from a Chevy Racing transcript of Johnson discussing some issues
HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT GIVING YOU CREDIT AND SAYING YOU’RE LUCKY?
“There are some that may not give us the credit. But deep down inside it doesn’t matter if it’s a fan or a competitor; they know this #48 team is the real deal. It’s way too early in the season for me to be too excited and say we’re unbeatable and we’re going to win a fifth (title). From my standpoint it’s unfair to say that and from the viewing audience. It’s early in the year. This is only the second race. We’ve felt like we’re a little bit off from the second half of the race on and the RCR cars really impressed everyone. Credit needs to be passed out where it’s due and we’ll see how things go this weekend and take it from there.”
HAVE YOUR WINNER’S CIRCLE APPEARANCES CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? DOES IT SEEM LIKE TRACKS TRY TO GET YOU MORE INVOLVED WITH FANS AND HAVE YOU DO SOME CRAZY THINGS?
“They are crazy. In the end, I’m not sure that the whole Winner’s Circle program is working as it needs to. There are some tracks that are a pleasure to work with and other tracks that are not. In the end, I think the goal of the Winner’s Circle program is to sell tickets. And if somebody can show me how a paint ball fight is going to sell tickets and fill the grandstands, I’ll gladly be a part of that paint ball fight. I don’t believe that’s the case though. Do hot dogs really sell tickets? There are a lot of questions out there that don’t made sense in a lot of ways. At the end of the day we need people in the grandstands and we need to figure out how we do that. I think there has been a lot of pressure put on the garage area to fill the grandstands. And if you really look at what’s gone on in the garage area, the teams have had to step up and build new cars; all the money that it took to build new cars and to develop them and Goodyear has built a new tire. You look at the competition side of NASCAR and the field is closer than it’s ever been. Drivers are being encouraged to speak their minds. You look at everything that goes on in this fenced off area and we’re tapped out in there. We’re doing everything we can to put on a great show. People may think that we race for points, which is absolute crap. We’re out there to win races. So everything in that garage area is tapped out. What happens over here in filling those stands, that responsibility needs to go back on the tracks and the promoters and they need to understand what it takes to sell tickets and put people in the stands.”
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THEY’VE HAD YOU DO?
“There is everything from we’ve held events on, I’m trying to keep from making a complete ass of myself in slamming people which is just what you (the media) want, so needless to say there is a lot of stuff that doesn’t drive grandstand sales. There is a lot of stuff that improves the position maybe with the track and the local market and the local media and favors that seem to be taking place, but I really find it hard to believe that we actually are impacting the people that are going to be at the ticket counters buying the tickets. That’s where the shift needs to take place.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE AXEL ISSUE AND WHETHER YOU WERE ALL HAVING THE ISSUE AND WHAT YOU KNEW ABOUT IT
“We’re still learning about it. I haven’t had a chance to really catch up with Chad to know where things are at right now. We had our issue at Daytona and then the #88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) had a problem. So, it’s unusual for us. I know the guys are working on it, I just don’t know the latest.”(GM/Chevy Racing)(2-28-2010)
