Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Jimmie Johnson: NASCAR Champion, NASCAR Owner | Lights Out With John Roberts
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome everybody to the Payneck Studio and it is time to go
- 0:09lights out with A7 Time champ Jimmy Johnson.
- 0:12First of all, Jimmy, it is so great to see you.
- 0:14Thank you for your time today. You guys got so much exciting
- 0:17stuff going on right now and I don't think a lot of people
- 0:21really understand the gravity and how big it is to add a car
- 0:26to a Cup team. When you guys announced you're
- 0:29going to a third team, a lot had to go into it didn't.
- 0:34It oh man, it's it's been a journey to say the least, but
- 0:37happy to be on the show, buddy. Great to see you and I love to
- 0:40talk about legacy motor club and yes, we were expanding to 1/3
- 0:45car. You know, we had a litigation
- 0:48and little dust up last year which delayed the onboarding of
- 0:54the third car. And so we we technically own the
- 0:57charter but are leasing it back to RFK right now.
- 1:00And that's the the 60 car that Bush was running around in.
- 1:05We're going to set Ryan Priest that's in the 60.
- 1:08Yeah, Priest. So we're rooting for the 60.
- 1:11But the end of the day, we get the charter at the end of the
- 1:14year and we'll operate that charter next year.
- 1:18Awesome, man. That is great news that you guys
- 1:20are having that kind of success right now.
- 1:23But but also Jimmy, as difficult as it is for a young driver to
- 1:26look at him and see they're, they're saying it, it's so hard
- 1:29for me to find a good Cup ride on the other side of this thing,
- 1:32though, for you guys as owners of a team, it is equally as
- 1:36difficult and a huge investment. You guys have to make sure you
- 1:40got the right driver for this incredible opportunity.
- 1:44You do and you know, they're there's so much planning that
- 1:48goes into operating a car, you know, not just a driver, but the
- 1:54engineering group, the crew chief.
- 1:56Then how all that structure fits inside of of your your company
- 2:01culturally. You know, there's a lot of
- 2:03layers to this that I almost took for granted it Hendrick
- 2:07driving for Rick in such an incredible organization and
- 2:10operation, you know, but I I'm truly enjoying this journey and
- 2:15trying to put the Tetris pieces together.
- 2:18I've great support, great leadership group, great capital
- 2:22partner in knighthead capital. And you know, looking at our
- 2:26three 5-10 year plan, you can't just wave a magic wand over
- 2:30things and have everything you need, you know, in a year or
- 2:33two. So, you know, every decision
- 2:35we're making really has a long runway on it.
- 2:39And, and how we, you know, really position ourselves is, is
- 2:42one of the big organizations in NASCAR.
- 2:45And Jimmy, I think we've seen over the last couple of years
- 2:47some pretty cool and pretty big time people get involved with
- 2:50race teams. You know, growing up in the in
- 2:53the era that I did, I don't think there's too many people
- 2:56cooler than Darius Rucker. And now here he is a partner
- 2:59with you guys. How did that whole thing come
- 3:00about? Yeah.
- 3:02So as we're expanding to the third car, we've had a friends
- 3:06and family round of fundraising and Darius is one of, you know,
- 3:1120 something strategics that have come on board.
- 3:16And a little later, you know, next probably 6 to 8 weeks,
- 3:19we'll have a more formal announcement sharing the larger
- 3:22group. But Darius is so excited to be
- 3:26on board and he literally was on the Dan Patrick show wearing a
- 3:30legacy and during one of the commercial breaks texted me,
- 3:34they said, man, I, I've got the hat on and, and Dan's asking
- 3:36questions. Can I let the cat out of the
- 3:37bag? Like go for it, man.
- 3:39So we're, we're very excited to have him on board and his
- 3:44passion for Motorsports, the friendship that he and I have
- 3:48had for that's got to be 20 years, you know, just thrilled
- 3:52to have him on board. You know, Jimmy, you're one of
- 3:55the greatest drivers of all times, but you're not very good
- 3:58at retirement. I think a lot of guys when they
- 4:00retire for something, they're going to the beach.
