May 9th, 2010 
T.C. As the #48 Lowe’s Chevy was dragged back to the garage area on Saturday night behind the wrecker, a loud roar of approval could be heard all the way to Charlotte. After a “wrong place, wrong time” incident that involved AJ Allmendinger losing his brakes and crashing hard into Jimmie Johnson, a large part of the crowd in attendance at Darlington Raceway made it known that they were glad to the see the 48 retired from the event. The reaction got me thinking, is Jimmie Johnson the new driver the fans love to hate?
Think back over your own time as a NASCAR fan. Who have been the sport’s most hated drivers? Names come to mind like Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, and the Busch brothers. What’s interesting to note about all of these guys, is just how polarizing they were and are. They would beat the brakes off the competition, wreck people, or get wrecked, and then get out of the car and whine, talk smack, or antagonize. Their attitudes and styles appealed to many, but were hated by others. We had Ironhead, Jaws, and Rusty the Whiner.
Flash forward to today, and instead of focusing their hate towards extreme personalities, fans now hate vanilla. Johnson has flat dominated NASCAR competition over the last four years, and yet he hasn’t done so much as ruffle one feather of a competitor on the track. He kicks ass, thanks his sponsors and crew, and moves on to the next track. There is no media bashing, interview flake outs, whining, or trash talk.
Besides the domination and his very moderate style, Jimmie has also come to represent to NASCAR fans all that is wrong with the sport today. Instead of the Allison’s and Cale Yarborough fighting on the back stretch at Daytona, we have drivers (like Jimmie) who are very corporate and choose their words and actions carefully. Fighting and on track clashes are entertaining, endless sponsor shout outs and boring interviews are not.
So far this season, it appears that all the Jimmie/Chad voodoo dolls might finally be working. Through eleven races, the team has already tripled it’s number of DNFs from all of 2009. Two of those having come within the last three weeks. And after some heated exchanges on the radio during Saturday night’s race, the team may be showing there are cracks in the armor.
As the season progresses, expect the cheers to get louder if Jimmie has bad luck, and the boo birds to be even more vicious if their luck is good. JJ has officially become the most hated driver in NASCAR.
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I used to not care much about Johnson, didn’t like or hate him.
After they way he’s acted towards Gordon on the track recently, another driver I have been apathetic towards, I found my self happy to see his car go to the garage at Darlington.
I guess I had a soft spot for old Jeff after all.
I don’t think it’s hate for Jimmie Johnson the person, or Jimmie Johnson the driver; it’s just a hate for what he stands for: a NASCAR that’s become way too predictable and without surprises. At least last year, we had the historic 4th championship to edge us on. But this year? When you can summarize a sport with “It’s 43 guys racing for the trophy, and at the end of the season, the #48 wins”, there isn’t much reason to watch anymore. Those 3 early season wins by the 48 team haven’t helped, either.
It has nothing to do with vanilla. It has nothing to do with polarizing personalities. It has nothing to do with who he wrecks.
If you win too much you will get booed. It happens at short tracks as well as NASCAR and INDYCAR.
Fans hate those at the top and love the underdog.
ON the track, YES! Chad too. The 48 is the biggest competitor my teams have (well, everyone’s, unless you’re a 48 fan) and you betcha I’m gonna wish them ill luck. Everything is cyclical and hopefully they are finally on the down turn, so that another team can finally get on top to win the upper championship hand. While I’d love it to be one of my drivers at this point I’m not even really caring, just as long as it’s “Anyone But Jimmie!” LOL
OFF the track, Jimmie, Chad, all those guys are absolutely nice, personable people. It’s too bad most fans can’t separate the two situations because on this side, they are truly a credit to representing the sport and putting fans first.
I don’t think it’s downright hatred of the 48, Jimmie Johnson or Chad Knaus. I think we’re just sick of these guys winning all the time.
