NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson gives HBO full access to offseason routine

Race car driver Jimmie Johnson is the rare athlete who, despite his considerable success, remains humble, grounded and grateful for the fact he earns a handsome living for doing something he loves.

And that's evident in how he spends his offseason. After locking up his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title in November, Johnson celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary with wife Chandra in St. Bart's, then took on a project he'd been dying to get to all year: cleaning out and organizing his closets.

"I've been doing a bunch of nothing," the 34-year-old California native reports. "I mean, I really miss that.

"It's funny because I realize how much I really do enjoy my job and what I have to do week in and week out, because I start missing it."

He'll be getting back to it soon enough, first preparing for the Rolex 24 sports car race in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Jan. 30-31, then for the opening of the 2010 Sprint Cup season with the Daytona 500 two weeks later. And it is those preparations that will be at the center of HBO's "24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona," a four-part series premiering Tuesday, Jan. 26. This installment of the critically acclaimed reality program, the first with a nonboxing focus, follows Johnson in his home, with his Hendrick Motorsports race team and in his No. 48 race car to paint a picture of what Johnson goes through to get ready for a season.

"I was a huge fan, and still am, of their '24/7' show and ... their 'Hard Knocks' show," Johnson says. "I think it's great TV. ... And when I partnered with CAA (Creative Artists Agency, a heavyweight Hollywood talent agency) to represent me, they asked me to make a wish list, and on that wish list, I thought, from really watching 'Hard Knocks,' I thought, 'Man, if they could do this with the race team, it'd be awesome. If they're making it work in spring training, with all these top football teams, they could live in our world.' So I had it on my wish list with CAA, and they started pursuing that angle."

But while Johnson was a fan, there were others to convince, such as his wife, crew chief Chad Knaus and others with Hendrick. Happily, reports Johnson, the sell wasn't difficult. "The majority opinion was, 'Heck, yeah, let's do this,'" he says. "But we're going to have to open up our doors to our home, to our race shop, to our transporters, and there's a level of concern that comes with that. So I'd be lying if I didn't say that, it's like, 'Well, we're going to expose ourselves here; hopefully we don't look like idiots.' But in order to have the show come off right, we need to do those things. And it's not a reality TV show. That's the one thing that I find a lot of peace in. It's a documentary on what it's going to take for us to go to the Daytona 500. And with that artistic twist on it, I'm cool with it."

Of course, with that level of exposure comes the possibility that secrets could be given away to opponents.

"That chance is there," Johnson allows, "and that's something that Chad and HBO are working on to say, 'OK, where's that balance of showing what goes on behind the scenes, the tools we use, how we use them, to paint the right picture for the fans?' I mean, there's a touchy balance there that we've got to work through."

As for his goals for the upcoming season, first and foremost, Johnson would like to keep his championship streak alive.

"Generally you go through the major races that we have, and those are top priority," he says. "I feel like I have clearly a unique opportunity and been able to take advantage of it by winning four in a row. I'd love to keep that streak alive, so that's my motivation and my focus for this coming year."

Meantime, the simple joy of racing is very much alive in Johnson.

"For me, there's a feeling when I climb out of that race car or even climbing into it, there's a feeling when I'm at that racetrack that keeps me going," Johnson says. "And even though I've accomplished all these things, that feeling and ... that passion I have for my sport, that's what keeps me going. So I'm going to continue to work as hard as I ever have and (be) as focused as I've ever been until that feeling fades. And when it does, that's when maybe I consider what I'm doing. And I just hope that the team and my talents allow me to keep being successful."