- 4:03But here you are taking on one of the most difficult things
- 4:06there is to do. I think a lesser person might go
- 4:09to the beach and have a paper umbrella in their drink, but
- 4:12here you are working your butt off trying to make something
- 4:15big. What?
- 4:15What drives you, Jimmy? That's a great question.
- 4:19And, you know, time gives you a chance to reflect.
- 4:22And I look back on, you know, exiting the 48 car and then
- 4:27being at Chip Ganassi Racing and IndyCar and, and honestly having
- 4:31a couple more years that Carvana was ready to fund.
- 4:35But I, I, I don't know, I, I just, something was going on and
- 4:39I had a hard time really grasping it and assumed that I
- 4:43couldn't find the inspiration. And in everything that I've,
- 4:47I've found in experience driving elsewhere.
- 4:50And as I found my way into ownership, the partnership I
- 4:54have with Maury Gallagher and now the partner capital, you
- 4:59know, these challenges and elements of ownership, the
- 5:02challenges of building something.
- 5:05I, I truly believe that Motorsports, specifically
- 5:08NASCAR, is in this incredible moment in time where it can and
- 5:13will stick in ball sports. And it's going to take time, but
- 5:17we have the viewership, we have the following.
- 5:20There are just other pieces of the puzzle missing.
- 5:22And with NASCAR being so motivated, the alignment between
- 5:26teams and NASCAR now, the interest in auto, there's just a
- 5:31lot of favorable tailwinds helping the sport grow.
- 5:35And as I've been out with this vision and trying to not build
- 5:40an apples to apples compare, looking at what has worked in
- 5:44stick and ball, looking at hospitality, experiential
- 5:48branding, building a bigger brand than just what the driver
- 5:52is, but also the company and and legacy motor club having its
- 5:56own, its own heartbeat and and purpose in addition to
- 6:00Motorsports. I think there's a real
- 6:02opportunity for us. So, Jimmy, when we look last
- 6:06couple of weekends we've or the beginning of this year, we've
- 6:09seen a guy the likes of Michael Jordan celebrating in Victory
- 6:13Lane afterwards. The lawsuit there were that
- 6:17Michael was involved in with NASCAR.
- 6:19I think there were certainly some negatives about it.
- 6:21But now that it's settled and now that we're moving forward,
- 6:24how did that affect you guys as a fellow race team?
- 6:27I know you must have been keeping a pretty close eye on
- 6:30those proceedings. Yeah, without a doubt.
- 6:35When settlement didn't happen early, we assumed it would be a
- 6:40slog. And in those moments, you know,
- 6:43it's really never good for either side.
- 6:46But I, I think the way it did conclude and the settlement that
- 6:50took place really does help all ships rise.
- 6:53And I think I believe and know NASCAR and the teams are better
- 6:58aligned than than they've ever been.
- 7:00And being able to share in new business permanency of the
- 7:04charters, you know that there's value and security that's now
- 7:08here for the team we did not have before.
- 7:11The alignment on new business will really help us all promote
- 7:15and and pull in the same direction.
- 7:17There's some other little other details, smaller details wrapped
- 7:20into to the settlement that I do believe are are good for both
- 7:24parties. So Jimmy, when you look back at
- 7:27a time of, you know, your old boss, Rick Hendrick had told us
- 7:31so many different times that you can have all the great pieces
- 7:35and parts, but if you don't have the human resources, you're not
- 7:38going to get much done. I think in John Hunter, Eric
- 7:42Jones, the guys you have there right now, Matt Kenseth, that
- 7:45that you're really following that business model in terms of
- 7:49getting the good people in place first and then everything else
- 7:52kind of takes care of itself, does it?
