Two teams separated by 30 years share same qualities
When Jimmie Johnson claims his fourth consecutive title – we all assume that will happen at Homestead – he will break the record of three in a row set by Cale Yarborough from 1976-78.
Championship teams share many qualities that enable them to be successful. That can certainly be said for Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team today and Yarborough’s Junior Johnson & Associates organization over 30 years ago.
First, there is quality of leadership.
You don’t have to be told how often Rick Hendrick has been categorized as a team owner with great organizational, motivational and
personnel skills and a man who has earned the respect and loyalty of his employees.
The same can be said of Junior Johnson. He was rougher around the edges, and he was more hands-on in that he built engines and even slung the jack, but he had a leadership presence that earned the same respect and loyalty Hendrick has today.
In Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick has arguably NASCAR’s best driver. He’s smooth, yet aggressive when necessary and makes few mistakes.
It’s as if he’s a product of the Hendrick environment, one that, at least in most cases, seems to offer the best to, and thus get the best out of, its drivers.
Yarborough, who raced in some of the best equipment of the day, had all the qualities Junior Johnson wanted in a driver – and they weren’t that many. Smart and smooth helped, but Johnson wanted an aggressive sort who could put the car up front and keep it there.
If he wrecked or blew an engine, so what? There was always another car and another engine.
It’s clear that as a crew chief Hendrick’s Chad Knaus is one of the best. To me what are most important are his leadership, of course, and his relationship with Jimmie Johnson.
I think that the chemistry they have established over the years, and a distinct lack of discord, have fueled their success.
Yarborough’s crew chief for much of his time with Junior Johnson was the irascible Herb Nab. Nab wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as Knaus, but he didn’t need to be. He knew cars and engines inside out, and to him, that’s all that mattered.
If he thought something would make the car better on the track, he just did it – and with the team owner’s knowledge and approval. Nab didn’t always consult with Yarborough, which suited Yarborough just fine.
So the relationship worked.
Yes, some crewmen on the No. 48 Hendrick team have come and gone. But I can’t recall a time when any one of them has departed in a huff and voiced his discontent to the media. The team’s core personnel remain intact, which is good. Repeated transition is not.
It was the same for Junior Johnson. He, too, had personnel changes but the key people with names like Shorty, Turkey, Bobby, Henry and a few others – “Junior’s Guys” – never left Wilkes County, N.C.
And as aside, both teams weren’t afraid to, uh, “experiment.” Junior Johnson’s team was famous for it and sometimes paid the price.
Certainly Knaus can tell you that he and his team have also paid that price.
There are other parallels, but these are some samples of the qualities two championship teams – separated by three decades – share.
