DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Jimmie Johnson does not care what you think about his career, his midlife racing crisis or his performance. He has been promoted from rookie, shed his status as a part-time driver and added the Indianapolis 500 to his list of challenges.
After an underwhelming debut season in IndyCar – expectations set unrealistically high based on Johnson’s seven NASCAR championships and 83 Cup Series victories – his critics took aim at the vanity project that led to his shocking change of lanes.
Johnson paid no attention.
“It seems many people say I’ve lost it and not cut out to drive a race car anymore,” Johnson said last week. “Thankfully, I’m thick-skinned after years of experience, and I don’t care [competing in IndyCar] isn’t about anyone else but myself.
“What I’m doing now, I feel so free. It’s odd because it’s very much like my teenage years where I was just racing because I wanted to race. I’m doing it my way and doing what the heck I want to do.”