- 7:55You hope so and, and it's such an evolution and you know, our,
- 8:00our company's growing and who we are today and who we will be in
- 8:04the future. Who knows what challenges to be
- 8:07thrown at us, but surrounding myself with people I know and
- 8:10trust is a big part of this journey for me right now.
- 8:14From our leadership side, you know, down through drivers and a
- 8:20lot of the people that are now walking the halls of Legacy
- 8:23Motor Club, a lot of neat things going on.
- 8:27I think we'll have a few surprises here in in the coming
- 8:30days and weeks that will show our commitment and our, you
- 8:35know, staying power within the sport, which then again, should
- 8:40attract, you know, more partners, stronger people.
- 8:44You know that this evolution of growth will continue to happen.
- 8:46You know, racers are always realists and I've always enjoyed
- 8:49that. What being able, you know, being
- 8:51involved with people that are involved in racing because
- 8:54they're very realistic about things.
- 8:56You guys have, you have winning drivers, you have guys that have
- 9:00won before. How close are you, do you think,
- 9:03Jimmy, to start rattling off a couple wins here and there and
- 9:06starting to build upon that? Yeah, I think there are certain
- 9:10tracks that that suit us well. You know, we've had such an
- 9:16interesting evolution, you know, that first year with GM, you
- 9:21know, we announced our approaching relationship with
- 9:25Toyota, which, you know, has us in a in an interesting spot.
- 9:28And for all the, you know, right, reasons, the technology
- 9:33piece, you know, why is Chevy going to continue down that path
- 9:36with us? So we're kind of an independent
- 9:38team. Then we also chose a path where,
- 9:42you know, we wanted to build our own infrastructure and knew that
- 9:45it would take some time. And so having an alliance with
- 9:48Joe Gibbs Racing didn't make sense for us in the beginning.
- 9:51But over time we've been able to find the right partnership.
- 9:54And now our shoulder to shoulder as a partner with Joe Gibbs
- 9:58Racing and Toyota to develop new technology.
- 10:01And so as I, I look at this year and many don't know, but behind
- 10:05the scenes, you know, our engineering tools and software
- 10:09chain, tool chain that's all being revamped and evolving
- 10:13again. And so here we are almost in a,
- 10:17a rebuilding year from a technical standpoint.
- 10:20And so, you know, last year there were some moments where
- 10:23we, we really had a shot to win races.
- 10:26This year we knew we would face new and different challenges and
- 10:32we have, but we're, we're seeing consistency and that's really
- 10:36been our first objective. And I, I think we'll start
- 10:39squeezing more out of our equipment here as we roll into
- 10:42the spring stretch. And you know, I, I really feel
- 10:45like we're going to win a race this year.
- 10:48Yeah, Jimmy, I think people when they see somebody having a
- 10:51tremendous amount of success, whether it's in sports or
- 10:54business, that the assumption right away is it is that the
- 10:57path was easy. You and I had a great
- 10:59conversation a while ago and it's it's coming out in print
- 11:02soon. But I would like to also give
- 11:04people a chance to understand. You told me about that fateful
- 11:09mood that you made from California to to Charlotte, that
- 11:13you really made that move on. Sorry about the cliche, but the
- 11:17the wing and a prayer that you really didn't have much behind
- 11:21you when you made that fateful trip to become a race car
- 11:24driver. Yeah, as everybody knows, I had
- 11:27great support from Chevrolet, you know, my early years in off
- 11:32road racing and I thought my pathway was leading towards
- 11:36IndyCar and there were some strategic moves coming into
- 11:40place that GM was heading up. But they made a a decision to
- 11:46exit IndyCar racing in the mid to late 90s.
- 11:49And when that pathway really, you know, wasn't going to yield
- 11:53for me. The head of Chevrolet racing,
- 11:56Herb official said, man, you need to think about NASCAR.
- 11:59You need to find a pathway to NASCAR.
