Columnist Ron Kantowski: Cup rookie Johnson laid roots in LV

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Several years ago, when Jimmie Johnson was still trying to make a name for himself in desert off-road and stadium racing in and around Las Vegas, a Chevrolet motor sports publicist named Carolyn Williams would constantly badger me about doing a column on Johnson, one of "her" drivers.

And I would constantly decline, telling her I had Robby Gordon or Roger Mears or Ironman Stewart or the local guy, Rob MacCachren, already lined up for an interview.

As publicists are prone to do, Williams would tell me that Johnson was destined to become a star.

Well, she was right and I ... well, wasn't listening at the time.

By virtue of his gas-n-go victory over Las Vegan Kurt Busch in Sunday's Napa 500 at California Speedway, Johnson notched his first NASCAR Winston Cup win in only his 13th start. And no offense to the guys I mentioned above, but Johnson has the potential to become more famous than all of them put together -- especially in that he has Rick Hendrick as a car owner and four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon as a guru.

It also goes to show your dad needn't have raced stock cars or your grandpa run moonshine to make it big in NASCAR. In Johnson and Robby Gordon, off-road racing already has two alums in NASCAR's biggest show.

And ever hear of a guy named Rick Mears? Before he won four Indy 500s, Rocket Rick used to tool around the sage in an off-road buggy.

Furthermore, added Finebaum, "the kid has the class of a Las Vegas hooker at 4 a.m."

Now wait a minute. If he wants to rip Little E, that's his right/problem. But how dare he blast our prostitutes.

At least it proves that not every one of those handbills they pass out on the Strip winds up as litter.

But given that Florida drew 39,500 non-paying fans for its "Orange and Blue" game and more than 30,000 turned out for glorified scrimmages this month at Alabama, Auburn, Penn State and Nebraska, we ain't there yet.

Oklahoma drew 20,000 for its spring "game," even though it charged $5 admission.

"If we were to run wind sprints out at our practice field at 2:30 in the morning, I'm sure there would be someone watching," Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione told the Bloomberg News.