Jimmie Johnson at Champion’s Week

Mark Martin was on stage again Friday night at the celebration of Jimmie Johnson’s fourth straight Sprint Cup title and the year that the industry had entertaining their fans. This time people weren’t offering him rocking chairs in the hope that he might get the idea and perhaps take his leave of the sport and with his recent results it appears he made the right choice after all. Mark Martin maybe 50 years old but you’d never know it by his driving and certainly not by the ovation he recieved when he came onto the stage. In fact the 2009 season is one of Mark Martin’s best, despite running second to one of the greatest NASCAR drivers in the history of the sport.

Jimmie was kind of upstaged by Mark at the Champion's Week ceremony

Mark stepped to the stage and let his charisma and understanding of life and NASCAR come out in words that sparked energy in the crowd and stole the show from Jimmie Johnson. Listening to Mark’s words had me a little misty around the eyes and made me think of other racers who hadn’t quite been able to win it all during their racing careers.

The week long celebration begins on Monday as Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra will handing out about $1 million in donations to various schools around California, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and giving something back to their fans.

On Tuesday Jimmie will show up at the Auto Club Speedway to have breakfast with and answer and ask a few questions with about 700 fans and friends.

Wednesday Jimmie is scheduled to take part in a photo shoot as he travels around to various spots along the Las Vegas strip. Jimmie will then spend a little quality time with the other racers he was competing against during the year and I bet he can expect a little fun pay back for his four years of making them second best.

On Thursday Champion’s Week heads to the real celebration and the official crowning of Jimmie Johnson as a four time Sprint Cup Series Champion. They’ll be having a parade where Jimmie’s fans can watch him come down the street and wave as he heads toward a strip where they’ll be a few burn outs planned, before they head over to have lunch.

On Friday they’ll bring the affair to its pinnacle with the annual Sprint Cup Series awards show at the Wynn Las Vegas and this is when the party will reach its peak and they’ll start to head off to their private parties.

“Image: Zuma Press”