Picture yourself as an average American sports fan, and answer us this. What comes to your mind when someone says ‘famous athletes’? The imagination ranges from Michael Jordan, Hulk Hogan, or Tom Brady. come to mind. And we do not blame you for not thinking of King Petty, the Intimidator, or Jeff Gordon. The towering frames of NBA and NFL athletes give them a significant presence in public spaces. All too often, you’ll see fans swarming up to them, requesting autographs, asking for photos, and their faces are plastered everywhere. But do NASCAR drivers get the same amount of attention?
Despite having some of the most recognizable names in American sports, stock car racing’s most iconic figures aren’t instantly recognizable. Let alone recognized, sometimes they are not even considered athletes! Remember 2010? Seattle Hawks’ Receiver, Golden Tate, tweeted, “Jimmy Johnson up for best athlete???? Um, nooo … Driving a car does not show athleticism. Guarantee he couldn’t in million years play any SPORT.” Something’s burnin’, right? Of course, Jimmie Johnson won AP’s Athlete of the Year 2010 to get this response. It must have been very demeaning for someone who has no individuality in sports and depends on a team to catch a prolate spheroid to get awards! However, the Sport Science lab in the USA had taken the initiative to verify those claims. And what they found was shocking!
To quote their documentation is one line, “NASCAR drivers are some of the best athletes on the planet, with reaction times, endurance, strength and concentration that rival the best in any sport.” But even after that, NASCAR drivers do not get the amount of recognition they deserve. Why is that? Shedding light on the strange but logical phenomena, seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson trashed the ‘unpopular’ debate by making a bold claim.
Jimmie Johnson busts a longstanding NASCAR myth
Busting the myth that race car drivers aren’t as famous as other athletes, Jimmie Johnson candidly said on the Business of Sports podcast, “Yeah, I think it’s quite high. We have an interesting job career where we have great name recognition but not facial recognition. When you think of other stick and ball guys, especially American football or NBA, they’re such big humans. They stand out, and you’re like, ‘that has got to be someone.’ People chase them down. Racecar guys, we just look like normal people, and it’s quite simple.”
However, there have been exceptions in this case. The sport has seen some real icons in the past, who were not only instantly recognizable but made the sport what it is because of their rivalry. Shedding light on it, Jimmie Johnson said, “During the height of it all, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. had crazy, crazy recognition. The rivalry they had between the two, you had the California kid dethroning the southern man in Dale Sr.. It was really kind of the late 90s early 2000s. It was massive.”
TORONTO, ON – JULY 15 – Chip Ganassi Racing driver Jimmie Johnson (48) of United States. After a two year hiatus, Torontos annual race, the Honda Indy, roars back to the streets around the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds in Toronto. July 15, 2022. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Unlike Formula 1, NASCAR drivers don’t have to maintain a specific weight or fitness level to compete in the sport. The stock car racing series, even at the highest level, features drivers of various heights, weights, and body types, making it a more common man sport. Even though drivers are subjected to g-forces, especially in crashes, it is not comparable to Formula 1, which can go up to 5g’s during cornering and braking.
This means there is a specific training regime F1 drivers follow to cope with the demands of the sport, giving them a more athlete-like physique that makes them recognizable, unlike NASCAR racers. And, one of the generational talents has a story so interesting that it feels unreal!
Kyle Larson was not recognized at Disneyland
You would think that a NASCAR Cup Series winner would have earned celebrity status. In 2021, Kyle Larson finished the season with 10 wins and lifted the Bill France Cup at Phoenix Raceway after a dominant year. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was receiving overwhelming praise from the NASCAR community, but that’s where the recognition ended. He went to Disneyland during the Thanksgiving holidays, but apart from the odd, “Hey, champ!” or “Congrats on a great season”, most of the people didn’t even know who he was.
Sharing his experience, Kyle Larson said, “I went to Disneyland and only had a handful of people recognize me, which was cool. I was hoping there was going to be way more pandemonium about me. I was on a VIP tour. I wanted to get that extra special treatment, but there weren’t enough people who knew who I was.”
For a driver who is widely considered to be one of the biggest names in the sport, Kyle Larson’s experience highlights that the NASCAR world exists in its bubble. While people may know who the Hendrick Motorsports driver is by name, the fact that he was not recognized shows that perhaps NASCAR could do more to promote its biggest stars. Just like Jimmie Johnson said, stock car drivers look like “normal people”, which may be the reason why many consider NASCAR drivers to be ‘unpopular.’
The post “We Just Look Like Normal People”- Jimmie Johnson Publicly Trashes NASCAR Stars’ ‘Unpopular’ Debate With Bold 3-Word Claim appeared first on EssentiallySports.
