NASCAR driver Tony Stewart got an early Christmas present from Jimmie Johnson this week after Johnson won his seventh Sprint Cup Series Championship. Johnson gave Stewart his race helmet, which Johnson had just worn at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to capture his latest NASCAR victory.
“This is probably the biggest honor you can have as a driver to get a guy who just won his seventh championship get his helmet like that so it shows how good of a friend he really is,” stammered out Stewart, who had joined Johnson in Victory Lane to congratulate him.
Stewart, who completed his final race as a full-time driver on Sunday, has made it his mission to collect his fellow drivers’ helmets as souvenirs and he’s been hankering for one of Johnson’s for a while.
“I thought about it before the race and I thought it would be really cool if I was able to win this race and give him that helmet,” Johnson told “The Dan Patrick Show” on Wednesday. “I know how much it would mean to him, and it would mean a lot for me for him to have it in his collection.”
And in case Johnson ever changes his mind, he told Patrick all he has to do is call Stewart up and ask for the helmet back, “but I don’t plan on it,” he said.
According to NBC Sports, Stewart’s been collecting race helmets for years. With the roughly 25 he’s collected from drivers on the circuit this season, the 45-year-old now has more than 200 in his collection.
“I’ve got a Paul Newman helmet from ’76 that is pretty cool,” Stewart said earlier this year. “I’ve got two Dale Sr. helmets, two Richard Petty helmets, three Mark Martin helmets, two Rusty Wallace helmets, two Jeff Gordon helmets, two Darrell Waltrip helmets…”
Stewart, who likes to trade his own helmets for others, even has the safety helmet that a rescue worker wore in 2013 when Stewart broke his leg in a crash at Iowa.
“The hard part is I’ve asked for more helmets than I can trade,” Stewart said. “It’s cool that [drivers are] willing to let me have a helmet for my collection (anyway).”
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