During the stop-and-go, 10-mile trek from his hotel to Wembley Stadium on Sunday morning, #48-Jimmie Johnson voiced concern that he wasn’t acclimated to the four-wheel drive rally car he would pilot later that day in a highly anticipated duel with seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher. Those reservations would prove warranted, as Schumacher single-handedly eliminated Team USA from the Race of Champions Nations Cup, then joined teammate Sebastian Vettel in defeating England then Finland to win the overall team Nations Cup championship. It is Germany’s first such victory. Schumacher opened the competition by outrunning Johnson to win by a landslide. Afterward, Johnson was visibly steamed. “Hell yeah I’m [upset] — I want to win,” said Johnson, the two-time defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion. “I went out and did all that I could. I just do not understand the four-wheel drive, hand brake, rally car driving. I don’t have a lot of experience at it, and to show the level that he showed in the car, I think he’s had some days in it. He certainly navigated.” Other than ROC, Johnson has never driven a four-wheel drive car in competition. Then again, the same goes for Schumacher, who would later stall the same car — the Fiat Abarth rally car — in which he beat Johnson at the starting line in a loss to Finnish F1 star Heikki Kovalainen. Despite Johnson’s loss, it wasn’t over for Team USA just yet. Johnson’s teammate, Travis Pastrana, kept the U.S. team alive by beating Vettel in a race of Aston Martins. That set up a Schumacher/Pastrana matchup in rear-wheel drive buggies to decide which team advanced to the quarterfinals of the team competition.(ESPN.com)(12-17-2007)