- 12:01And so I bought a one way ticket to Charlotte, had some friends
- 12:06that I knew would, you know, offer me a couch, which was Ron
- 12:09Hornaday and bought a one way ticket in April in 97 and have
- 12:14been here ever since. And so, you know, one thing, you
- 12:17know, as a parent in trying to look to our daughters and
- 12:22inspire them is, you know, the road may not be very clear, but
- 12:26if you're passionate about something, you know, certainly
- 12:28chase it. And, and I did and I, I never
- 12:31end up where I have, but I knew this industry is where my heart
- 12:35was and what I wanted to be a part of.
- 12:37And you know, I was in that tiniest percentile that that
- 12:41made it. But I I would have been so happy
- 12:44and content wherever my journey ended as long as I was in the
- 12:48sport. So Jimmy, I've said this before
- 12:51and I, I will always say it again that the most underrated
- 12:55feat and, and people get confused sometimes.
- 12:57I'm not saying it's the greatest feat because that's hard to say.
- 13:00But I still think the feat in professional sports that gets
- 13:03the least appreciation is you, Chad and your team getting five
- 13:08cup championships in a row. 7 is huge, but it's the five in a
- 13:13row. So much has to come together.
- 13:14When you look back at all the things, the championships, the
- 13:18Daytona 5 hundreds, what does that five in a row mean to you
- 13:21in terms of just really how difficult that was?
- 13:26Yeah, I mean, it's even hard to put it in words.
- 13:28And I kind of looked to myself and wonder why I, I haven't put
- 13:35more energy into acknowledging that and, and, you know,
- 13:40referencing it, but you know that that five happened in mid
- 13:45career. And the way it happened is
- 13:48because we didn't lose focus and we kept reinvesting, you know,
- 13:53our our resources and energy to keep that streak alive.
- 13:56And then once we got to five, could we get 6 and then 7?
- 14:00And so where I sit now that's, that's part of the journey and
- 14:02what I think legacy can help kind of shed some light on and
- 14:07do some storytelling around. So we'll, you know, hopefully
- 14:10I'll be able to breathe some energy back into that.
- 14:13But in the moment, it was, it was just incredible that we
- 14:17pulled it off. The various challenges we were
- 14:19faced with, with rule changes, generations of cars, turnover
- 14:25and employees, the competition getting stronger.
- 14:29But I, I just have such an appreciation for Hendrick
- 14:32Motorsports and the resources we had in the environment we had to
- 14:38thrive in. And then the leadership from
- 14:40chat, you know, with without question he engineered that
- 14:46success and forever grateful. You know, Jimmy, one thing I
- 14:51love about these days when you know, I don't want to admit how
- 14:55old any of us are, but put back in the day we saw a lot of
- 14:59drivers that were, you know, skating around on the racetrack
- 15:04because they weren't able to leave the sport financially.
- 15:07I love the fact these days that we see guys like you, Dale
- 15:11Junior, Jeff Carl Edwards list keeps going on of guys that were
- 15:15able to leave financially very well set and now you get to do
- 15:20what you want to do. You guys sacrificed every
- 15:23weekend away from your family and you sacrificed, you know,
- 15:27leaving home to get to a point now.
- 15:30But I love the fact these days that you guys were able to do
- 15:33what you want to do and you left the sport healthy and and and
- 15:37wealthy and wise. Yeah, yeah, there's there's no
- 15:42doubt that the names you mentioned, we're very fortunate
- 15:45in the the arc of success the sport.
- 15:50And you know where where I have such confidence in our sport now
- 15:55is relative to stick and ball. You know, the eyeballs, Dr.
- 15:58everything and you know we're the second largest sport from
- 16:03ATV viewer viewership standpoint.
- 16:05Our television package domestically is equal to Formula
- 16:12One's annual media package globally.
- 16:16It's so all the ingredients to there.
- 16:19It's it's really around the storytelling and the
- 16:23reinvestment back into the sport.
- 16:26And Dale Junior has been here through it all and is is a
- 16:31bright light in our sport drawing attention to it.
