Every legendary sporting career is full of twists and turns and the what could have beens and newly enshrined NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Jimmie Johnson is no exception.
For example, before embarking on a run of seven championships and 83 victories at the highest level of the discipline, Johnson was a lesser known driver in the Busch Grand National Series who by the 2000 season hadn’t even won yet.
His stock car resume only had two victories and that came in the ASA national Late Model tour.
And yet, his poise and professionalism combined with a driving style that maximized the equipment he drove caught the eye of Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports who ultimately signed him to drive the now iconic No. 48.
It was a decision that drew a lot of skepticism from the community and that criticism really motivated Johnson upon reaching the Cup Series with Hendrick, crew chief Chad Knaus and their No. 48 team.
The story could have played out entirely different, as Johnson was actually offered a contract by Chip Ganassi Racing to start driving its upstart No. 01 car for the 2001 season, but that offer was ultimately used as leverage to get the deal he wanted from Rick Hendrick.
Gordon had a similar unorthodox path to Hendrick Motorsports.
It begins in 2000 with Johnson driving in the Busch Series for Herzog Motorsports but issued a fork in the road as their No. 92 car was set to lose primary sponsor Alltel Communications to Team Penske and Ryan Newman for the next season.
Without a partner, the Herzogs would not be able to continue with Johnson, or potentially at all come 2001. Johnson had secured a letter of intent with Hendrick and Gordon, who intended to launch the No. 48 team in a couple of years but that was not an iron clad immediate contract.
It certainly didn’t solve the issue Herzog faced in 2001 in a story Johnson detailed after his induction ceremony on Friday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“The Herzogs came to me and said, we can’t run next year without a sponsor, so I started shopping around. Chip Ganassi was starting his Cup program and he was interested in me driving the Cingular 01 car.
“I had these good conversations going on with Hendrick at the time but only had a letter of intent from Hendrick. Chip comes in to Charlotte and we sit down for a meeting. He had some expectations of signing the contract on the spot but I was like, ‘I’m not comfortable with that’ so he was like, ‘I’m going to head back to Pittsburgh.'”
Jimmie Johnson
Known as a very shrewd businessman, Ganassi pulled the contract and jumped back onto his plane. Johnson really wanted to race for Hendrick given its run of success over the past decade but thought in real time he might have screwed up not taking the Ganassi deal.
“He leaves and I think I have missed an opportunity at a legitimate Cup contract but I have this letter of intent from Hendrick. It’s like two years out from when I would race.
“So, I call (attorney and agent) Alan Miller. I walk him through this scenario that I’m pretty concerned, that I had a Cup opportunity with Chip go away, and he stops me and says, ‘no, no, no. You were just offered a legitimate Cup contract. Let me work on the Hendrick side.’
“I was like, ‘you’re going to spin this’ and Alan goes, ‘yeah, I’m going to spin this.’ Four days later I had a contract from Hendrick in my hands because I had a Ganassi contract offered to me. Granted, he put it back in his briefcase, got back on his plane and flew away but technically speaking, I had a contract offered to me.”
Jimmie Johnson
Johnson signed the deal with Hendrick and was in the No. 48 for three starts in 2001 while racing another full-time Busch Series season with the Herzogs in which he won at Chicagoland and finished eighth in the final standings.
The rest, as they say, was history upon racing full-time in Cup that next year. Johnson said there was almost a supernatural element to how it all came together.
“There was just an outside force and many elements that all took place,” he said. “I’m not sure that element exists today for drivers and how they end up in a seat but my parents could only afford dirt bikes and there were these other things going on around me that led me to so many great people.
“People who believed in me. My personality carried me through and people continue to believe in me and it all snowballed to where we are now.”
As for Ganassi, it all worked out on his end as he built a successful operation that was competitive at the highest levels for the next 20 years before he sold its assets to Trackhouse Racing in 2021. Johnson eventually raced for Ganassi in IndyCar in 2021 and 2022 following his full-time retirement from NASCAR.
It was during this stint that Ganassi convinced Johnson to pursue team ownership. That led to Johnson purchasing a stake into what has now become Legacy Motor Club.
Full circle as it were.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.