>> rose:elcome to the brdcast. chrismas here and sore the christs movies. tonight we take a look at "me and orson welles", with director richardinklater and h co-star zac efron, claire danes and christian mckay. and we ctinue this eveng with nascar history. four-time naar champion-- the first er-- jimmiejohnson ter joined by his trainerohn sitara a film aboutor s as well as and naar champion jimmie johnson coming up.

caioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in neyork city, this is arlie rose. >> rose:ichard linklater's new movie is called "me and son welles," it is a coming age story that takes place in the shadow of the great a mplicated orson wels. the year is 1937 on the eve of histaging of juls caesar at the mercury theater in new york. he's just come off of production of an all-black macbeth and four yearsaway from citizen cai many boo and playsand films have ted to capturethe man and the th and here's a trailer for e film. >> this is thestory of one week my life. it was the week i fell in love, the week iould make my broadway dut, and the week i would meet orson welle >> jn, this kid's going to

play lucis. will you work for nothing? >> orson... >> quiet, i'm negotiating. >>rson's very competitive and self-center. >> this stage is where history is being written. >> very brilliant. >> okay, listen, pele, nail your towards the back wal, and that goes for e rest of you. consants, consonts, consonants. and don't forget the vowels. >> d't cricize him, er. >> no, sir, there are more with him. >> not mtar with him, with him, thiis shakespeare i don't know verse. >> i kw my lines. >> a i say you need "moime." >> tl me who you are. what a you fering? >> wealth, trave, fame, i can take you to movies that have all that. >> you're cute. >> a whole show is in shambles. >> he is an rogant, selfish... >> i orson welles and every single onef you is my vion. if you don't like the way i work here, there's the door. >> there's water breachi the deck. >> sabotage! >> thiis the essential orson

welles moment. >> we might have a show that clos thursday night. might have a show people will rememb for 50 years. orson wants to stay with me toght. >> you want know fht for you? because i will. >> you've only known me for a week. >> sometimes you rember a week for the rest of yr life. >> images of mnificence, that's what you see in evy great act over's eyes. th's all that matters inhis world. i'm proud of every member of this mpany. got to be one of those magic nights tight, can you fl it? it's show time. >> rose: joining me now is the dictor riard linklater and co-stars zac efro, claire danes and christian mckay. i'm pleased to have all of them talk-to-talk about orson welles, the movie, and much more. let's start with the movie. where does this co from? >> it comes fm aonderful novel by robert kaplow, a wonderful lile historical

fiction set in 1937, very charming. you know, the historic aspects of it are very historil, all the names, everythg that ppens in the movie a historical recreatn of this moment i wells le. >> and it comes wit zacs character ere? >> rose: >> there was aeenager in the production he was actuay about15 yea old. in many this movie he' a nior in high school. but... >> rose: the famous cecil b. photo ontage with welles and this little kid. robert imaginewhat it must haveeen like seeing it tough s eyes. >>ose: and did they come to you ying "we have this script >> no, it'sery independent. i option ihad book with my own money. studio wantedo do i we made th in london independently. >> rose:ere you fascinated by orsonellesr was it jus the book that capred? >> i neverthought i would be making a film that toued on welles life at l. that seemed so d'ting a task. t this story was very... i

don't know, i just loved it and it shined alight on a period in his life that mos people don't know muc about. i knew little bit about itut when people think of wles they start with "r of the worlds "and soon they're out to hollywood and cai and into his film career where this was young mr. lls. he's , already... he's... it's his first mercury theater production that he srted with john houseman andim at his most confint. it's a great momen in his life. kain this was great production. >> rose: wh did you kn about him,hristian, when you took this role? caine. >> qui a bit we, i think my regisation remembers as the 350 pound mountain selng sherry and wine befo its time. >> ros and being interviewe dick calveet. >> merv griffin. >> a lot of merv griffin. >> we kind of remember him like, that don't we? >>e don't even... we're even

