Inside Water: NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson & Water Polo

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Some of the great athletes and businessmen of the last 100-years have exelled in the sport of water polo.

But only one is "Superman" - at least to his competitors and teammates - and a five-time champion to boot.

Five-time National Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) Sprint Cup champion and 2009 Associated Press Athlete of the Year Jimmie Johnson makes his living driving fast, turning left and wowing the crowds on Sunday for money, but it was in El Cajon, California, Granite Hills High School and the water that the legend began in earnest.

The oldest of three, Johnson was born on September 17, 1975, in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon to a blue-collar family, Johnson's mother, Cathy, drove a school bus and his father, Gary, operated heavy machinery. At the age of four, Johnson could handle a 50cc motorcycle. He was racing by age five and won his first championship at age eight, racing larger 60cc motorcycles. Johnson learned from some of the best and found an early mentor in motocross and supercross champion Rick Johnson (the two men are not related). When Jimmie Johnson was seven, Rick Johnson attended one of his competitions and predicted a bright future for the pint-sized racer. During the race, Johnson approached a six-foot jump, sailed his bike 65 feet through the air and stuck the landing, though he later spun out into a crash. Rick Johnson was amazed watching Jimmie Johnson fearlessly attack the jump.

"That was when I knew he had the talent to go into the corner at 190 mph," Rick Johnson told USA Today 's Nate Ryan.

As a teen, Johnson accompanied his dad to local off-road races. The excitement got under his skin and soon, Johnson was chatting with the buggy owners, trying to charm his way into a deal that would allow him to drive. After being offered the chance, Johnson quickly impressed the crowds. He spent several years racing trucks, both off-road and in stadiums, winning his first championship at 17. Racing was not his only sports passion. Before graduating from suburban San Diego's Granite Hills High School in 1993, Johnson played water polo and competed with the swim team.

Johnson's truck-racing career was fraught with ups and downs. During the 1994 Baja 1000 endurance race, Johnson—after 20 hours of racing—fell asleep behind the wheel in the middle of the Mexican desert, flipping his vehicle into a sand wash. Johnson and his co-driver were rescued two days later. For days, Johnson stewed over the mistake. From that day forward, Johnson strove to be a cleaner, more precise driver.

Johnson left California in 1996, when he was 21, and headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to forge a connection with race team owners. He was patient and persistent in his efforts.

"I would go to places where I knew crew guys ate lunch and I'd sit there all through lunch just trying to meet people," Johnson told Sports Illustrated 's Lars Anderson. Johnson's persistence paid off and in 1997 he raced in the American Speed Association's short-track series, though the switch to pavement racing took some getting used to. In his first race with the AMA, Johnson spun his car 12 times. He quickly mastered the discipline and in 1998 was named the series' Rookie of the Year. In 2000, Johnson graduated to the Busch (now Nationwide) series, NASCAR's second-tier race series. That year, Johnson raced to six Top 10 finishes and ended tenth in points.

Johnson entered the NASCAR Cup series full-time in 2002, after being recruited to drive the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo co-owned by Rick Hendrick and race champion Jeff Gordon. From the start, Johnson proved he was a contender and for a time in 2002 led in points standings—the first rookie to ever do so. Johnson proved to be a consistent driver but suffered many ups and downs. In 2004, he crashed twice in the first four of the Chase for the Championship final race series of the year.

Johnson has a strict pre-race routine that begins with a team meeting to discuss strategy. Next, he sits in the team hauler alone, emptying his mind and focusing on the race. During this time, he visualizes hitting his marks on each lap. After introductions over the loudspeaker, he gets into the car and gets settled.

Johnson tore up the tracks during his first four seasons in the Nextel Cup series, though patches of bad luck kept him from the title. The 2006 season was no different. The season got off to a bumpy start when his crew chief, Chad Knaus, was fined and suspended for four races for making illegal modifications to Johnson's car during qualifying runs for the season-opening Daytona 500. However, Johnson went on to win the race. During the season, he also won the Aaron's 499 at Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. He finished first in points standings, finally capturing the elusive title and a $6.2 million check.

The titles have kept on coming since as he captured the Sprint Cup crown in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 becoming the first driver in the history of the sport to claim five consecutive titles.

Consider that in the history of the sport the all-time record for career titles is seven (held by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt).  Less than a decade into his career, Johnson is nearly 72% of the way to equaling the feat.

Since 2006, the 35-year-old has claimed 35 of his 53 career wins, claimed five straight titles, eclipsing the previous mark of three straight standard set by Cale Yarborough from 1976-79. Kyle Busch (17) has the second-highest wins total since 2006. Johnson leads the series with a 16.36-percent win percentage (Busch is second at 8.6 percent), 81 top-5s, 117 top-10s and 7,655 laps led. 

Further, consider that Petty needed 654 races to win five titles, although he ran as many as 60 races a season in some seasons. Earnhardt required 390 races. Johnson has done it in 327.

Nicknamed "Superman" by teammate Mark Martin a few years ago for all of his success, Johnson has made an even greater mark off the track.

Away from the track, Johnson launched the Jimmie Johnson Foundation in February 2006. The Jimmie Johnson Foundation is dedicated to assisting children, families and communities in need throughout the United States. The Foundation strives to help everyone, particularly children, pursue their dreams.

The Jimmie Johnson Foundation supports charitable organizations that further the mission of the foundation. Current and past projects include granting wishes for children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, assisting the American Red Cross with disaster relief efforts, building a four-lane bowling alley for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses at the Victory Junction Gang Camp in North Carolina and hosting a golf tournament in San Diego to raise funds to build a Habitat for Humanity home in Johnson’s home town of El Cajon.

So, when the season opening Daytona 500 rolls around and the tires start spinning, remember that the sport of water polo has a connection to the sport of racing's best.