When one team or driver win too often, it’s bad for the sport. It drives away viewers and lowers interest. I’ve heard it from friends – ‘Why should I bother watching, that damn 48 car’s gonna win anyway…’
I think we all get a shot of perverse pleasure from witnessing a driver who has been as successful as Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon (in their heydays) and Johnson today get the stuffing knocked out of them.
I think JJ is somewhat different than some of the drivers of the past. Earnhardt Sr. won alot of races by just shoving other drivers out of his way, something that would not be tolerated now to the extent he did it. Waltrip just drove hard and shot off his mouth, which was very annoying then, and is more so now. Both good reasons to dislike them. JJ is just very good, and wins because of ability and talent along with a very good team. Pretty hard to dislike that. It was the same with Gordon.
Personally, my hatred for Jimmie began after a Busch series wreck at Talladega when he said “I’ll just take a couple of Excedrin and feel better tomorrow.” I know drivers have to plug their sponsors but hearing that made me want to puke.
I will always hate Jimmie Johnson, but it’s not just because of his wins. When he was crashed Saturday night I had my biggest smile in a long time
IMHO I doubt too many “haters” of JJ, actually hate JJ (even Bobby#7Fan). Rather they hate the idea of a boring and predictable race. Which is somewhat ironic considering so many would not mind one bit a boring and predictable race so long as “their” chosen driver finished first. Personally, I prefer watching first time winners. Unfortunately, Regan Smith lost what might have been his only shot at Talladega.
Even though we had double file restarts starting late in 2009 for JJ’s 4th Chase, I’ve got an idea having DFR’s and GWC’s in force the whole year just might well play into less domination by the #48.
I came across this Ed Hinton article on Tim Richmond last year on the anniversary of his death. It also makes reference to JJ and the shift from flamboyant and outspoken drivers to the vanilla corporate types. It made me wonder how fans would accept Richmond today. Love or hate? I guess since Stewart has been tamed, baby Busch has taken the reins as the polarizing bad boy (but not necessarily Richmond style).
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=4394325
Lastly, did anyone notice the TV booth kept referring to last years Darlington race as the “Spring” race when in fact it was the “only” Darlington race of 2009? The “Lady” and “The Rock” each need two!
Simply put, Jimmie is like the Yankees of baseball. I dislike him because he’s blocked all of my favorite drivers from championships for 4 years.
He’s talented, essentially clean. But damn, I don’t want to see him win.
YES HE IS! I absolutely HATE him!
I actually stood up and danced, after I made sure he was ok, of course. That was a scary hit. Once I saw he was fine, boy-oh-boy did the dance begin!!
Made my week seeing allmendinger taking him out! Way to go A.J! I’ll be rootin for A.J and Edwards in Dover!
JJ doesn’t do much of anything for me. He’s just too darn boring to get worked up about.
Other the other hand, Eddie Hask—er, Brad Keselowski—really gets under my skin with his driving style, and then whining when others drive him equally hard.
Being a JJ fan I have heard many reasons to hate him. NASCAR wants him to win, they created the chase just for him, JJ cheats, Chad cheats, HMS cheats, HMS pays NASCAR to let him win, he shows no emotion, he is vanilla, Lowes pays off NASCAR so he can win, NASCAR has drivers take out each other if they are doing better then JJ, NASCAR throws cautions to help JJ win, etc. Heard this one in the last couple of days, “There was no GWC at Darlington because JJ was already out”.
I did have a good laugh and did some picking back when one of my friends who has complained to me for many years about HMS cheating, corrupt organization, worst thing to NASCAR, basically the devil itself. Then it was announced his driver Mark M was going to HMS. I think I got whiplash from his spin on things.
After talking to the JJ haters I have found that what it boils down to is the majority hate JJ because their driver is NOT winning.
TC: What was said on the radio that was so negative. Heard the comment about wreck bad enough so we can all go home early comment. Were you referring to that or something else?
I don’t hate him. I don’t like him because he seems so arrogant, and he was that way before the championships. In my opinion, he needs a dose of humility.
