Johnson crowned champ, once again

It was a moment in history. That's about the best way to describe Cale Yarborough's presentation of the Champion's Ring to Jimmie Johnson during this past Friday's 2008 Sprint Cup Series Championship Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
No, I wasn't there. That takes way more pull that I could ever dream of having but I watched it on TV and it was really cool seeing the exchange. To truly appreciate it, you have to know some history. Growing up, Jimmie Johnson considered Yarborough his hero. He even went into a Hardee's (one of Yarborough's sponsors) thinking that he would actually see the three-time Winston Cup Champion. Early on, Yarborough said he would not be able to make it to this year's awards banquet — I don't know how many he's ever been to — but this year Johnson tied his record of winning three-straight titles. One might think that Yarborough would want to be on hand for the festivities and one would be correct, but Johnson didn't know. At least, he didn't know until Yarborough walked out onto the stage to present Johnson with HIS third-straight championship ring.
The two drivers now share something that no one else — not even Richard Petty — has achieved. They are the only drivers to three-peat as champions in the Winston Cup, Nextel Cup or Sprint Cup. I know they are all the same series but for those guys that won Winston Cup titles or Nextel Cup titles the name on the trophy didn't change.
Being the competitor that he is, Yarborough pointed out that Johnson still hasn't broken his 30-year-old record set from 1976 through 1978.
"Somebody finally did it," Yarborough said. "I set a pretty good record, didn't I? It took them 30 years to tie it. There are only two of us who have done it in the 60 years of the sport. That's a pretty good accomplishment. You know, I haven't been to this banquet in several years, but tonight I feel like I got my racing spirit back. You know, all he really did is tie the record – he still has to break it. He still has some work to do."
It was probably one of the neatest exchanges that I have ever seen at a NASCAR banquet.
In other news, the economy is kicking NASCAR and its team's collective butts. Last week, team owner Rick Hendrick testified before Congress that he was ashamed of the way the politicians were treating the auto industry. He warned of dire consequences should the government not offer some type of financial assistance to the car companies.
You know, I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Hendrick. The way I see it, the people running the auto industry have screwed themselves and they are looking for a handout to help them recover from their own bad decisions.
Anyway, the sport is suffering and there are fears that NASCAR could be forced to cease operations because of the failing auto industry. I don't see that happening. First, NASCAR survived for years without manufacturer support and it can do it again. The purses might get smaller and there might be additional requirements to cut costs, but the sport will survive.
In other news, the mergers are still the big news around the garage. Is Petty merging with Gillette-Evernham Motorsports? No word yet. When it is all said and done I think there will only be six or seven team owners in the sport.
That's about it for this week. The season's officially over but that doesn't mean there's no NASCAR news to be had. I will try to keep you updated throughout the off-season both here and at www.kickinthetires.net.