too young for that. hi wasn't a public figure in you guy's lifetime. >> wetudied anymore ttbooks school. >> rose: andainly through the early movies. >> that's truthfully how iot introduced w through "citizen kane." the film change mid-perspective. i was able to watch movies from th point on with a coletely new eye because i was so aware cinetography because i thought themovie was so beaufully shot. it w amazing. >> rose: how about y, claire? >> i learned aboutrson welles in college. i went to yale a in english ass, in my freshman yeaand my professor screened "citizen kane" for us a i wrote aerm paper on it. i haveno idea what i wrote about. but i watched it f... yeah, fast forward and rewound that movie many times. >> rose: one ofhe great questis about him has been this extraordary brillian rly. >> well, thi film depts it. he's 22, kind of rnventing the stage, he'soon to reinvent

radiand a coup years later he reinvts cinema. astonishg. befo his 26th birthday hs reinvented the three mediums of the da there's modern equivalent that. >> definitely born at the right time to do that. cinema was only 45 years old as medium and he shes it forward a few decades he would be do mh better if he was rn later to be an indy director, heould have gotte mo films made because ere was on the studio system at that time. but what he did young is just incrible. >> rose: a the genius was? >>he genius wa.. >> i think everything. a natural showman. >> a rord-breaking amount of innovation in "citiz kane." a ceilg had never bn shot. i mean,t's just... i was amazed when iirst saw it how resonant and relent it still is now. >> yes, absolutely. >> it fee very modern. >> it's very lucky al the collaborators he had. stting with greg toller and

hoeman going off with her man mang vits t write their portion of the scriptnd then it came back to orson and h would add scenes. and it was a wonderful collaboration. his makeupwas an innovation. mes shirt with the sound at ark owe. and i think kane is an independt movie within the studio system. it's incredible. of course rough that credible contract he had with k.o., execuves walked on to the lot, they st start playing baseball and you know, just.. we've just come to e your work orson, now rd my contract. extraordinary. >>hat infuriated him and that s the beginning of the end right ther hollywood doesn't like that attitude. >> rose: how did you hang your own performsnans what were you... >> well,...

>> rose: voi man ore >>ell, i'd never played a real life famous dead person bere so i could only... rose: you could access because of thenterviews. >> yes, i studied h a lot but avd at all costs imitation or impression, which is death. to a... wanted to forge him. make a forgery. like he de a beautiful fm, again tolly beyond it years in the '70nd there was a matisse... hwas a great forger anit was matse and the are modiglianis in theorld that el mir painted. so i thoug i likehis idea, at's giving him a flavor of that voice and i'moth zac and claire's characters are loosely based on real people too. buwe did that in the corkr with characters like ngor

monolloyd who's become friend. 95 years young a stillorking >> my kharke is be s based on real character. he's still with us. arthurnderson. >> i talked to him on the phone. >> h filled us in on great stories. >> robert did lot ofresearch with him. he helped him when he was writing the novel. >> rose: the storyis told through his eyes >> it an interesting way to tell the story, especially o lles to see him thugh this young man's eyes. he's only five years younr than h but he's been given this incdible opportunity, this small part informhe play, so y do see him through his point of view. >> rose:your characte, claire? >> i play orn's girl friday, basically. his assisnt secretary and, yeah, she's just a kind of... she's go moxie. >> is she a kind of diner of him? >> i tnk everybody in is

mome in this company was incredibly charged and ver inspired byor n but vim and vigor and wer anxious to create something new and... i n't know. epic >> the rallying around his geniusut it's a portrait of how you makert in a group setting. it's vercollaborative. it's about the ensemble. but in ts case there' this genius dictator bind it all who haens to be a brilliant artist. >> rose: talk about casting wh christian first. >> well that was the... i wasn't going toproceed until i found someone i though could represent welles accurately. i wasn't going to do the movie. so i g lucky. i fe like theilm gods handed us orson welles. >> rose: how d you find m? >> i got an e-mailrom robert kapl, the novelist. and he said "there's a onman show here in new york at this little theater, 50-se theater,

