Johnson Races to Aid Fire Relief Efforts
by Johnny McDonald

Jimmie Johnson capped off a great season with a third place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Team Lowe had six straight top three finishes.

A stock-car driver on the challenging Winston Cup series has enough on his mind when he confronts the nation’s toughest speedways.

At 200-plus miles per hour, split-second action is constant in 300-, 400- and 500-mile races.

Jimmie Johnson, who grew up riding motorcycles in the hills around Crest, had other thoughts as he maneuvered his No. 48 Monte Carlo Chevrolet to a second-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway. Family members and friends that weekend were being forced to evacuate as the wind-
driven Cedar Fire neared their homes.

Because of an arrangement with the American Red Cross by his sponsor, Lowe’s, and his Rick Hendricks’ racing team, Johnson could provide some financial
assistance.

By completing all 312 laps in the Checker Auto Parts 500, Johnson raised $14,976 (at $48 a lap) for the American Red Cross’s California wildfire relief efforts. That, coupled with Lowe’s initial donation of $100,000, brought the weekend total to nearly $115,000.

He completed the season a week later and finished second in the season standings to Winston Cup champion Matt Kenseth. Johnson’s father, Gary, drives the motorcoach that takes his son to races across country.

"I talked to my aunt on the phone and she was evacuated
from her home on that Saturday," Johnson said. "When she went back to her house, it was still there, but all of the neighbors’ houses were burned down. The town I grew up in is pretty much gone."

The house in which he was raised still stands.

His mother, Kathy Johnson, said they had moved into the Crest home in 1984 but moved to the South in 1999 to be near her son.

"Jimmie started riding a motorcycle when he was 4, and from 5 to 8 years of age, graduated to bigger bikes in off-road events," she said.

Johnson remembered getting his first motorcycle as a Christmas present.

"That’s where the wheel racing started," he said. "That was my favorite gift ever, and it was the beginning of how I got to where
I am today."

In his early days, he raced his motorcycle against national competitor Michael Ray Craig on the old Barona Raceway.

"He was always active," Kathy Johnson said. "He tested jet skies and became a prominent
off-road racer, winning races at 15. He
competed in Mickey Thompson’s Qualcomm Stadium events."

When his off-road car owners switched to stock-car racing in 1998, he became one of the promising stars in the American Speed Association and Busch Series before entering the big leagues
of Winston Cup action.

To be closer to the garage operation of car owners Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendricks, he lives in Lake Norman, N.C.

Johnson said most of his friends’ homes survived the fires but many lost personal items. He said he lost some of the bikes and motorcycles he raced when he lived in San Diego.

"When you grow up in California, the two things they teach you about are earthquakes and wildfires." he said. "It was something I was used to growing up and the things you dealt with. There were a lot of scares, but I never had to be evacuated.

"As a Southern California native, this disaster hits close to home, and ‘Racing for Relief’ allows me the opportunity to pitch in and lend a hand," said Johnson, a member of the American Red Cross’s National Celebrity Cabinet.

This was the second time in six weeks Johnson and Lowe’s have supported the American Red Cross through the "Racing for Relief" program. In
the September race at Dover International Speedway, Johnson drove in support
of the hurricane Isabel relief effort, raising nearly $70,000 during
the weekend.

Since the "Racing for Relief" program was introduced in April 2000, Lowe’s has raised more than $341,000 to assist in relief efforts for natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and wildfires.