It’s hard to shoot down a nice guy
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Could Homestead prove to be NASCAR’s "High Noon," with Jimmie Johnson as the villain Frank Miller, dispatched against long odds by Marshall "Will Kane" Mark Martin–or is there more of a "Cinderella" element needed for Martin to win?
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - On an objective basis, it’s difficult to cast Jimmie Johnson in the role of villain.
One on one, Johnson is difficult to dislike. He is good-natured, cooperative and self-deprecating. Johnson epitomizes the positive virtues associated with Californians. If he wasn’t wearing a uniform, it would be easy to imagine him with a surfboard balanced under one arm.
In a way, it’s hard to reconcile Johnson’s disarming personality with his coolly efficient driving style. Just from personal encounters, Johnson doesn’t seem capable of the cool attention to detail and burning desire to win that he quite obviously possesses.
That’s a shame because, if Johnson were a better villain, it would be easy to turn the final race of NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, into a remake of "High Noon."
No one dislikes Johnson because he’s a bad guy. Mostly his problem is that he wins too much.
"When I was a kid growing up, (Dale) Earnhardt was winning a lot of races and championships, but nobody liked him," said Johnson after winning last week at Phoenix. "When I first started driving for Hendrick (Motorsports), Jeff (Gordon) won his fourth championship, won a lot of races, and nobody really liked him. I’m not the only one going through this. It’s happened in our sport to other drivers."
Mark Martin is short and feisty. Gary Cooper was tall and forthright. Somehow, though, Martin could portray Will Kane, the heroic marshal in the 1952 western classic. Johnson fails miserably as Frank Miller, the bad guy.
In the movie, Kane stands alone. Word arrives that Miller, whom Kane sent to prison, is out, and that he’s headed to Hadleyburg to get revenge by killing the marshal. Encouraged to flee, Kane starts to do so, then changes his mind and tries to convince the townspeople to rally behind him.
They don’t. Even his deputy, Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), resigns.
Somehow, Kane beats the odds. By the end of the movie, Miller and all three of his henchmen are dead. As the citizens of Hadleyburg return to the streets, Kane tosses his badge into the dust and leaves, having made his point and brought shame to those less valiant than he.
Martin, trailing Johnson by 108 points with one race to go, shares the long odds with Marshal Kane. Unfortunately, his nemesis is his teammate.
Oh, but Martin has fought the good fight. He has strung together seven consecutive top-10 finishes, which would be more impressive if not for the fact that Johnson is almost sure to string together four straight championships.
Martin hasn’t finished worse than 14th in the nine Chase races to date. He won the first one. Johnson crashed in the eighth race, finishing 38th. But in the other eight, he finished first four times, second, fourth, sixth and ninth.
Johnson, 34, is in the prime of his career. Martin, 50, is in the twilight. Johnson has won the past three championships; Martin has finished second four times in his career and never won one.
Martin would be a perfect fit for Frank Miller, but he’s a ridiculous Cinderella and there isn’t a glass slipper that would slip over his stubby toes.