Jimmie Johnson to donate all of sunday's winnings to wildfire relief

[likearock00]

HAMPTON, Ga. -- The very hills that Jimmie Johnson traversed on his motorcycle as a young boy are now charred by the wildfires scorching Southern California.

Care-free memories of riding wide-open in the hills east of San Diego are now blemished and overshadowed by daily headlines of thousands of residents, in and around his hometown, displaced and homeless. Their homes have been reduced to ashes.

"It's really the worst reality that you would ever face out there living in Southern California," said Johnson, 32, who grew up in El Cajon and likely learned the family evacuation plan before his own street address. Knowing how to escape from rampant flames -- what to do and where to go -- was that important.

And helping those affected by the recent tragedy is equally important.
Johnson, along with his team owner Rick Hendrick and sponsor Lowe's, will donate all winnings from Sunday's Nextel Cup race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to the American Red Cross relief effort. The purse money will benefit thousands of residents burdened by the fires.

The Red Cross is providing residents, firefighters and first responders with shelter, food, water, comfort kits as well as medical and mental health services. The California wildfires have burned almost half a million acres and forced the evacuation of more than a million residents.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/head...res/index.html

[tholland]

Johnson said he and team owner Rick Hendrick will donate their $349,561 in winnings from Sunday's race to the American Red Cross for the wildfire relief effort in his native California, along with matching donations promised by several other NASCAR organizations.

$350k x # of matching donations... that could be quite a total.

Good for them!

[vsd]

Great to see a native San Diegan giving back to help the community he came from.

[LAChevy24]

its pretty cool that he is doing that. other drivers have done this in the past, where they donate their winnings. i think its great that they do that.

[ronald mcretard]

I wonder how many movie stars will donate a large portion of their earnings from their next movie deal? Oh wait none.