16 shows only." i flew in jus in time to catch the last show, i believe. and it was calle "rose bud the ves of orson welles." >> totallyn orinal title. (laughter) >> but christian pyed him primarily an older welles, t suit and nos. it's a great one-man show. >> rose: how did you come to do that? >> unemployment. i'd just had a massiveuccess as a eunuch the royal shakespeare company d staggeringly to mehat wasn't enough of a success to continue with in the royal shakespeare company. so i thought it would be a wonderful ercise to play a re-life person. i thought... and in a one-man show, a cheapened hopefully effeive form of tater. d we start. you know, they saidwhat about orson welles?" i said "don't be ridiculous, i'm not that fat." i said "whatbout winston churchill?" you're too young. "what about orson wees."

"n no. "richard burton." "orson wels." and eventually i started reading about him a fell in lo with the o man. anuddenly... i'd read act actors being at the rit place at the rht time. i neverimagined it would happen to me. and i suddenly had this abolical and, indeed,ivine ck. and like andiot i stood there with richard givg him the names of famous hollywood stars that ihought could play orson. he's not going to ct an unknown englishman. >>i'd flown across the country. that might have en a hint i was lookingor you. >> rose: heaveouor names? >> it was awkwd. i'd own into seehim. it was a greathow but i didn't have the movie financed. it wasike "nice to meet you." i couldn't say "hey, do you want to do this film?" i couldn't offer and youeren't presumptions enough to assume. but th i flewim from london to where i liv and we did a scen test, hung o for a few days and staed working there

and thas when it began >>ose: is his life in the end and the li he lived one you sat there with gat admiration and say "thi was just simply a grea life" or in the part tragic life because the was so muchalent that was demonstrated but so much talent that didn't have a app itself over a longer period. >> it dends on your definition of "succs" i should think. he was typing up the next day's schedu when he had h het attack. there's always torrow. and until his dying day he sought to continue giving us his vision, his expression of human tichlt and those win commercials ich people say is very sad,ou know, tha such a great man was reduc to that. noat all, when he wa in '30s, he was dng wine commercials on the radio and h was putng his money into the mercury theater towards the end of h life, he was doingcommercials on levision and puttinghe money he earned io his independent films. at, to me, in my humble opinion, is a man of obstinate

integrity. >> rose: whoas close him that alive today? >> well... >> actually, we'v been dng que a bit of pressfor the movi and it sesike every day ere's somebody who has an orson welles story i s in anlevator with him, whatever. it's... >> saw him in a hotel. >>ho did we meet last nig? >> oh, my gosh! >> didn't meet her. i missed out. t, yeah, orson's dauter was at the premier lt night. >> she came. she was soweet. she said she really, really joyed the film. that was great t here. >> christher welles has written e most beautul book about her father "iny fatr's shadow." a tragic story. >> really the first one that close to him to write a book about him. there's been a code of silence in the 24ears he's been gone. >> rose: why? >> i'm not sure. i think peop learn not to say a lot out him. he was sort of the master his own myth. he didn't write an autobiography. >>ose: >> and whene did write a nd

of autoography ihink it was in paris "vogue" he mad most of it up. >> rose: (laughs) >> an unliable narrator. >> rose: did bogdovich write about him? >> quite a bit. one of the best bks i thin is his interviews. rose: peter's interviews lled this is orson welle >>. >> ros what do you get outf at? >> tre are tapes. >>onathan rosenbaum edits . bogdanovich gave it. >> rose:/'d ve to hear that. what did you come away wh from that? >> well, allarts of the wor, talking such a massive range of subjects. the rosenbaum chronology that you mtioned, what' that like as a catalog ofork? >> a third of e book is what he did every month of hisdult life and it's really impressive. i see welles life as a huge triumph. us americans, we're very greedy for more productivit more. whdidn't he make 30 filmsike john houston or billy wilder,

those studio guys he was never meant to fit io a studio. i think we're lucky he was able to make the masterpieces he did do and, you know, we suld be ateful for that. >>ose: t assistant that was there, he s doomed to be... >> he neverould fit into that. he's too big. you ha to subly mate your ego and your nius to fit into that and don't think he was able to do tha >> rose: whas your charact's relationship to him? he. >> rose: we s a litt bit of the introction. >> he's walking down the street and gets pked on the street from orsono have a small role and me starts playing the ukele, i guess, an lucious in the sh. and i thought thawas a pretty interesting story fo this character beuse that's kd of how i got started. i got really luc early on. >> rose: what happened tyou? >> a small audition, a very small rt. >> rose: thiwas highschool?

