Jimmie Johnson didn’t get many breaks from publicity obligations following his record fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. After his post-race interview went well into Sunday night; early on Monday morning he found a little time to celebrate with his crew at a club on South Beach in Miami.
"They played 'We are the Champions,"' Johnson said, "and you know what? That song doesn't really mean much until you're a champion."
As part of the whirlwind media tour, Johnson appeared at the Empire State Building on Tuesday to be honored by the City of New York declaring it “Jimmie Johnson Day.”
One New York City Mayoral aide noted, quizzically, that such honourees weren’t alive to when individual proclamations of this type are presented.
In the lobby there was a photo opportunity with a scale model of the venerable New York skyscraper. Johnson threw a switch which sounded like the closing of the hatch of a World War II submarine, and, the scale model’s upper part lit up in the blue and white colors of Johnson’s No 48 Chevrolet.
Johnny Damon of the MLB champion Yankees was part of the presentation. He appreciated the magnitude of Johnson’s achievement. “We haven't seen that in baseball in a very long time," Damon said.
"I believe in NASCAR it could be tougher, because every week these guys are going for you. It's kind of like putting on the pinstripes."
There was a touching moment as the photographers drifted away to set up shots on the 86th floor observation deck when some fans, carrying an infant, asked Johnson if he would pose with their child. Without missing a beat he took the infant in his arms like he had done this all-the-time.
Anyone claiming the Champion has no personality should have seen that moment.
photo:Mike Stobe/Getty Images for NASCAR
"They played 'We are the Champions,"' Johnson said, "and you know what? That song doesn't really mean much until you're a champion."
As part of the whirlwind media tour, Johnson appeared at the Empire State Building on Tuesday to be honored by the City of New York declaring it “Jimmie Johnson Day.”
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One New York City Mayoral aide noted, quizzically, that such honourees weren’t alive to when individual proclamations of this type are presented.
In the lobby there was a photo opportunity with a scale model of the venerable New York skyscraper. Johnson threw a switch which sounded like the closing of the hatch of a World War II submarine, and, the scale model’s upper part lit up in the blue and white colors of Johnson’s No 48 Chevrolet.
Johnny Damon of the MLB champion Yankees was part of the presentation. He appreciated the magnitude of Johnson’s achievement. “We haven't seen that in baseball in a very long time," Damon said.
"I believe in NASCAR it could be tougher, because every week these guys are going for you. It's kind of like putting on the pinstripes."
There was a touching moment as the photographers drifted away to set up shots on the 86th floor observation deck when some fans, carrying an infant, asked Johnson if he would pose with their child. Without missing a beat he took the infant in his arms like he had done this all-the-time.
Anyone claiming the Champion has no personality should have seen that moment.
photo:Mike Stobe/Getty Images for NASCAR