- 16:34I love seeing Carl back involved as he has been.
- 16:37And you know, I, I wasn't sure what was going to happen for me.
- 16:40I knew sitting on the beach was never an option.
- 16:43But I, I'm so proud and honored to be back in our sport and, and
- 16:47trying to grow it back to and greater than where it was late
- 16:5190s, early 2000s. How much fun are you having
- 16:54right now, Jimmy? Depends on the day, but I'm an
- 16:58internal optimist. I, I just team owners make it
- 17:04look so easy. And the one I drove for his
- 17:07grace and ability to pull things off made it look easy.
- 17:11And I, I, I now understand how how difficult it is and have a
- 17:15greater respect for, you know, all the owners ahead of me.
- 17:20Yeah, Jimmy, I think there's a lot of people, it's easy on the
- 17:22outside looking in to criticize a sanctioning body as to what
- 17:26they're doing. And, and yeah, there are
- 17:28probably some hiccups among NASCAR, but I think I agree with
- 17:31you so much right now that the sport is headed the and I'm not
- 17:35too sure it was ever headed the wrong way that that it was going
- 17:38down a path of destruction like some people would say.
- 17:41But I think some things have been fixed right now to where
- 17:45the competition on the racetrack is, is really good.
- 17:48I know there's always going to be complaints about that, but
- 17:51that the competition, the the rear ends in the seats, the
- 17:56pairs of eyes on the product right now are really moving in
- 17:58the proper direction. Yeah, I agree.
- 18:01And you know, the, the fortunate position I'm in now and have
- 18:07true understanding of our kind of ecosystem, you learn and
- 18:11understand what everybody's dealing with.
- 18:14And you know, structurally, NASCAR is not set up like stick
- 18:19and ball. And with the settlement and now
- 18:23the deeper alignment, you know, we're, we're getting closer.
- 18:27And when you look at the NFL product, you, you, it's the most
- 18:31successful one out there. Well, why is you distill that
- 18:34down and you see the, the true alignment that the league and
- 18:38teams have. You know, there there's a lot of
- 18:42promotion that naturally takes place, shared views and you can
- 18:48grow the sport. So I think that's one step in
- 18:50many that still need to happen. But we even through the
- 18:54misalignment, we still have, you know, all these eyeballs and as
- 19:00we get more aligned and can move quicker to understand where fans
- 19:06are and provide a better experience, there's no reason
- 19:09our sport can't grow and exceed where it once was.
- 19:13And also another thing that I, I loved, I loved Felix Sabatas
- 19:17many years ago, He was just saying that, you know, he said
- 19:20as owners, we're, we're not stupid.
- 19:22We're we're not, you know, nobody gets to the a position to
- 19:26own a race team if they were stupid with their money, if
- 19:29they're a bad business people. This is a for profit agency.
- 19:32It's not the United way that you guys are out there to make money
- 19:36and that that's something that had to, that has to exist in
- 19:39racing in order for it to continue.
- 19:43It does. And you know, racing
- 19:45historically, the ownership group that has succeeded, you
- 19:49know, they, they had an adjacent business that could prop up
- 19:53Motorsports and they could find the the partners to to come
- 19:57along and fund it all. You know, we're, we're in an era
- 20:00where entertainment value is so high and to get the eyeballs to
- 20:05have the butts in the seats, the the, the show needs to be
- 20:08competitive. And I think our on track product
- 20:11is, you know, very competitive and in the world of Motorsports,
- 20:15the most competitive. But the other touch points that
- 20:18fans have, you know, that space needs to be on par with stick
- 20:23and ball and the evolution of venues, the at track
- 20:27entertainment value before the green flag drops, the experience
- 20:31the fans can have, you know, the, the show that's there from
- 20:34a commercial perspective is, is in my opinion, you know, where
- 20:39we need is to direct our our time and energy right now.
- 20:43And that's something that's part of our business plan.