>> no, this was... i think i was like 12 or 13 at the time. not quite high school. >> like region theater? >> yeah, yh, it was community theater at conrvatory for the arts in... >> rose: but you knew you wanted to be an actor by then? >> no, no. i'm still debing. (laughter) >> rose: zac anatural. natural. >> what's fascinating for me about this movie is tt i could reallyelate to the charaer. and how when he enters this world the theater, when he is talking with orson and... there's a sense of. i don't ow, it's lik this community effort that's going on when you're putting together a play, when you're putting together a sh. and it's intensely gratifyin and scy at times. but 's... it's new and excitingnd u're surrounded with peoe that are so focused, dedicad and talented ultimately. sohat's what happens to chard in the movie is he gets shown this... realed this

other world in which orsonind of conducting and after that, showing up at sool the next day is a bit boring. kindf like a cage. >> rose: is tre any trick or undersndings that you need for writing a pla within vie in the same way you might aroach amovie within a movie? that was a huge chaenge to stage. stage the shakespeare production, to recreate that thin the movie. but it's sort of the sry. itll lea up to that. the audienc needs to be invest in the success of the production because youe invest in these chacters. it was a triumphant productio it'still spoken ofs the most inflntial shakespee productionn u.s. history. so eryonwas on boa for that. the bawas really hh. and it w funto recreate that, what wells did with l the lighting andhe staging. it was just a bare stage with a red brickall tha they pnted d. he didn't ve any money but you see theagician at wor whate did with lhting, with music, it's brillia.

>> don: your own sort of career evolution-- which ia terrible word use with you-- what does this do? is this steppg out for y in any way? >> yeah, well i'd like to think so. at this particul stage and comi off the back of musical anthings, feltncredibly gifted to be thought of for this role. toch an oppounity to work with rick and claire d chrtian. and, yeah, i think it wa a bit of aisk, you know? i'm just flattered that they went with me. >> re: you didn't think was risk, did you? >> no, no, i a selfish director. i need the best actor i could get r that role. >> rose:what's the comm denominator to the moviesou make? other than they' independent, other than you create them? >> some are in and out of t studioystem. i'll take studi financing when i caget it. you ow, i don't really know. for meersonally there just the next movie i was kind of obsessed with and compelled to

make. i think i make them the same way. we da lot of reheaal, very mmunal, i think. mae it's the tone with the actors. realism. >> close to the ma. this is another one, even though it's orson welles it's ki of souch about ythful ambitionnd what ice aheadof them. that's an interting period. >> beautif phrase, valentine the fure. >> rose:alentine to the ture? >> uh-huh. >> rose: you use th for this? >> well, i often think lentines to actors, to the theater. like a love letter to the pt an you know, tohat we do, i think, in creating theater and filmow brave actors a. >> rose: >> it's a wonderful world. >> the bravery acto, you see how theye putting themsees out there and is sky, it's scary. >> it's always humiliating. (laughter) it never isn'.

>> rose: always humiateing? do you thi so? >> i do. walking across t room is plenty embrassing. it's just...t's all worthwhile 's revealing. >> it's definitely scary. >> that's what makes it soood, though. >> that's what welles did, he put hielf on the brink of faile just to get the magic. th film kind ofdepicts him pullinthis loose elements together kd of at the last anybody. theyave adisastrous priew and then, damn it, for ening night it's triumphant d it's one wh they do at that last minute >> that's just the way it is in theater. >> but you see how high t stakes are. how vulnerabl that genius is or the eression. >>t's a precarious balan ght in there. he lked it. >> rose: y said toher"do you reallyelieve it's humiliatin" meaning, what? >>t might be the dference beeen the english-speakg people, the wds. i think it's. there's something out vulnerability with an actor.

