Jimmie Johnson Perfect Pick for Athlete of Year

Jimmie Johnson's selection Monday as the Associated Press Athlete of the Year isn't just a well-deserved honor for the four-time NASCAR champ, but validation for NASCAR's place in the sporting world and a nice holiday antidote to all the recent athletes-gone-wild headlines.

Johnson is the first race driver ever chosen in the 78-year old history of the award. And while you could argue others before him -- Michael Schumacher, John Force, Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt -- also deserved the honor, Johnson is a perfect selection to cross that threshold. The good guy at the right time.

"The wave is finally peaking, and we don't know where it's going to take us,'' Johnson said of the recognition.

"The fourth straight title takes it out of our sport and makes it a point of discussion -- like, 'Wow, a race car driver won this thing.' "

Not only are his four consecutive Sprint Cup Series titles unprecedented, Johnson won them during the most competitive era in his sport's history -- posting a series-best 29 wins in his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet during the span.

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Beyond that, Johnson has proven himself a stand-up guy in what has become an increasing culture of anything-goes sports celebrity.

Johnson, 34, came from a working class family in El Cajon, Calif., worked his way up the NASCAR ranks with performance not using a big check from dad to earn him shots at each stage of his career. And when he finally got the chance to drive for NASCAR's elite Hendrick Motorsports, Johnson proved himself a case study in exceptional talent, hard work and perseverance -- even competing alongside, and perhaps initially in the shadow of his teammate, another four-time champ Jeff Gordon.

In eight years at the Cup level, Johnson has never finished worse than fifth in the championship standings. In addition to his four titles, he has two runner-up efforts.

For his work this year -- winning four of the 10 Chase for the Championship races among his series-best seven total -- Johnson beat out Roger Federer and Usain Bolt. Tiger Woods was named Athlete of the Decade.

The legacy Johnson is creating behind the wheel is matched by a legacy of good character and great generosity out of the car.

He has proven to be the ultimate stand-up guy, exactly the kind of champion NASCAR needs as it balances maintaining its long-time core audience and winning over new fans.

He doesn't throw tantrums when things don't go his way. He's polite to the media, gracious to fans and you'd have a hard time finding even one of his competitors who doesn't like him despite the fact he's been dominating them for the past four years.

Johnson has proven he is best when the pressure is on -- no one has been better in the Chase format. And there is great respect for the fact that he will fight door-to-door for a win even when a conservative top-10 finish is all he needs.

Away from the track Johnson and his wife, Chandra, have been ardent fundraisers. Through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation, he has donated millions to charity -- much of it discreetly -- most of it to education and helping out Habitat for Humanity.

In 2003, for example, wild fires started decimating his former neighborhood outside San Diego. Johnson immediately enlisted the help of his race team sponsor, Lowe's Home Improvement stores, to donate money and set up an impromptu command station and aid center in a public park only a few hundred yards from the house Johnson grew up in.

Three years ago he donated his entire winner's paycheck to fire victims in San Diego and just this season, he dedicated a Habitat for Humanity project his Jimmie Johnson Foundation spearheaded to house some of those families who lost their homes to fires.

It's all created a head-shaking circumstance:

The worst thing his critics can say is that Jimmie Johnson wins too much and he's too nice a guy -- Athlete of the Year criteria by any standard.