Following his exit from the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, Jimmie Johnson decided to give a shot at the IndyCar Series championship. But open-wheel racing is a different ballgame from stock car racing from a safety standpoint, and his wife, Chandra Janway, knew that. He recently opened up on how he convinced her to let him get into the higher-risk game.
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Johnson and Janway married in 2004 and have two daughters. For a large part of his career, the driver has faced the need to balance his familial responsibilities and his desire to race. When he made the call to race in IndyCar, he had to prepare his best pitch yet so that his wife would let him go ahead with the plan.
He said in an interview with High Performance, “I did my best salesman job ever to convince my wife to let me go IndyCar car racing. She eventually is like, ‘Look. If this is what you want to do and you’re going to fully commit to it, then you have my support.'” Even then, Johnson played it smart by not letting her attend any of his test sessions.
So, when she finally got to see an IndyCar race at all its speed, she was blown away. He continued, “The first time she saw me in an IndyCar car going around was in Texas. I guess in the opening lap, obviously, I was in the car and couldn’t see it, but some of my friends said she turned around and ran from the grandstands because we went by it like 230/240 [mph].”
How Johnson keeps himself out of harm’s way on the race track
Johnson’s decision to race in IndyCar despite his responsibilities wasn’t reckless. As a professional, his risk assessment standards are different from the common crowd, and he has been trained all his life to keep himself secure while doing what he loves. Every driver has a different method to ensure personal safety, and Johnson does, too. It is by racing faster.
He explained that he forgets everything else when he puts his helmet on and that his way to keep himself safe is by being on the offensive. “When you start making defensive decisions, that split-second timing… The difference in timing. I think you put yourself In harm’s way more often.”
There was a time in Johnson’s career when the high safety standards in motorsports were non-existent. He has crossed those lines without losing a limb and created a legacy that can be matched by none in history. A case can hardly be made that his approach has been a dangerous or an ineffective one.