>> well, i'm being a little facetious. i'm kind of joking but kindof no (laughter) >> rose: do you think lnerability is necessary? >> yes, i think so. we're vnerable now, talking. and there's sothing watchable about thatuality. 's like a friend of mineaid to me. we were in a pub in england. he said "you can stand on this tablnow." 'd had a few dnks. he said "you could stand u on this tab now and do your one man show and people would listen beuse you're vnerable a you have a story to tl." and i thoug well,hat's a love definition of acting. >> rose: both of those things are tr,hough. >> but humiliating, y. rose: humiliation cou be fear and vulnerabili. fear of humiltion makes you vulnerable. >> fear of faire. >> f me i think it's necessy tofall off. >> rose: t.. >> to fall off the tightrope occasionally and learn. >> rose: y've all donethat?

>> all the time. >> iepend on it. >> rose: you dend on it? >> you risk failure day. >> you learn from it. luckily weet more takes in the film industry but you'relways ying to throw everhing at the wall. >> i dance a little bit and i did a sol a few ars ago and the choreographer ve me a ne after rehearsal and said "i'm admiring you but i' not relating to you. sot doesn't really work." yeah, no, it was... it was a eat note. >> rose: let me take a look. i nt to see some clips from this movie. begin with this e. roll tape. >> hey, no kids this scene. it's a vicious mob. >> i thoug you were out swrr somewhere learningour lines. >> oh, i know my lines. >> go to the gate, somebod knocks. >> sir, it is your brother cassius. >>s he alone? >> no, sir, there are re with him. >> not "more with him" "mo

quest w him" the pleural. do yo think you canhange the words of the wld's greatest play wright. go home a learn your lines. >> i know m lines. >> and i say y need "mo time." (laughter) remember, junior, this tiny scene serveso humane the entire historic pagea of the play. >> rose: so tell me about working wi this guy. >> i think rick's ste is pretty antithet cal orso >>e thinks all of the same thoughts orsonid. he's just a little bit better at communicating them (laughter) >> rose: how is he sflent >> a little gentler. >> rose: different... better or different? but w is he? >> i ink perhaps t arrogance, there no arrogance in rick. he's so... >> well, but there's a... his vision is very clear and he's le to aiculate that in a very clear way. but, yeah, 's also... pretty ea going.

>> welles w a performer, too, th guy was aorn showman he's g that huge personality. so he couldn't reay just turn that offo direct you know? you had t.. that was him. >> i've said this before but i kind of think of ricks a kind ofittle league baseball coach. (laughter) he would even cp, "comen, guys, you can do it!" (laughter) i was freezingold. i was freezing col we did those exterior shots in new york city, it was freezing outside. you can e our breath, o noses will bright red. >> it was like the russian front. >> and rick would say "comen, team, let's do this." (laughter) >> that's thathletic background. i'm sorry. >> it translateswell. it works. (laughter) >> belve me, it wks very well. we're out there and it's like a coach. >> rose: let's look at root scene. >> oy, so tell me who you are >> who i am? >> yeah. and don't tell me about your high school sweetheart or your rents.

tell me w you are. what do you want? >>t's aard question. >> well, wt do you love? >> um...... plays. movies. songs. lyrics. um, novels,adio. i don't know. a lot of different things. >> see that's it. thers so much more to life than just being anactor. i keep wonderi what you're doing mincing around the stage. >> "miing"? >> come on, you know what i mean. althat ego up there. >> it's excitin we might have a show that closes thursday night owe might have a show tha people will rememr for 50 years probably neier one of those, t you never kno that's what's so exciting. you're cute. >> rose:hen you' had the perience you have had on stage

