Jimmie Johnson, the three-peat NASCAR Cup champ, takes time away from prepping for Sunday’s Daytona 500 to discuss the race, his new Monty Python-inspired commercial  (The Quest for G), and how he hopes to get out of a speeding ticket.

The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s Super Bowl. Why is this race considered the granddaddy of all races?
This is the first race of the year. In most sporting events, it’s the last one. It’s just the tradition of it. It’s the first big superspeedway race to exist. The race actually started on the beach of Daytona; half was on the sand and the rest was on A1A, running down like a five-mile course they had. I would love to have raced back then. It started 60 years ago this way, and we come out of the gate with our biggest race.


I have to set my fantasy NASCAR team this week for the 500. Can you help me out with that?
(Laughs) When we get to California it’s easier to predict. But for the 500, look to your normal suspects for (restrictor) plate racing: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, myself; and Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray are going to be a factor. That 18 car seems awfully fast and Kyle (Busch) will certainly be on the highlight reels doing something.

Do you do anything to get yourself psyched up for a race?
I do more to calm myself down than anything. The races are three to five hours in length, depending on the track. The times I’ve been excited before a race, I found myself crashed in a short amount of time.

So you pop in an Enya CD?
(Laughs) Jack Johnson is a good one for me. But for qualifying, you want the exact opposite, because you want to go as fast as you can for one lap.

You’re on pace to be the first guy to win four championships in a row. Does that add any extra pressure to this season?
At this point, not really. There’s so much racing between now and when the season starts. It’s been my mindset all along that you have to make the Chase to start with. I like to set my goals easy and right there in front of me. It helps me keep the pressure off my shoulders and focus on the right things.

Do you actually play the NASCAR video games?
It’s been a long time, but I did. You know, being on a video game is awfully cool so I’ve played a few times.

And do you always drive as yourself?
Absolutely.

Considering you’re the three-time Cup champion, if you get pulled over for speeding, do they let you go?
You know, I have not had a speeding ticket. But if I do get pulled over I’ll do everything I can to help them notice who I am.

Where did you shoot The Quest for G, and how long did it take? (CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW)
We were in Boston for two days. With the group of athletes that came together they needed to do it in an area where Kevin (Garnett) could still play. I think on both days he had games. It was a lot of fun.



What was scarier, Kareem Abdul in the crazy ram-horns hat, or the fire-breathing poodle?
(Laughs) Doing it all in front of a green screen it was tough to see what was going to happen... The sets they built were pretty elaborate. Then we had the green screen and it was my first experience with green screen stuff. To worry about the fire-breathing poodle, throwing stuff overboard on the boat, the pony that falls down from the castle. There were a lot of scenes that were a lot of fun.

You’re wearing a suit of armor. Does the chain mail chafe?
That stuff’s heavy, really heavy. And it makes you dirty. We all had black all over our faces from that. It was snowy and cold and that stuff is steel, so it’s cold. But it was well worth it.

Did it take long to mime like you’re riding a horse?
The best part about that is that the director wanted the uncomfortable goofiness of us learning it. So he wouldn’t let us practice. We wanted to be kind of clumsy and funny and a spoof of the movie.

I enjoyed the dance-off scene. Are you going be on Dancing with the Stars next season?
Negative.

You mean that was a stunt dancer?
Yes, it was.

Did you even consider trying to dance?
No, they actually spent a lot of time in Spain shooting different scenes. … They had all those scenes with the stunt doubles done and it was easy for us to figure out where we need to end in poses and the feel of each scene because they had all that stuff in the can from Spain.

Were you a fan of Monty Python & The Holy Grail before you did the commercial? Were you familiar with the concept behind the commercial?
Not all that much. My wife took me to Spamalot one time in Vegas. It was my first exposure to it. I thought, “What in the world is this?” Before filming the commercial they sent the movie off to us to watch. I watched it then and had a much better understanding of it going into the shoot.

Anything else you want to add?
If you go to the MissionG.com landing page, $1 will be donated to either the NBA charity or to my charity (The Jimmie Johnson Foundation), up to $25,000, which is cool.

