Johnson Selects Final Charities to Adorn Helmet of Hope

The final three charities to be featured in the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Helmet of Hope initiative have been selected. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Classroom Central, and CaringBridge will each have logos on the reigning Sprint Cup Champion’s helmet during the Fontana, Calif. race weekend.

Jimmie and Chandra Johnson announced in July that in conjunction with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation’s second-annual Golf Tournament in San Diego, Calif., race fans and members of the NASCAR family would have the opportunity to participate in the Helmet of Hope initiative, allowing them the chance to nominate charities which they feel should be featured on the helmet.

Johnson drew two charities each race weekend through last Sunday’s event at Michigan International Speedway, collecting a total of 12 winning organizations.

Claire B. Lang, whose name was selected two races ago, had her XM Radio listeners chose her charity throughout the week. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was the winner. Based in Memphis, Tenn., the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of its founder, Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay. For more information, visit www.stjude.com

MRN Radio’s Winton Kelly selected Classroom Central to decorate Johnson’s helmet. Focusing on education, Classroom Central is a free store for teachers who work in low-income schools in the Charlotte, N.C. region. Through its mission of equipping students to effectively learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies, Classroom Central served more than 80,000 students during the 2007-2008 academic year. Kelly says, “Classroom Central levels the academic playing field for students in the Charlotte region. Many of these students show up to the first day of school empty handed but because of Classroom Central, their teachers are able to provide them with all the basic materials for learning. For more information on this charity, visit www.classroomcentral.org.

The final fan-winning charity is CaringBridge, nominated by Susan Ingle of Indianapolis. CaringBridge is a nonprofit charitable organization providing the first, largest and most widely-used free online service to connect family and friends facing a serious health condition, treatment and recovery. A coworker of Ingle has a grandson that was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, traveling from Indianapolis to Phoenix for life-saving surgery. “Michael’s family posted regular updates so everyone stayed informed, without them having to take time away from Michael making tons of phone calls,” Ingle said. For more information, visit www.caringbridge.org.

The final 12 charities to be featured on Johnson’s Helmet of Hope include: Monarch (Albemarle, N.C.), Breakthrough Manchester (Manchester, N.H.), STEP, Inc. (Rocky Mount, Va.), The American Diabetes Association (Alexandria, Va.), The Children’s Fund for Glycogen Storage Disease Research (Cheshire, Conn.), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Charlotte, N.C.), Alex’s Lemonade Stand (Wynnewood, Pa.), the Nationwide Foundation (Columbus, Ohio), Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (Exton, Pa.), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, Tenn.), Classroom Central (Charlotte, N.C.) and Caring Bridge (Eagan, Minn).

If you are interested in doing a story on the Helmet of Hope initiative or need more information, please contact Tara Gudger at tgudger@gmrlive.com or 704-714-4155.

Bristol Motor Speedway

PREVIEW

Jimmie Johnson wants to win at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s one of only seven tracks in which the Nextel Cup Series competes where Johnson hasn’t visited Victory Lane. That’s the main reason that the reigning Sprint Cup Series Champion will not only compete in Saturday night’s Sharpie 500, but will also make his Truck Series debut in Wednesday night’s event at the .533-mile bullring, piloting the No. 81 Kobalt Tools Chevrolet for Randy Moss Motorsports.

“That’s really why we’re running the truck race, so that I can get some more seat time on that track,” said Johnson. “The trucks are closer to a Cup car than the Nationwide cars are and Chad (Knaus) will be up there and involved. It gives us an opportunity to learn some things without the pressure of being in the points race. Everybody learns a lot more when the pressure’s not on, so it’s a good way to give me a little more experience and for Chad to adjust on the vehicle and learn a bit more about the track.”

In his 13 starts there, Johnson has collected two top five and six top-10 finishes.

