On Friday, while discussing the most dominant athletes in sports, Donovan McNabb said NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson wasn’t an athlete.
“He sits in a car and he drives,” McNabb told Fox Sports. “That’s not athletic. What athletically is he doing?”
McNabb went on to rank Johnson third on his all-time list, behind Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. On Sunday night – after winning his sixth NASCAR championship in 8 years – Johnson addressed the situation in a Fox Sports interview.
“Yes, I am an athlete, and so is every other driver in one of these race cars,” said Johnson. “Even Tony Stewart.” The Stewart reference was, of course, a joke. But Johnson found nothing funny about McNabb’s comments.
“I think it came from an uneducated frame of mind because he hasn’t been to a race,” Johnson said.
“I did find it interesting that if I’m not athletic I’m still third on his list. So evidently I fall into athleticism somewhere.”
