Jimmie Johnson credits his Jimmie Johnson success habits, particularly arriving ten minutes early and keeping his shoes polished, with helping him stand out across a career that earned him seven NASCAR championships and an estimated net worth of over $150 million.
‘Being 10 minutes early for a meeting is on time,’ Johnson told Fortune. ‘I can’t tell you how many times that left an impression, and I stood out of a crowd for whatever it was, even just sponsor visits or actually showing up for a real interview.’
The retired racer, now 49, has been sharing that advice with younger workers he says are too quick to overlook the basics.
Jimmie Johnson success habits forged outside the cockpit
The shoe-shining lesson came from an unlikely source: the father of a close friend, who chaired the new-member committee at a golf club Johnson was hoping to join.
‘Son, you’re dressed so well, but damn, you need to shine those shoes,’ Johnson recalled him saying. ‘That looks terrible. Always shine your shoes. People notice.’
Johnson said he took the advice to heart and still polishes his shoes today.
‘The small things matter and help you cut from the fray in the very congested space,’ he said.
On the track, those small things added up to a record career. Johnson won 83 Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500, and his seven championships tie the all-time NASCAR record held by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. In 2009 he became the first racer named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.
He grew up in a trailer park in El Cajon, California, the oldest of three children, with a father in construction and a mother who drove a school bus. He was riding dirt bikes at five and collecting trophies before he hit double figures. He skipped college and went straight into professional racing, progressing from motorcycles through off-road cars and into NASCAR.
By 30 he had won his first Cup Series championship, in 2006, driving the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet.
Legacy Motor Club expansion and life after racing
Since stepping back from full-time competition after the 2020 season, Johnson has moved into ownership. In 2023 he became majority owner of Legacy Motor Club, a NASCAR Cup Series team. The club, which is now aligned with Toyota, currently fields two cars in the Cup Series and is preparing to expand to three next year, according to Sports Business Journal.
Johnson also made history as the first motorsports competitor to receive a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, an honour recorded by Legacy Motor Club.
He and his family spent two years living in London after he retired from full-time racing, a period he says gave him space to reflect on what the sport had cost him personally. He admitted missing weddings and funerals because of his racing commitments.
‘I’m out of the seat, and yeah, my schedule’s busy, but there was a layer of constant pressure that I couldn’t recognise as an elite athlete, and the selfishness required for that,’ he said.
Work-life balance, he concedes, remains unresolved.
‘I’m failing at it right now,’ he said. ‘There are these moments that pop up where I’m like, man, I’m way out of balance here. I’ve got to put some intent into this.’
Johnson is planning one further return to the cockpit: a final NASCAR race at the 2027 Daytona 500.
