Jeff Gluck: Jimmie Johnson’s cold-blooded approach leaves fans feeling chilly
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson won't let his emotions get the best of him in Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Scene
Related stories: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin take different paths toward winning 2009 Cup title
COMMENTARY
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Many heads have been scratched and brows furrowed at NASCAR fans’ dislike for Jimmie Johnson.
Drivers and others inside the garage just can’t understand it: Johnson is set to win his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship today in Florida, but he remains vastly underappreciated and is the subject of outright derision from some.
When athletes in other sports dominate – say, Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong – the television ratings and interest go up. During the Johnson Era, the ratings and attendance have declined.
Why? Some say his dominance is boring (an argument which has been made here before); some say his personality is too vanilla.
But perhaps what ails Johnson is the same disease that plagues the entire sport right now: There’s an alarming lack of emotion in NASCAR.
Without interesting storylines or characters, there is little entertainment value to get fans excited. And many of the current top drivers seem reluctant to show passion.
Johnson is the prime example. He views the quest for a fourth consecutive title as a mission from which he cannot allow himself to be distracted – and in doing so, he displays the emotions of a cold-blooded assassin.
Take what he said at a Thursday news conference designed to build anticipation for championship weekend.
“I am out of emotion,” Johnson said. “There is no emotion. It’s all business.”
If that doesn’t sum up why fans can’t relate to Johnson, I don’t know what does.
When fans watch sports, they yearn to see athletes who care about the games as much as they do. Brett Favre is so beloved, for example, because it’s obvious how much he enjoys playing football.
People identify with human emotions. Fans put themselves in the same positions as their sports heroes and ask, “How would I feel if I was in his shoes? What would I do? What would I say?”
Imagine yourself making the game-winning kick in the Super Bowl and picture how you’d react. Imagine what it must feel like to strike out the final batter in the World Series or sink a putt to win the Masters.
Now picture how amazing it would feel to hoist the Sprint Cup trophy with confetti raining down – especially for a fourth straight time.
Will Johnson’s celebration tonight be marked by his business-like approach that has made winning seem more like a relief? Or will he show the pure, blissful joy many of us would like to believe we would feel if placed in the same situation?
Throughout the Chase, Johnson has intentionally tried to feel as little as possible in order to march down his title road without a detour.
That’s good for him – his mental toughness likely has much to do with how well he has performed in the last four seasons – but it’s bad for the rest of us.
The problem is, Johnson isn’t the only one depriving fans of a great storyline. They seem to be lacking at every turn.
Fifty-year-old Mark Martin could have been NASCAR’s biggest sentimental favorite since Dale Earnhardt at Daytona. Earnhardt had never won the Daytona 500 despite several close calls and heartbreaks, yet eventually broke through, creating an unforgettable surge of emotion throughout the sport.
Martin, however, has refused to get excited about the championship. He has insisted time and again that the Cup title is not as important to him, and that he only returned to full-time racing to win races – not the big trophy.
His desire to keep racing, he has said, “really doesn’t have anything to do with the championship.”
“I didn't take this job with hopes and dreams of winning the championship,” he has said.
Well, where’s the fun in that?
Instead of letting us embrace the sentimental favorite, Martin in some ways has pushed us all away. It might be a self-defense mechanism to not get his hopes up, but in turn Martin hasn’t allowed fans to get their own hopes up, either.
The same goes for Juan Pablo Montoya. One of the freshest faces in NASCAR, Montoya has been bluntly honest in describing his desire to become the first foreign-born champ.
To put it simply: He’ll be happy if he wins, but it’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t.
“If I win the Cup, cool,” he has said. “That’s it.”
Is this what the sport has become? If fans can’t relate to the drivers or identify with the emotions they see on TV, NASCAR loses the attraction that has created such a loyal fan base.
Today, Johnson will likely achieve one of the greatest feats in racing history.
But if he hasn’t enjoyed the ride, how are NASCAR fans supposed to enjoy the end result?
