What’s up with lack of fan appreciation of Jimmie Johnson?

This is really a response to a fanpost that appeared here last week, but it is still relevant this week because of the stuff JJ had to go through during the 600 on Sunday.

So why did Jimmie over the course of the last two weekends have so many boos when he was announced during driver introductions and so many cheers when he was experiencing difficulties on the track?

Two reasons; he’s a winner, and he’s from California.

More after the jump.

Jimmie Johnson has won the Championship 4 years in a row and although he is having some difficulties as of late he still stands poised to make a run at the Championship again this year. Other people want to see their driver win the Championship, or at least stand a chance to win it, and the more Jimmie dominates the more they get upset that their driver doesn’t stand a chance of even winning a race so they are naturally happy when he or his team falters during a race.

I mean I was a Dale Earnhardt fan and boy was I happy when Jeff Gordon had issues on the track in the mid to late ‘90’s because that meant that Dale had a chance of sticking it to that young marketable punk in the stupid rainbow coloured car!

The same holds true for Jimmie Johnson right now. All the Tony Stewart, or Carl Edwards or (name your driver here) fans are just chomping at the bit to see Johnson and Knaus fail at the track so that their driver can stand a chance at winning a race.

Did you see how fast they fixed that car after it was wrecked on Sunday night? That is the kind of performance that wins Championships. The 48 team may have made some fans happy by having troubles on Sunday, but mark my words those same fans should be worried because it is those kinds of performances that make a team like them get stronger and stronger - other teams would have packed up and gone home after a wreck like that but not them.

Another thing that make Jimmie hard to cheer for, especially in the heart of old NASCAR is the fact that he is not from “The South”, he isn’t even a Yankee for crying out loud he’s a ‘West Coaster’. Not to get stereotypical here, but really let’s think about it: where would you think Jimmie would get the most boos from, a crowd in Charlotte or a crowd in Fontana?

But wait you say, Harvick is from California and he gets cheers in Charlotte. Well Harvick is a different case. You see Kevin inherited Dale Sr’s ride when he died, that makes a huge difference right there, but Kevin also married a ‘local’ girl and runs his own team from shops set up in the heart of NASCAR. Kevin has established roots there now, while Jimmie is still seen as an outsider who is just ‘visiting’ as it were.

Now what about all the DNF’s he’s expereinced so far this year? No problem there, the 48 team is just expereincing some bad luck but they are a good enough team to make there own luck and get out of this spell - the sheer effort to get Jimmie back on the track this past weekend is a good indicator of that.

In order to have some luck you’ve got to create it yourself and this team has the work ethic to do so and the performance to drive right on through the bad luck into the good luck.

I would imagine that as the season continues you’ll be hearing more boos for Jimmie and his team, especially if their luck starts changing for the good, but Jimmie and his fans shouldn’t take it personally they should instead wear it as a badge of honour.

Remember those same fans who are booing him right now will be the first ones in 10 yrs from who will be saying, “I remember when Johnson won his 5th Championship in a row. Man that was awesome to see!” But you’ll know better.