A Superman performance

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.

Jimmie Johnson lived up to the nickname Superman on Sunday by winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, his fourth in a row. No one has won as many consecutively and only Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty, two titans of the sport, have won more total titles, with seven each.

Johnson is still young and should have plenty of opportunity to build on his impressive string of championships. Winning the Cup is a difficult thing, given how competitive the sport is and all of the things that can go wrong. Only one other driver has won three consecutive titles.

However, when Johnson is honored next month at NASCAR’s banquet in Las Vegas, not every fan will appreciate his feat. Johnson has been criticized because, well, he’s a nice guy in a sport that likes drivers a little rough around the edges.

Johnson is polite, clean-cut and free of drama — on and off the track. He doesn’t fight the other drivers after the race or climb fences after a win or have meltdowns at news conferences. Johnson appears to be less of Superman and more of the mild-mannered Clark Kent. In the words of many fans and NASCAR analysts, he is plain old vanilla.

No matter what you call him, Johnson is a winner. The “vanilla” label obscures the fact that he has cemented himself as one of the greats of the sport. As much as we appreciate his accomplishments, we particularly like that he has shown that nice guys don’t have to finish last.