- My next guest is a living legend in the world of racing.
He's a seven time NASCAR champion
and five of those wins, back to back to back to back.
That's right.
Something that's never been done before.
Now at 45 years old, he is a rookie again
this time in the world of Indy race car driving.
So everybody welcome my friend, Jimmy Johnson.
(audience cheering and applauding)
I wish I could hug you.
I know.
I know it's so weird.
We can't hug yet.
- I know.
- We're not there yet, but we're getting close.
- Soon. I know, right? - Yes.
How are you?
- I'm fantastic.
I hope you are too.
- I am.
I'm doing all right.
And you were here like a year ago, I believe.
And you announced you're retiring.
So you were like, nope, just kidding.
- Psych.
- You're like those musicians that are like
it's my farewell tour, but it's not.
- It's not, no.
And I was thinking about it before I came out
and I knew you were gonna ask me about that.
And, you know, I don't think like yourself
I don't think you can ever stop singing
or playing or being with the band.
So what I was ready to step away from was the grind
of the 38 races a year that I did for 20 plus years.
So kinda like being out on the road,
I guess for you and touring and stuff.
But now I have a much shorter schedule for racing
and having a blast doing it.
- So for the idiots in the room,
what's the difference between NASCAR and Indy?
- I know I've been to both.
I can see there's a difference
but what is like the biggest difference?
- From an aesthetic standpoint, one's a big sedan vehicle.
And then the Indy car is this little lightweight
like rocket ship that you drive.
And literally the weight of the vehicle
would make the Indy car, like a sports car.
And then the NASCAR vehicle would be much more like an SUV.
- So wait, does that make it more or less dangerous?
- Dangers probably pretty equal.
But the experience of driving the car is much different.
The Indy car, it takes a lot of aggression
and the car doesn't ever give up.
Like you can't hurt the tires, you can't hurt the brakes.
And the intensity is much higher driving it.
With the NASCAR vehicle it's a bigger car.
You can wear the brakes out in a race,
you can hurt the tires
and you have to finesse it a bit more.
- Okay.
So has this ever been done?
Has anybody ever gone from NASCAR,
especially on such a huge successful level
and then been like, no, I'm gonna try Indy.
Has anyone ever done that?
- There may have been somebody
in the seventies I'm told but yeah,
nothing recently - I've never heard of that.
- We've had more open-wheel drivers
try NASCAR in recent time,
but really not the other direction.
And honestly, this was a childhood dream of mine.
Growing up on the West coast,
Indy car during my generation was the big sport to,
you know, want to race in and aspire to be in.
So my world changed when my manufacturer
that I drove for said,
"Hey, look we're not gonna be in Indy Car any longer.
You need to move to North Carolina and go stock car racing."
And my path was set then.
- Wow.
- Yeah, but come back to it now is super cool.
- I know I was getting,
and this is, it sounds like a movie.
Like I was reading about you last night and was like,
"This sounds like a great plot for a movie, by the way."
I was like, it's just, I would watch.
So are you starting to see that your girls
are daredevils like you?
And does it scare you?
Cause it's not, you it's them.
- True.
It is far harder watching my children
do things that I love to do.
And I know that they're into than me
participating in it myself.
But we're a very active family in skiing.
My girls both ride horses and are jumping horses.
We have dirt bikes.
- Oh, they're doing all the things
to maybe possibly end up with a broken collarbone.
- Correct, but I wanna think
that the combination of mom's cautious approach to things
and then my crazy approach will balance them out.
- Okay, balance is good.
- Balance is good.
- So how does it feel to have fans back in the stands?
- It's been great.
I mean, I think at one point in time
I was very eager just to work again
and to be back on the track
and know that our sport was on television.
And then fans have slowly been coming back
and now with the direction COVID has gone,
to actually have, you know, half of a stadium
filled full of fans is such a great site.
And the energy that they bring,
is unbelievable. - The energy is crazy.
- I've been to Indy and NASCAR and it is nuts.
- It is fun.
- Like you cannot help, I have no idea
generally what's going on,
and I'm just like, wow!
Because it's just a good time.
It's like a country music festival.
You don't even have to know the music.
You're just having a good time.
So, and fans, they get to vote.
Is it on your car?
The color of your car?
- Yeah, so there's a really neat opportunity.
If people want to learn more about it, go to carvana.com.
And of course, we're always trying to figure out
how to integrate with the fans.
And now that fans are back in the stands,
we just want them to know that they can have ownership
in a car that I'm gonna race at some point
during the season. - Which is cool
- So we'll have five times in total
and there'll be three more opportunities left
for the fans to pick what my race car looks like.
- Wait, so what color so far then?
Like, what are, do you have any?
Cause green is a great color.
Kelly Green is a great thing
- I understand.
But Carvana blue is a better color for my situation.
- Okay, well, you know what?
I like blue too though, because it's the winning ribbon.
It's the, blue is the winning ribbon.
- Yeah.
- You're projecting. - You're projecting, yeah.
- I like it, I like it.
But Kelly Green is still a great color.
So you can see Jimmy Johnson race at the GMR Grand Prix
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
This Saturday, May 15th.
You got to check it out.
Also be sure to check out Jimmy in the booth
for NBC's coverage of the Indianapolis 500
on Sunday, May 30th.