Jimmy Johnson a True Champion. Even if it Only Racing?

Applause and appreciation, please, for Jimmie Johnson. Even from those of us who might not exactly be what you’d call car racing aficionados. By the way, what’s NASCAR stand for again?

Those of you who are similarly carburetor-challenged, please don’t go. You’re among friends.

Matter of fact, only three things I’m really sure about in this sport. The cars carry enough advertising to be minor league baseball outfield walls. The drivers seem to be mad at each other a lot. And whoever gets to the finish line first is the victor, usually by the margin of about three bumpers.

But hey, we can all count to four.

That’s how many NASCAR championships Johnson has now won in a row, clinched in the final race of the season Sunday night. A lot of us might not be totally clear on how or why, but here is what we should know.

Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird have a lifetime full of NBA titles, but never did that.

Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady took home boxes of Super Bowls rings, but never did that.

Babe Ruth never did that.

Meanwhile, in the horsepower set, nobody had ever done that. Not even Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, and they’d be half of a NASCAR Mount Rushmore.

Johnson is the unquestioned king of his domain, has been for years, and not many sports can claim to have one of those. Now we know what Tiger Woods would look like, if he ever showed up at the first tee of Augusta wearing a crash helmet.

Those who won four of anything in a row —John Wooden’s NCAA championships, Roger Federer’s Wimbledons, the great Yankee and Celtic dynasties, et. al. — are considered deities of their sport. Should not Jimmie Johnson now join the club?

“Four in a row — it doesn’t matter if you’re racing bathtubs or go-karts or playing baseball, football — it’s tough to do,” Johnson said at a his press conference Sunday, “and I’m awfully proud of it.”

From the far outside looking in — and from someone who’d need a month to change his oil — what makes this all the more extraordinary is how narrow the margin is week to week in NASCAR racing, and how many things can go wrong at 180 miles an hour.

How does one man and his team — all the race strategists, wrench wielders, tire changers, gas pumpers and business types behind him — beat so many odds, four years running?

“Anybody that doesn’t respect what they’ve done is not being fair to them,” driver Jeff Burton mentioned. “Twenty-nine cars finished in the lead lap tonight. That’s how competitive it is, what we do.”

I know what some of you are thinking. This guy’s an athlete? When all he does every weekend is the same thing millions of freeway commuters do — sit behind a steering wheel, wishing he could go faster?

Not the point. Different sports require different skills. Johnson’s speed in the 40 would likely be dreadful. But the hand-eye coordination and concentration required to get a car around a track, amidst dozens of other roaring metallic machines trying to do the same thing, must be equal to trying to hit a major league fastball 400 feet.

If a golfer is a sportsman, so is a race driver.

But we digress. Excellence is excellence, and doing something no one has ever done before is an achievement to be honored.

“I don’t know much about other sports unfortunately because I’ve been so engulfed in our sport,” Johnson said. “I saw some things on ESPN where they were showing different pro athletes and what they’ve accomplished and what dynasty means … and just to see us linked to that, I really look forward over the next few days to follow it and read about it and understand some of the comparisons of what’s gone on and what we’ve accomplished.”

So when he flashes on television this week, those of us who think of the beach when we think of Daytona should bestow admiration due an historic champion.

Assuming, of course, we recognize him.