Jimmie Johnson has won 47 NASCAR Sprint Cup races since 2002...

He ranks wherever you want to rank him. If you think he's the best thing to ever drive a car, so be it. If you don't, so be it. Personally, I think in aspects of a pure thinking driver, he ranks as one of the best. Unfortunately, he doesn't take risks and lacks the aggression some other of the greats had. I guess it's all opinion.

Sure seems like ESPN and Speedtv are making the case that Johnson should be on the NASCAR Hall of Fame ballot for 2010. I think his skills should be defined when their whole organization isn't on top of the mountain.

It shouldn't be subjective - look at the stats - ultimately that's what determines how great a driver is/was. Jimmie is on the edge of doing what no one has ever done before, that alone puts him at the top, plus, he's nowhere near done. If people are reluctant to put him at the top now, give him another few years and then there will be little left to debate.

J. don't let your favoritism towards Jimmie blind you to reality.

He will never get most of the records. Not possible today. 200 Wins, nope! Most starts, poles probably not likely. So they will remain The King's domain.

As for driving ability, he has a long way to go to get to Pearson, B. Allison, DW, and JG. Drivers who won at every kind of track on the circuit, did it with multiple teams, different crew chiefs, and did it over a 20+ year period. JJ has not won at Bristol or on a RC, as a couple of the others have (DW, BA, JG), he hasn't won driving through injuries (BA), or in a last minute replacement role with a strange team (DP), hasn't won driving his own less than par equipment (BA), hasn't won driving a odd ball car (BA/Matador), and will never get the chance to win on dirt as DP and BA did.

While what he is doing right now is impressive, and he will have the 4 in a row record after tomorrow, and he will be the driver of this decade, there is too many things he cannot do, hasn't done, or won't do to make him the greatest ever. That's either the greatest by records or the greatest pure driver. Top 5, yeah I could see it. Greatest ever? Just hype!!

As for your signature, has DW ever badmouthed anything about HMS? Not that I can remember. Everything HMS is swallowed whole by DW. His perogative but take it with a grain of salt. Remember he predicted that Jr. was gonna win 6 races last year.

Guess the fans would know more about it than the actual drivers who mostly all seem to think Jimmie is one of the greats. Maybe it is because they are the ones who realize how difficult it is to do what he's done.

vdeputy - 22 November 2009 03:58 AM

Guess the fans would know more about it than the actual drivers who mostly all seem to think Jimmie is one of the greats. Maybe it is because they are the ones who realize how difficult it is to do what he's done.

Guess I'll wait for some objective input from some top drivers that aren't still making money, in some way, associated with NASCAR/racing.

e82sam - ummm, you mean like Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin - all of whom have made statements about how how good Jimmie is and how tremendous his accomplishments have been?

Jimmie cheats! DW is a yes man for HMS/Nascar, so his opinion is irrevelant. Until things are done fairly, JJ doesn't rate. Great team, yes. Have they done it honestly, NO! Hard to say where he HONESTLY rates.

vdeputy - 22 November 2009 07:09 AM

e82sam - ummm, you mean like Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin - all of whom have made statements about how how good Jimmie is and how tremendous his accomplishments have been?

Unless those guys changed careers yesterday, yes. Wasn't my first statement clear enough?

Thorstar - 22 November 2009 12:10 AM

J. don't let your favoritism towards Jimmie blind you to reality.

He will never get most of the records. Not possible today. 200 Wins, nope! Most starts, poles probably not likely. So they will remain The King's domain.

As for driving ability, he has a long way to go to get to Pearson, B. Allison, DW, and JG. Drivers who won at every kind of track on the circuit, did it with multiple teams, different crew chiefs, and did it over a 20+ year period. JJ has not won at Bristol or on a RC, as a couple of the others have (DW, BA, JG), he hasn't won driving through injuries (BA), or in a last minute replacement role with a strange team (DP), hasn't won driving his own less than par equipment (BA), hasn't won driving a odd ball car (BA/Matador), and will never get the chance to win on dirt as DP and BA did.

While what he is doing right now is impressive, and he will have the 4 in a row record after tomorrow, and he will be the driver of this decade, there is too many things he cannot do, hasn't done, or won't do to make him the greatest ever. That's either the greatest by records or the greatest pure driver. Top 5, yeah I could see it. Greatest ever? Just hype!!

As for your signature, has DW ever badmouthed anything about HMS? Not that I can remember. Everything HMS is swallowed whole by DW. His perogative but take it with a grain of salt. Remember he predicted that Jr. was gonna win 6 races last year.

And don't let your bias against this team blind you to reality.

Those greats will never win the Daytona 500, Brickyard, and Championship in the same year. They'll never win a championship under the Chase. They'll never win four in a row, back-to-back. Heck, there's only ever been one who was able to win three in a row.

As I stated in my previous post, he's only 8 years into his career. Come back five years from now and say that "greatest ever" is just "pure hype."

You'll be laughed at.