Jimmie Johnson on "Fast Cars & Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race"
Jimmie Johnson has been winning championships since the age of 8.
After six full NASCAR seasons of finishing in the top 10 in points, including the top five in his first four Nextel Cup seasons, Jimmie Johnson added his name to the list of Nextel Cup champions.
Jimmie Johnson won the 2006 championship after winning the Daytona 500, the All-Star Challenge and the Brickyard 400. But it didn't all come easily. Jimmie Johnson fell to as many as 156 points behind during the Chase before rallying with five consecutive finishes of first or second during the season's final six races. Jimmie Johnson's ninth-place finish at the season-finale secured his first title.
Jimmie Johnson started racing on 50cc motorcycles at age 4, and won the 60cc class championship four years later.
For three consecutive years from 1992-94 Jimmie Johnson won championships in the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group Stadium Racing Series. In 1993 supercross champion Rick Johnson introduced the younger Jimmie Johnson to Herb Fishel, the executive director of GM Racing.
Fisher was impressed, and Jimmie Johnson began racing in off-road events and even doing color commentary for ESPN in the Short Course Off-Road Drivers Association (SODA) Series. Jimmie Johnson won championships in the SCORE Desert Series in 1994 and the SODA Winter Series in '96 and '97.
In 1998 Jimmie Johnson was named American Speed Association (ASA) Pat Schauer Memorial Rookie of the Year after finishing fourth in points in just his first full season on tour.
Jimmie Johnson also made his Busch Series debut in 1998, starting three races with a best finish of 15th at Gateway International Speedway in October. Jimmie Johnson followed a similar path in '99, placing third in the ASA points while finishing a career-best seventh (at Milwaukee) in five Busch races.
In 2000 Jimmie Johnson ran his first full Busch Series schedule. Jimmie Johnson had six top-10s and finished 10th in points. In July 2001 Jimmie Johnson posted his first victory, at Chicago.
Jimmie Johnson made his Cup debut in October 2001 for Hendrick Motorsports, finishing 15th at Lowe's. The next season Hendrick paired Jimmie Johnson with aspiring owner Jeff Gordon, who was coming off his fourth Cup title.
The Gordon magic seemed to rub off on the 2002 rookie. In May, Jimmie Johnson posted the first Cup victory of his career, at Lowe's, and finished the season with three wins, six top-fives and 21 top-10s in 36 races. Jimmie Johnson finished fifth in points.
Hometown: El Cajon, California
Birthday: September 17, 1975