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The truly great play-by-play guys develop their own little quirks and signature bon mots in order to separate themselves from the pack. Well, Florida Panthers announcer Randy Moller has decided that he's going to be the guy who shouts out random pop culture references after each Cats goal.

Lucky for us, some fans have strung together a few of his better moments, with a handy visual aid to help you place the quote in question...

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It's official! The first-ever Red Bull Snowscrapers event has come and gone to NYC and definitely left its mark. The 90-foot drop in stood like a building along the FDR. It was a very cold night but that didn't stop thousands of supporting fans to come and watch their favorite snowboarder shred the jump. Fortunately for me, Red Bull had VIP seating for their athletes in a heated yacht docked on the river overlooking the event.


The contest was set up elimination style. Unfortunately, Shaun White didn't make it into the finals. After winning double gold at Winter X, I don't think he was to concerned. Just happy to be there to support his sponsor and his friends.

"The Best Trick Award" went to Terje Haakonsen with a 1 footed Method air. He went down the drop in with only 1 foot locked in the binding of his board. That's a trick in itself. The top three places went as follows: third place went to Scotty Laco with a backside 900, second place went to Torstein Horgmo, and first place went to Shayne Pospisil with a backside 900. The Jersey native, who walked away with 50 grand, was representing the East Coast with authority. Congratulations to all the competitors that came to the event.

Of course, an event wouldn't be complete without some entertainment to follow. Anthrax and Chuck D both performed. I'd like to tell you that they were awesome, but I left after the event to hit the after party at club Libation.



Red Bull likes to give back to the city and are doing so by leaving a portion of the drop in set up for public snowboarding and skiing. Of course, like any first-time event there were some glitches. One of the biggest was that the athletes couldn't get enough speed. I was definitely expecting them to go bigger. You learn from your mistakes and make it better the next time. Thank you to all the people that came out to support the event and braving the cold. Thank you to NYC for helping assist in the progression of action sports.


Guest blogger Kevin Robinson is professional BMX rider, a 7-time Summer X-Games medalist, 2007 Athlete of the X-Games, and current World Record Height Holder.

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Past Florida's deadening groves of withering elders lies a land of shimmering lights and attractive females. We traveled to this magical place, invited several thousands of friends, and held the biggest party of Super Bowl weekend. Here's what you missed:

Maxim's Super Bowl XLIII Party Photos



Maxim's Super Bowl Party: Faces in the Crowd

Video: Coin Tossing at the Maxim Super Bowl Party

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Bros everywhere erupted in a high-fiving uproar upon hearing the news that Michael Phelps "like, totally smokes mad trees," while Olympic officials scratched their heads in disbelief. According to one Sigma Dorky Phi witness, the swimming phenom strutted into a weekend keg party and immediatly walked up to a four-foot glass cylinder, and was all, "let's totally do this, dudes," before high fiving a friend, grabbing the bong (nicknamed, according to one source who preferred to remain stoned, Chewbacca) and attacking the blue cloud of smoke simmering inside with the freakishly huge pair of lungs that have made him an Olympic champion. Putting a Dead bootleg on the stereo (live from Coventry, 1982), pulling out the slide from its chamber and hoovering up the billowing, mind-altering substance within, Phelps reportedly held the illegal smoke inside his massive frame for a whopping three-and-a-half minutes before exhaling and coolly whispering, "that was fucking killer, bros."

Phelps' latest antics come on the heels of some very atypical behavior for an Olympic champion and role model to millions. Since striking Gold in Beijing last August, the Baltimore-born amphibian has been busted prank calling his neighbors, toilet papering houses, playing ding-dong-ditch and the “choking game,” petitioning friends' older brothers to score him beer, and even attempting to get to second base with girls. While this highly irregular behavior is disturbing to sponsors and fans alike, especially being that it's coming from a boy who spent his last 23 years constrained to a lap pool, one U.S. Olympic official remained optimistic, stating, "we're hoping he bangs out marriage, a coke habit, rehab, a midlife crisis, and a divorce in the next week so we can get him back into a Speedo and entertaining crowds at Sea World ASAP."

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