Jimmie Johnson gets an HBO special....and not one but four!

  Jimmie Johnson: on target for a record-breaking fourth straight NASCAR championship (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   Jimmie Johnson is many things. Mr. October. Mr. Three-in-a-row. Dr. Cool. The Teflon man.
   And Mr. Plain Vanilla.
   A guy who may well become known as the greatest driver in NASCAR history, but a guy who also has the public persona of vanilla ice cream.
    So the NASCAR tour leader is hoping that one of his newest project –  an HBO 24/7, scheduled to kick off January 26th, as prelude to the Daytona 500 – will show a different side of him.
    The project will be a four-week 30-minute series about Johnson, every Tuesday, through February 16th, two days after the NASCAR season opener.
    NASCAR's TV production arm, the NASCAR Media Group, will help in the production.
   "People who have gotten to know me know I'm not plain vanilla, even though a lot of people seem to think that," Johnson says.
   This will be the second significant NASCAR tie-in with HBO pay-for-view cable. HBO has also done Tony Stewart's annual dirt track special at Eldora Speedway, with a dozen or so NASCAR Sprint Cup stars.