JOHNSON QUOTES:

ON BRISTOL, DID YOU LIKE THE OLD STYLE WITH MORE BUMPING AND BANGING AND ONE GROOVE, OR DO YOU ENJOY MORE THE PASSING WITH MULTIPLE GROOVES NOW? “It funny because the tracks the drivers say they enjoy the most are tracks where we have options and we can pass. Typically they are tracks that the fans aren’t too receptive to. Michigan is one of the best tracks for the drivers, but we get spread out and there aren’t a lot of cautions and you have some people that think that’s not good racing because there are no cautions. Bristol kind of falls in that same category now where there are a lot of options on the track to use. From a driver’s standpoint, Bristol is much more enjoyable now than its ever been. You can really race people, try different lines, explore around the track, and explore set-ups. So I like the challenges that Bristol gives us now, but it’s because I can control my own destiny. And I’m sure the fans paying for the seats have liked the fact that there was so much pushing and shoving and knocking people out of the way in the past and we just don’t have that there anymore.”

HOW MUCH HAS THE NATURE OF SHORT TRACK RACING CHANGED WITH THESE NEW CAR AS FAR AS HOW YOU SET PEOPLE UP AND HOW YOU SCHEME FOR THE RACE? “In some ways there are more opportunities because the cars don’t handle as well. So that’s a plus. And then in other ways, it’s tough to move guys out of the way now that the bumpers line up so well. You really have to keep some speed and nail the guy in front of you in order to be able to move him (laughs). Where before, you kind of scoop him up and get him out of the way with the slope on the nose of the cars. But I think this car has raced really well on the short tracks. I think it’s done a really good job on road courses, and kind of the problems we had setting the car up help with the racing and make the racing a little better. The problem we have is when you get on the big tracks and the speeds are so much higher and the consequences are so much greater with an ill-handling car, that’s where you really abuse the tires and where you have drivers and teams struggling to find the balance and find the comfort in the car.”

WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THE TRUCK THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO THE CUP CAR? “I don’t know. I’m going to find out. I would assume, not much with the fact that the cars run bump stops and the rules are much different, but at least I’m on the track. Every lap that I make on a track, the more I learn and the rhythm comes to me. That’s really a big part of Bristol. There’s a certain rhythm to that race track and if I can find the rhythm sooner and adjust to that and practice and be doing the right things when our Cup practice starts, from a driver’s standpoint, it will hopefully put us ahead of where we’ve been in the past and we’ll be more competitive in the race.”

RACE NOTES:

Bristol Motor Speedway

Johnson has made 13 Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, posting two top-five and six top-10 finishes. He won the pole position there in March of this year. Johnson has completed 97.8% (6364 of 6510) of competition laps at the short track and has led 43. Johnson has an average start and finish of 16 and 16.2.

Chassis

Chassis No. 433 will be the primary for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup event. Johnson drove that car most recently at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, where he sat on the pole and finished 18th. The backup chassis is No. 419.

CAREER NOTES:

Career Wins

Johnson has 35 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career. Johnson’s most recent victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 27, 2008) moved the reigning champion into a tie with Mark Martin for both 17th-place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list and the third-highest win total among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (81) and Bill Elliott (44). Johnson has won at least three Cup races a season since he posted his first victory in 2002. He is the only driver in the modern era to win at least three races in each of his first six full-time seasons. Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but seven (Bristol, Michigan, Infineon, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Kansas, Homestead) of the 22 tracks in which the series competes. Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Jeff Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998. The four-consecutive wins scored by the No. 48 team in the 2007 Chase for the Championship ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

Career Poles

Johnson has one pole at Bristol Motor Speedway – March 16, 2008. Johnson has collected 16 poles in his Sprint Cup career. The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002. He had a career-high four in both 2002 and 2007. Johnson’s most recent pole position was in the Aug. 3 event at Pocono Raceway.

Career Starts

Johnson has finished in the top five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings each year since his first full season in 2002. In 242 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 93 top five and 146 top-10 finishes. He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. Johnson has led a total of 6,222 laps (of 69,147) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 93,213 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 185 times.