Fit'n Fast Driver of the week: Jimmie Johnson

NASCAR's five time Champion is not slowing down anytime soon. Jimmie Johnson has set a goal to win eight championships before the end of his career. At 37 years of age, there's plenty of time for the California native to reach that goal.

Jimmie Johnson surfing in Huntington Beach
Photo Credit: Auto Club Speedway/NASCAR Media Group

The most championships won in a drivers career is a tie between the King of racing, Richard Petty; and the Intimadator of racing Dale Earnhardt, both accomplished seven.

Living athletic has always been a lifestyle for Johnson. Growing up, the Lowe's driver has always raced cars, dirt bikes, and was on his high schools swim team.




Nowadays, Johnson finds the time to workout in the mornings. In the last two years, Johnson has run several 5K's, triathlons, mud runs, a half-  marathon and he recently set a goal to compete in an "Iron Man."

The morning after the Sprint Unlimited race in Daytona, Johnson completed a 13 mile run in one hour and 29 minutes for the Daytona Beach Half-Marathon.

A week later, he won the Daytona 500 for the second time in his career. Following the win, he spent four days visiting five different states meeting media obligations such as ESPN, Good Morning America, The Late Show, as well as other shows in local and major news networks. He finally settled down in time for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in Phoenix, Arizona where he finished second in that race.

Last Monday, Johnson spent the day engaged in a few different 'extreme sports' for the Auto Club Speedway's Victory tour to promote the March 24th Sprint Cup race in Fontana, CA. Starting the day was a surfing trip with pro surfer Ian Walsh at Huntington Beach..They moved on for a fun  race at Auto Club Speedway, and the day ended with a ski trip on Mammoth Mountain. Other professional athletes in attendance were champion snowboarder Eddie Wall; ski racer Chris Benchetlet; and stand-up paddler Dave Kalama (all are accounted for in the picture below.)

Photo Credit: Auto Club Speedway
NASCAR Media Group

This weekend, NASCAR is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season, the Kobolt Tools 400. Johnson has four wins, five top fives and six top 10's in 11 starts. Unfortunately, due to rain the practice and qualifying sessions were cancelled. NASCAR's rules that if there is a qualifying cancellation for the first three races, the race line-up is set according to last season's point standings. Johnson will start in third place.

Though drivers didn't get to practice, they got to test the Gen6 on the 1.5 mile Superspeedway on Thursday, and Johnson told reporters he feels good about the car. The rain shouldn't "undo" much of what they did in testing.

The race is on Sunday March 10th, at 3 PM (eastern time), and can be seen on FOX TV, and you can hear it live on PRN radio.