LDN - Sports

Johnson emulates Yarborough in tying idol's wins mark

[June 06, 2017] By Jonathan Ingram, The Sports Xchange

Jimmie Johnson's 83rd career victory in Dover, Del., on Sunday tied Cale Yarborough for sixth place on NASCAR's all-time list and brought up the usual conundrum of comparing athletes of different eras.

On the other hand, there's little doubt these two drivers share two common characteristics: racing hard and never giving up.

Johnson's determination was on display once again at Dover, where he drove from the back of the field to fifth place in the first stage, then used an overtime period to beat Kyle Larson, who was the class of the field for much of the day. Amazingly, it was the third victory in the last four for Johnson where he has started at the rear, including the one at Homestead last fall that clinched his seventh championship.

At Dover, Johnson wore a commemorative helmet in honor of the driver he was hoping to catch on the all-time list -- a driver he had admired from afar via television while growing up. Rick Hendrick, owner of Johnson's Chevrolet entries, saw Yarborough drive in races in the Southeast.

"You know, I watched Cale -- he was one of the toughest, hardest racers that I ever watched race, fearless, and drove the car over the edge, and Jimmie does the same thing, but Jimmie makes it look smooth," Hendrick said.

The team owner borrowed a line from former NFL coach Bill Parcells about won-loss records.

"The way I remember Cale, they're a little bit different in their approach, but their record is the same," Hendrick said.

Hendrick was recollecting an era from the 1960s and 1970s that was Yarborough's proving ground. Drivers used their fenders on the track and their fists off it on occasion to protect their turf.

Hence, Yarborough's classic confrontation with the brothers Allison in 1979 on the grass in Turn 3 after the Daytona 500 in 1979. The three-way fist fight erupted after Yarborough refused to let Donnie Allison run him off the track at the exit of Turn 2 and turned back into him while fighting for the lead on the last lap.

Johnson, who was 3 years old at the time of that incident, initially became enamored with the Hardee's paint schemes of Yarborough's No. 28 Ford entries in the latter stages of his career. When asked about his memories of Yarborough, Johnson recalled his days watching TV with his parents in El Cajon, Calif., when the family sweated out 100-degree heat instead of turning on the air conditioning to save money. On the other hand, the family found enough money to take their son to the Amateur National Motocross Championships, which helped launch his racing career.

"I was sitting on the couch and pulling for that 28," Johnson recalled of his days watching his favorite driver race on TV. "To tie him is just mind blowing. I was very fortunate to have a similar experience when I tied him with the three consecutive championships.

"To tie him at 83 wins, I swear to you, I only dreamed of winning a race, and to have 83 and to tie him is just absolutely mind-blowing," added Johnson, who met Yarborough at that year's awards banquet in 2008.

The two drivers don't bear much physical resemblance, but their starts in racing have some things in common. Yarborough had to dig through the dirt to get under the fence at the Darlington Raceway as a boy without the means to buy a ticket and started his racing career after lying about his age to drive in his first Southern 500 three years before his 21st birthday. For his part, Johnson started in the dirt in motocross as a youngster, because that's what his parents could afford.

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Both drivers were hand-picked by factories early in their careers. Yarborough won a tryout with Ford, beating Benny Parsons for the factory deal in a race at the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Jacques Passino, who directed Ford's racing effort, made it clear what he expected from his young driver.

Recalled Yarborough: "I remember him telling me one day, 'I don't care how many fenders is on that car, I don't care whether it's upside down, I don't care what kind of condition it's in -- as long as you were in front when it happened.' I never forgot that and I made it a point to always run up front if there was any possible way."

Johnson was chosen for advancement by Chevy's Herb Fishel out of the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group's stadium off-road series and eventually ended up with Hendrick Motorsports. Unlike Yarborough's career, which included two years of driving Indy cars after Ford withdrew from NASCAR competition, Johnson has had the same team owner, sponsor (Lowe's) and crew chief (Chad Knaus) throughout his career.

Is it tougher to win races and titles now due to more competition -- or was it tougher in Yarborough's day when the 115-inch wheelbase cars had no power steering and were hotter than ovens during races? Did a driver have to be more ferocious and focused to win the title by scoring the most points over the course of a season as Yarborough did -- or over the course of a 10-race playoff?

These are subjective judgments, one that drivers themselves tend to shy away from. But the statistics on race victories are interesting to compare and contrast.

Johnson took 556 races to win his 83rd, compared to the 524 it took Yarborough, who won three championships. Over the course of his 560-race career, Yarborough had a better average starting position (8.2 compared to Johnson's 11.3), but Johnson now has a better average finish (12.1 compared to 12.6).

Yarborough won four Daytona 500s and five Southern 500s; Johnson has two victories in each. Arguably, those are the two toughest races on the NASCAR schedule to win, if only because every driver wants one of the trophies from the two legendary events that began in the 1950s. While Johnson maintains an edge in championships versus Yarborough, he trails in the arena of big victories, which in Yarborough's time were considered by drivers far more important in terms of prestige and money.

It will be interesting to see if Johnson comes up with another commemorative helmet prior to his next victory -- which will tie him with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip on the all-time list. During his campaign for a seventh title last year, he wore a helmet featuring Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt -- so why not another one featuring two drivers?

Johnson said he wore a commemorative Yarborough helmet at Dover "to honor Cale Yarborough, to help younger fans know the name, know the face."

It was also a reminder to Johnson himself, when he was home sitting on what he described as a "dirty old couch," watching races and dreaming of winning just one.

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