INDIANAPOLIS — Jimmie Johnson set his alarm for 5:48 a.m. — he uses the number 48 in nearly all his mundane activities — hoping to get a workout in before opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Excitement got the best of him.
Johnson awoke 15 minutes before his alarm went off, anxious to get started on preparations for his Indianapolis 500 debut. It’s taken Johnson 46 years, but he will finally achieve his childhood dream May 29 as an Indy 500 rookie.
“I am ecstatic and ready to go,” Johnson told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning as he sat with teammate Tony Kanaan on the pit wall at the iconic speedway.
The dream to run “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” took a while. His career path steered him into NASCAR and he won a record-tying seven Cup Series titles. He left NASCAR at the end of 2020 to try IndyCar with the caveat he would not run ovals out of respect for his wife’s apprehension about the safety of open-wheel racing.
It gave him two weeks off last May and he finally attended his first Indy 500. Johnson was a spectator, a fan and an NBC Sports analyst. By the time Helio Castroneves took the checkered flag for a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win, Johnson knew he wanted to be part of the show.
He just wasn’t sure how to make it happen.
“I think even 12 months ago today, I didn’t think it was possible,” he told AP. “After the race, I started the process I needed to at home, and within the shop, and Tony (Kanaan), and it still took months and months and months to get it right. But when I look back at just 12 months ago, there was no chance of this happening.”
Getting into the 500 started with convincing wife, Chani, that the cockpit-protecting aeroscreen IndyCar added in 2020 had dramatically improved safety concerns surrounding the drivers’ exposed heads. Then he had to make sure Chip Ganassi Racing would still have a 500 seat for Kanaan, who ran the ovals last year while Johnson handled road and street courses. Johnson also had to make sure sponsor…
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