cares....but he is freakin' pissing me off!

[Adam54]

What did he do?

Besides win..

[Natalie201]

It's the winning I have a problem with. He irritates me!!

[Adam54]

Yeah, that bastard. Damn him for doing his job well.

I've always liked Jeff Gordon m'self, but Jimmie is the next best thing.

[colmatrix]

I've always liked Jeff Godon since I saw him win at Dover Downs in like the mid '90's. My uncle's company was one of his sponsors so we got free tickets. The place was louder than anything I've ever been to. I saw his interview right after JJ beat him and the guy was PISSED. I don't really care too much either way about him now that I think about it.

[Natalie201]

I can't fault the guy for being a good driver and for always being so competitive. It's just frustrating in these last few years where races are always won by the same handful of drivers.

Of course, if it was MY driver, I probably wouldn't be complaining!!

[colmatrix]

Who is your driver Natalie?

[Natalie201]

I'm a Dale, Jr. fan. I know, I know. Everybody is a Jr. fan but I have a legitimate story behind why I am.

Most of you probably already heard it, but here it is again.

Back in 2000 I moved back home with my parents after a break up with a boyfriend so I could go back to school and save a little money. It was depressing, but it did work out in the end. One night, while I was sitting at home being stood up for a date I supposed to have, I found myself on the couch with my dad watching a race.

Growing up in the south I always knew some of what was going on but didn't really ever sit down to watch the race in its entirety most of the time. You'd just check in the last half hour to see if Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon won, most of the time.

Anyway, i'm sitting there drinking a Budweiser with my dad and i get hooked. I'm pulling for the Bud car because I'm drinking one and we're all into it. My dad immediately pulls against the car I'm pulling for and when it's over, and the Bud car wins, I catch the connection that this "Junior" they're talking about it Dale Earnhardt's son.

I thought it was cool that i was watching with my dad and Jr's the son of a racing legend, etc. etc. It started this thing my dad and I do where he pulls against Junior and I rag him about all his favorites being old and out to pasture. He's still a Bill Elliott fan but pulls for Gordon just to get to me.

Anyway, that was it....I'm a Jr fan.

I really enjoy racing as a whole though. There aren't too many drivers I just don't like....Yesterday when Junior got plowed by that punk Kyle Busch I was mad as hell but was still riveted to see if Jeff Burton could make that pass on Kenseth. That ended up being a great finish and I didn't mind so much about Junior being out.

But if it had been m*****f***** Jimmie Johnson........

[omicron]

Ok, I don't follow racing at all.

I know Jr's leaving DEI. That's definitely a big deal, but is he really all that? I don't recall hearing much about him. I don't understand why drivers are all that. Certainly, a bad driver can lose it for you, but you can have the greatest driver in the world and he can never win a race because of equipment failure/caught up in an accident/bad luck/etc.

[Natalie201]

To be honest, Omi, there is a lot of truth to that. There are some talented drivers stuck in substandard machinery or with substandard teams who don't get to show their full potential. Some drivers can take junk and work magic with it, but it's not something a team can do consistently to compete for wins and, ultimately, a title.

Speaking of Jr., he is a talented driver, 17 career Cup wins in 7 seasons is a much higher winning percentage than most drivers that enter the series. That is also paired with two Busch Series championships is no small feat. Remember, Busch championships (and nearly all the races) of late, have been DOMINATED by full time Cup drivers. A fact so significant that one of the only non-cup drivers who won a Busch race in 2006, with no Cup starts (who, notably, had not won ANY major series race in his career, NOR did he have many major series STARTS) was offered a FT Cup ride to replace another moderately successful driver (See: D.Gilliland for E. Sadler).

Jr.'s success may not seem as notable to non-fans or "only catch the highlights on Sportscenter fans" when compared to that of Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or the big names of old like, duh, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. Truth be told, those drivers are more an exception than the rule in NASCAR. There are also many arguments about the validity of some of the success of even those memorable drivers.

Junior is a driver who has shown success, who lived up to and exceeded the expectation of the promise he showed as a young driver. Whether he's lived up the hype of being Dale Earnhardt's kid is arguable.

The sport is changing and Junior is the face of the sport even if he's not it's most successful (active) driver. It will be interesting to see where he decides to drive. He basically has his pick of all the best teams. I, personally, think he'd be happiest and fit in the best with Gibbs racing, but the sponsorship issue (Gibbs is opposed to alcohol sponsorship) may be the reason it won't happen.

Driving for RCR (his late father's team) is premature at this point of his career but is probably the ride that would be the most seamless and easy to clench between owner/driver/sponsor, etc. But I think driving the #3 would be a big mistake.

Hendrick would have to bump a driver to bring Jr. into the fold. If it happens, it would be Casey Mears who would be dropped which would be very unfortunate because he is another driver with tons of promise (also a legacy driver) and who finally got into stellar equipment for the first time this year with Hendrick.

Anyway, enough on the soapbox.