with the royal academyand all of that, how does it translate for yoin terms training when you start making movies? well, i don think you ever stop learning, butrichard had to teach me howo, you know... a theatrical animal, how to act on film. >> rose: did he really. >> yes, absoluty. i maintain that, because i was playing a theatrical larger-thalife person, but to do th... i don't want to say within the confines of film, beuse i don't imdiate that at all. but knowing, you kw, where the camera is, knowing at you have to act within a certain pameter, phaps, you kn, i had learn that. and there was this wonderful... i was there, you know, in aracter with the mercury company andoccasionally he'd look ame and go... (clears throat.) and by that i'd go, right. d then about three weeks in, he turned to m and went (clears throat)

and i went iot subtle. (laughte anthese two guys go "at last!" (laughter) t of course they held me tremdously with thei wealth of experience. i felt very looked after. >> he's a quick study. ve quick study. >> rose: there w a pointhere there where well said you have nail it to the backall. are you conscus of that. >> and don forge the vows. >> rose: theater acto are conscis of that? nail it to the back wall? >>ou've see theatcal performances on lm and they don't ite strike real. they belg to a differe genre and while in the theater they're electricecause they're live, you know, on film they suddenly lookust a little false and so, y know, obviously i didn't wt to appea.. but you see richa neverooked at my reen test. i did. and it was entirely theatrical. >> rose: you did not look at scre tests? >> well, i was there, i was shooting t screen test but i had found my orsoni dn't

ne to look at it i knew he would get there. >> rose: what s it that sold yo >> the spit. not sttheucky d.n.a. resemblance. >> re: exactly. i wagoing to say. >> tt's just theby againing. what wks with chrtian's performance where he get this transfortion into welles is he brings himself to it. chstian is a big personality. he's a kid who's a wor-class concert pianis i don'want to emrrass him, but was a kid from a very young age told he was a genius. >> rose: lika young ors welles, wast he? >> yes, he really is. but in his realm of musicianship heeally is world classand when he came to acting, you know he still... he brought that with him. great storytell, great personality. so it was really abou christian mang it about him to as large a degree as possible. >> rose: ming it about... >> making orson, his performance rely about christian >> that'sall you'v got, he's

gone. ande're left with this myth. and some as a character actor ying to embody that, you know, and do it truthlly and hopefully reliably, tha was the trick. i uld on reference myself at that age. and unfortunately, u know, i was that arrogant a lost at 22. i was playing the third rachmaninoff concerto and i was shouting at theonductor and telling telling e symbol player to louder. >> rose: youust have been awful? >>ell, yes. >> rose: you both have fnd success veryarly in yourife. did you wishou had certain experiences you didn have? >> i think this ishe way it was supposed thappen. it's the only y i'd want it t happen i'm ill learning. it's still... sti growing and trying new tngs and havin grt opportunities, to be honest. i've been very lucky. >> rose: this is the best thing you can do is be in th kind of productionhere you get working with great actors and have a chce to... >> it is. it was, yeah. ank you, thank you, rick.

that was pretty big gift for him toive me. no gift, i keep coming back to that. >> rose: claire, didale add anything to your repertoire? >> yeah, it did. i me, i'dbeen working fr thage of 12 pretty consistently and i'm rely glad for that. and i... i had therivilege of working witheallynspired, brilliant people, i've tveled ve introduced new cultures. so all of that was really edifying and... but i think i was a lite lonely. i dn't go to a typical schl. i was tured on set and casionally i'd have one other classmate, you know, another kid actor who also needed to be tutored. t i think i real needed to cialize. there we parts of myself that were rlly developednd even overdeveloped d parts that were pretty weak and so i just... i mean, i learned a lot in school. i... i learned how to rd and

write d think critically and all th. but i think even more importantl i learned how to hangut. >> it's important. without the life experience. >> h to waste time. >> rose: meaning becomg more of like a real person than... >> yeah, i... well, absolutely. mean, the last time i was in school was in junior high, which is miserableor girls and so i still had some ofhose fears. i assume that there was going to be some kind of mean girl who was going pick one for the rest of myie. and then discovered when i went tcollege thathat's really timspecific and that ople grow up and becomemuch re benevolent and kind. so, yeah, it was great. and also i didn't know if i was ting out of habit at that point or real passion and the latter proved be true but i eded to know that. i need to choose it as a grown-up so i was able to do that. >> rose: thank you all f coming. >>hank you. >>reat being here. >> rose: gd to see you

