I had intended to only post about golf topics here, but given that we have just witnessed NASCAR award Jimmie Johnson the Sprint Cup for the fifth consecutive year, I felt is appropriate to comment on sustained greatness in sport. How significant is this? Consider that within NASCAR, since it was founded in 1947, only once before had a driver won more than two in a row (Cale Yarborough from 1976-1978). But also consider how rare this feat is among other sports, not just within NASCAR. The NHRA has had drivers win five or more championships in a row once in each of its three major series: Tony Schumacher from 2004-2009 in the Top Fuel class (6 in a row), John Force from 1993-2002 in the Funny Car Class (10 in a row), and Bob Glidden from 1985-1989 in the Pro Stock class (5 in a row). In the ARCA Re/Max series, Frank Kimmel won championships from 2000-2007 (8 in a row), in World of Outlaws Steve Kinser has won five-in-a-row twice in his career, first from 1983-1988 and again from 1990-1994, and in Formula 1 Michael Schumacher won five from 2000-2004.
For other major sports leagues holding yearly championships, the NFL has never had a team win five consecutive. In the NHL it has only happened once, when the Montreal Canadiens won five from 1956-1960. The feat has also happened only once in the NBA, with the Boston Celtics winning eight in a row from 1959-1966 and once in MLB, with the Yankees winning five from 1949-1953 (a time when it should be noted that some of the better players, not the least of which being Ted Williams, were serving in the US Military). Five in a row has never occurred in English Premier League and has occurred once in the UEFA Champions League when Real Madrid won five from 1956-1960. In the Nippon Baseball League the Yomuiri Giants won nine in a row from 1965-1973. And in the Canadian Football League, the Edmonton Eskimos won five from 1978-1982.
In individual sports, Kelly Slater won five ASP World Championships in surfing from 1994-1998. In tennis, the year-end #1 ranking was held by the same person five or more straight years twice, Jimmy Connors from 1974-1979 and Pete Sampras from 1993-1998 (surprisingly, and also quite tellingly, Roger Federer did not go five consecutive years ranked #1). Women's Tennis has seen five in a row done once, Martina Navratilova from 1982-1986. In golf, on the European Tour, Colin Montgomerie won the Order of Merit seven times in a row from 1993-1999, Annika Sorenstam was a five-time LPGA player of the year from 2001-2005, and Tiger Woods was PGA Tour Player of the Year from 1999-2003.
My purpose for bring out all these statistics, and I surely missed some sport or event that someone considers to be serious, is to show how rare it is for any athlete or team to win five season championships in a row. This may well be the only time NASCAR ever see's a five time champion, just as we golfers may have witnessed, just recently, the only five-time season champions in our sport on the respective tours. This is quite a rare feat, and whether or not you watch auto racing, or if you do, whether or not you like Jimmie Johnson, we all need to take a step back and look at how great this accomplishment really is, it truly is a once in a lifetime occurrence and Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and that entire team are once of the greatest teams in the history of motorsports and sports as a whole.
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