I think Johnson, Knaus, and the 48 team will be back with a vengeance and still win a fifth in a row. Boring yes but they are just too good to keep down. Unless there is something to this heated exchange on Saturday night and a crack in the armor I just don’t see them out of it. Remember as long as you finish in the top 12, the 10 at the end is what counts.
haha, I can care less about him…always have been Jeff Gordon fan and will always be. He’s the only guy I want to win in any race.
I hate Jimmie Johnson. It is boring to see one driver win all the time. He is a 4 time champion and if he wins again this year I will totally stop watching nascar. Good luck Nascar for being so bored.
It is obvious to anyone who has been a fan of stock car racing for any time at all, and has watched with an open mind that NASCAR has continually changed the rules to assure that Chevy (GM) will win the most races and the championship. NASCAR also chooses a team and driver from that group to be its favorite. Lets look back to Dale, “can’t pass’ em crash’ em, can’t win’ em spin’ em”, Earnhardt, or “pass through the grass bone head whiner” Jeff Gordon, and now Jimmie “I don’t have to get mad because they will throw the caution for me when I need it” Johnson. Even Kyle “wanna be D.E. Sr.” Bush would have never been able to get away with his reckless driving had he not started out with HMS. AS far as finding and inforcing rules infractions NASCAR seems to look the other way for its golden teams. Just ask RCR who used to hold that position, how they could lose 150 points for a deck lid infraction, that could have and probibally was caused by being pushed by a wrecker, while the #48 and #5 teams can run up front with a ride height infraction and they get well it was close enough no penilty from NASCAR, or when the #48 team got the pole at Daytona running too low yet was still allowed to keep its time, and most importantly the #1 pit stall. Ask Casey Mears how he could lose points for thin walled roll cages in cars the #25 team recieved from the #24 team after they won the championship with them the previous year. As far as other brands ( Dodge and Ford ) winning consistantly it won’t happen because if ( GM ) goes more than a couple races without winng NASCAR implements rule changes to handicap the other brands or allows the GM’s bigger restricter plates or 2 inch variance with front end just to mention only a couple. Now lets look at the components of the so called GM’s, Rear ends: Ford 9 inch, Rear suspension: 69 Ford Torino, transmission: Ford style top loader, SB II: based off Doug Yate Ford Heads ( that RYR submitted to NASCAR for approval and NASCAR allowed the GM engineers to copy before denying RYR use untill the GM teams ran the new Ford based engine for 2 years), and finally aerodynamics: T-birds dominated as a true rear wheel drive car so NASCAR allowed GM to run a 4-door front wheel drive bodied Lumina, and when Ford and Dodge came out with thier own fwd cars and began to beat up on the Chevy’s NASCAR made all the bodies the same. That is why you hear long time fans complaining about the cars today, because they remember the days when you engineered fast cars put a roll cage in the and went to the track to run circle around the SLACKERS (GM’s). Toyota should thank NASCAR and GM because without all those rule tweeks to keep GM competetive they would have never been able to get into the sport. FORD THE BACK BONE OF TODAY CHEVROLET!
Hey Danimal, you wouldn’t happen to pilot a black helicopter would you? This is one of the longest conspiracy theory rants I’ve seen on our website. If you really believe all this junk, I feel bad for you, because watching NASCAR must be unbearable…
Hey T.C., which must stand for Team Chevy, if you would look into my comments with an open mind and research the facts that were stated for you, you would find for yourself that they are not rants but indeed based on FACTS. Please look into them and if you can show me that these rule changes were not made and that the other manufactures are not using FORD component to stay competitive, I will gladly retract my statements. Until then, which I’m confident will never come, realize that every victory in NASCAR is thanks to, in part, to Ford. Also can you tell me why Kyle Bush was able to pass under the yellow lines at Talladega for the win in the truck race, and under the yellow lines to cause an accident in the Sprint Cup race without a penalty, I’m sure Reagan Smith would also like to know. Take care. D.