congratulations. before wcontinue this ening with my inrview several wee ago wi jimmie johnson, the grea nascar cmpion, welook ahead to tomorrow nit, my guest wille the prime minister of turkey. we'll talk about the role of turkey ithe world today. jimmie johnson is he. he made nascar history at homestead miamispeedway. he won a record-breaking fouh consecutive sprint cup chpionship series. right behindim were two familiar faces, mark rtin and jeff gordon. all threecompete under the guance of hick hendrickho s steadily assembled a naar dynay. to commemorateohnson's victory, the empe state building was lit in be, white, an yellow light to refct his team's colors. m pleased to have jimmy johnson ba at this table. welcome to you. >> thank you, greato be here. >>ose: great to e you and congratutions.

>> awesomeear for us, cose. life is good. >> rose: was it harder thi year than norl or does it g easer. >> i d't want to say it was easier because it wasn't. th competition and whawe have to do week in and week out is so difficult and thatart is more difficult th years past. but the fact that we've bn there before and unrstand the pressure, understand t areas to focus and we almost have a road map becau we won the first one. sohe second one, we knew t areas to focus and e third and the fourth. so on that front we made better decisions, enjoyed it a little more, helped the time go by quicker. so there weraspects that were easier but the mpetition side was as tough a it's er bee >>ose: what do you worry about the most? a bakdown in the car or wh? >> part of that philosophy lea kn this answer, and this is over te i've realized that i can only focus on what ican ntrol.

and i really try to block out the otherreas from mechanical issues, things that take plac ouof the track out of my control and cars spinning ou and tire ilures, whateve it may be. so i'm not spotless with that and i sll do tnk about a lot of things but n as many and really focus on the important thgs. >> rose: whacan you control? >> my tecique, what i do in the car. how i counicate with the race team. and the adjustment wes need to make the c better. rose: you said "my technique what's you technique? >> well, you kno, it looks simple as times, wt we do, and some peopl simplify it and say we just ive in a circle but in those corners around the tra the r is in constant slide. and as drivers over 200 miles an hour. there's areaking zone on corner entry, how you usthe breaks, fect the balanceof thcar, how itrives, the arc and ne that u run through the corner is very impornt. as the car's handling fades or

improves, whever it goes through, you hav to adjust cordingly to continue to n the fastest lap timethat you n. so tre's a a lot o visual rerences, hand/ey coordination, aeleration, aking, turning, a lot of different thg there is to play with. >>ose: where doe athletic ability me into it? ha/eye is a for sure. >> a lge portion of it is cardio-bed. our events,he shtest race is threand a half hours. our longest event is a 6 mile race about fi and a half hours. 38 rac in 41 weeks. e endurance side is important. but om a strength sid it's also importantif power steering fails rough impactnd crashes you know, the more muscleass you ha the stronger you're going to be. the easr you will rover and hofully won't be injured so all thosehings play into it. >> rose: we know what, say a baseball player, football player basketball player wod do to improve their skls. how do you improve their skills.

>> a large part of itoils down to seat time. >>ose: in the seat? >> in the seat driveing the car. a lot like battingractice, pitching practice. >> rose: like a round of sghofl >> exactly. all rt of it. >> rose: are there things you could do todayhat youcouldn't do three years ago? >> is actually kind of gone thother way. >> ros things you can't do? >> becse of nascarrying to keep the eense down... >> rose: right, we tked about that. >> testing's been outlawed. the rulehave become more and more strict. the cars are more equal. so things e taken awa to keep mpetition. >> ros now are you in favor of that or not? >> itially no. but as time has gone onithout a lot of success with these confined rules, the cars are more difficulto drive, there's less to adjust o. it's for the driver' hands and i'veon my championships under this format. >> rose: now ismark martin's career suggesng you can do this a long time? he's about 2 years older than