- 20:45It's something that we're trying to do.
- 20:47And I think our vision has been able to fill out, you know, our
- 20:51two cars with sponsorship as we, you know, look for that third
- 20:55sponsor to fund and operate our our third charter for 27.
- 20:59It's brought a lot of prospects to the table.
- 21:02It's so that the environment's right, you know, it's, it just
- 21:06takes a leap of faith from the team, from teams, from the
- 21:10league, the track ownership groups.
- 21:13And in in the conversations I'm having, everybody is focused on
- 21:18this and dedicating resources to it.
- 21:21So, you know, the the snowball's rolling and I'm confident it's
- 21:26going to continue to gain speed. Jimmy, I was talking to a track
- 21:29promoter about their race this season not too long ago, and
- 21:33they said at this point last year they had 0 sponsorship
- 21:36banners sold at the racetrack. This time this year, everything
- 21:40is sold out well before the race.
- 21:43That there is a positive groundswell going on right now.
- 21:46And, you know, I can say I love your team and it's a great team,
- 21:50but if I write a check and sign it and give it to you, that's a
- 21:53bigger compliment that says somebody's really, you know,
- 21:58really behind. Find something really confident
- 21:59in something. Are you finding it a little
- 22:02easier right now? Is there a positive feeling when
- 22:05you go to a sponsor that may not have been there a year ago?
- 22:10I would say if it's a traditional sponsorship, it's
- 22:15it's tough sledding, but as you expand into experiential
- 22:20hospitality and create other touch points for C staff folks
- 22:25for their their business associates, you know, the, the
- 22:30opportunity to have deep access to a NASCAR race is invaluable.
- 22:36And so creating a, a, a better environment, it's a place that
- 22:39you can bring these individuals to selling kind of off paint
- 22:44assets more than just the traditional on paint going
- 22:47around node circles on the track that you know, that fishing hole
- 22:52has has been well fished. You have to think differently
- 22:55and provide other opportunities and and I really think that's
- 23:00how we can modernize as a sport. The venues continue to improve
- 23:05teams and their hospitality offering experiential.
- 23:09You know, if you put AAC staff individual on pit lane watching
- 23:13a pit stop and then you have a way to put them behind the wheel
- 23:16of a car somehow, someway, you know, if it's at one of these
- 23:20great tracks, like 10 tents that is sprouted up due to just the
- 23:24interest in auto and you can have a day there and we can have
- 23:27our athletes doing some ride and drive stuff.
- 23:29You've now created an experience that these guys can't get
- 23:33otherwise. And so you know it, it takes a
- 23:37commitment, it takes a small leap of faith, but thinking
- 23:40outside of the box and, and leading into the great assets
- 23:44our sport just naturally has, I I think you unlock more
- 23:47opportunity. Well, Jimmy, I get to do this
- 23:51because this is my show. I just wanted to say I'm, I'm so
- 23:55glad over the years to have gotten to know you.
- 23:58And I really don't think that I would have had what success I
- 24:01had in a career if it weren't for guys like you that that were
- 24:05just friendly to US, open to us, helpful to us.
- 24:09Man, I always appreciate everything you did over the
- 24:11years. And we're just so friendly to
- 24:13the media. And so I just want an
- 24:15opportunity today to say thank you for that.
- 24:18Buddy, thank you. We've had a have a great
- 24:20friendship through the years and love being on your show, love
- 24:23seeing you and man I'm always here however I can help.
- 24:27Awesome, Jimmy, hey. And again, this is a this is a
- 24:30better place for having you still around.
- 24:32Man, I'm glad it's not the umbrella on the beach.
- 24:34I'm glad that you're in the office right now because it's
- 24:37huge for all of us. Jimmy, thank you for your time
- 24:39and congratulations on the success.
- 24:41I can't wait till we're talking to you in Victory Lane very
- 24:45soon. I appreciate.
- 24:45It buddy, but soon. Thank you.
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