The Associated Press announced Monday that Jimmie Johnson is its 2009 Athlete of the Year. Johnson is the first race driver ever chosen in the 78-year old history of the award.
The four-time NASCAR champ is praised as an all around “good guy” on and off the race track. Through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation, he and his wife have donated millions to charity, mostly to improve education for kids and helping our Habitat for Humanity. In 2006, Johnson donated his entire winner’s paycheck to victims of wild fires in San Diego and this year has dedicated to house families of the fires.