Johnson's competitive inner fire emerges

Years ago my older son was driving on a go-kart track outside Chicago, and a girl absolutely blindsided him and sent his car flying. I laughed. He didn't. His life had been reduced to a single thought, and that was to catch her and crash her, and finally he did.

I won't insult Jimmie Johnson by comparing my son's driving to his. But after Kurt Busch nudged Johnson out of the lead with seven laps to go Sunday in the Lennox Tools 301, Johnson became single-minded.

He dedicated the rest of his life to doing to Busch what Busch had done to him.

We stereotype Johnson. We see him as a pretty boy for whom success comes too easily. Because he is part of NASCAR's best organization, has its best crew chief and best team, we allow ourselves to believe he is less a driver than part of a machine.

But if you could suck the talent out of a racer and stack it up, Johnson still would be leading, with Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch not far behind.

Jeff Gordon was there once. Just as engines wear out, however, so do the qualities that make a driver special. He's still on the lead lap, but no longer contends.

As Johnson roared around New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he ceased to be the bland driver we pretend he is. All that mattered was hitting Busch. There was no oil spill, no Ghana, no sponsor to appease, no boys back at the shop to thank, no smile to prepare.

With two laps to go, Johnson caught him. The move he used to dislodge the leader was not as smooth as the move Busch had used to dislodge him. But it worked. After relocating Busch, Johnson took off and won his second straight race.

Fans were thrilled. All right, Johnson's fans were thrilled. He has more than you think. But they don't make a lot of noise. Maybe they send a celebratory text.

Johnson has never attained wild, widespread appeal, and here's why. Fans like drama.They like athletes who have failed. We can all identify with a struggle because we struggle. The struggle makes the athletes more real. It makes them more like us.

When has Johnson struggled? This is his ninth season of Cup racing, and he has won four straight championships, twice finished second and twice finished fifth.

Aside from losing races, here are three strategies Johnson could employ to attain the true love of fans.

1. Johnson's wife, Chandra, is pregnant with their first child, a girl. Name her Junior. Junior Johnson has a certain flair.

2. Put on a sleeveless white T-shirt, put in a wad of chewing tobacco and pull up to Waffle House in a Trans-Am. I'm not saying this is what NASCAR fans do. But they won't mind if Johnson does.

3. The sport needs a bad guy. Ask Chandra to chase you with a golf club.

Johnson probably will choose none of the above. He'll remain the same driver he has always been, and that's the best. Every time we start to forget, there he is.