you ar >> yh, he's 50 and... >> and you're 34. >> so i think it speaks to driver's variety olevels and comes back to thefitness side yore speaking of. if y take care of your dy you can dve a car and race competitively at 50 ars old and the mind keeps getting stronger and smarter and experience means so much that if ur body... you chassis the to do it, you can do it. >>ose: how much difference i ere between cars? >> any more, very ltle. e rules are so tight. we now hav an arrow package on the cars where the biesre all e same so that there's no favotes or technoly advances that a certain manufactureran provide. i mean, it also keeps the expenses down. the which he iy, the specs on the cssis itself are very ghtly reguled. all this is to keep expense down ando keep new teams coming in the spt. rose: when you look ahead, havinget this new record, what

are theew goals? >>iv honestly blown through every goal i've set. >> rose: i know! i look at what some of the greats like earnhardt and pet industry done withhe championshipand think, yeah, solutely, i want to do tt. is it a possibility? i have no idea but i know i have a lot of years ahead of myself and i'm rdy to tr >> rose: so other racing formula or indy type cars have so appeal or none? >> the's a lotof appeal but i don'know how realistic that is. i have a long term contract with hendrickotorports through 2015, fmula 1 there's only 16 seatand thousands and thousands of drivers trying make i plus theime it would taketo arn an open-wheeledvehicle, i' spent my entir life learning how tdrive a stock car. it's one thingo get close, to get within a half a seco. butthose final f hundreds or thousands of second on a given la that's where the champions are born and it takes years to find thastuff. shup the seconds that me a difference in winning or losing.

>> hundredths of a second. >> rose: talk to us about the art passing. >> there's a few thin to take in play. first and foremost i follow the person in front me and look where my car, my techniq, is better than theirand where they're hang troubles and loo for at opportunity. as you get there, if you don' really have an oppornity that's eas to take, you can appla lot of pressure to someone. weave mirrors inhe cars a it's ahasing when you reay get close to someone howhey c become nervous and me a mistak if they don't make a mistake there, wre i position my car can afct theandlingover their car so i'llry to get really close to the bumper a it makes the back end want to slide out. fr there, you just try tofind a way by and put yourself the right position. >> rose: tell me out the differendriving styles that you're up again every weekend. >> yeah, there are.. >> rose: mean, ton stewart haa certain drive sle. >>e does. >>ose: dale had a certain

iving style. the te dale earnhardt, rht? >> yeah, i di't have ahance to racegainst dale, sr. but there are guys that are extremely aggresse and certain trks fit that aggressive yle. there are other tracks that where you need to beery patient. other guys excel in those tracks. to be a champi, i think you ha to understand that and have a technique that u can adjust and take t a variet of tras and stert is one of the best at it. >> rose:t, what, adjting? >> yes, adjusting. first he ce from indy cars and then won a championship there and won on ock cars. he canin on a short track, superspeedway, dn force track. he c mter them all. >> >> rose: and whayou learned from montoya whoame from formula 1. >> am blown away by his ability to apt. he's never raced car with a body on it. everything hs raced has been op wheel. takes a long tim to switch and uerstand those final... >> rose: but he did it and he' a competitor. >> donen awesome job!

and with a team that's been i a tough situation nancially, they've had a merger but i just shows that he's got a ton of talent. >> rose: is the center of nascar still in north colina. >> it is, that's theub for our sport. >> ros because it began there? >> what's odd is it really beg daytona. and the nascar headquarters are in daytona. but think the top teams back in the '50s were all in north carolina so it dw in the tradesmen of the spo, drivers and it just started building from there. rose: would you like to have a... at me point in your career play a le at that hick hendrix plays, to be anwner? >> i wouldn't md under the hendrickumbrella to be aart of wt he has but don't want to race against him >>ose: why? what is it he has? >> 25ears of experience. d what he has buil from the property, th buildings, the frastructure, the people, t

experience it'tough. i don't want to race ainst him. >> rose: what's th difference in the tracks today other than anxtraordinary sensef... for the fans to be le to sitand observe the spor from a different nd of place but how is t track in ter of leng, surface, p next >> protection,we now ha soft wallwhich have done amazing things. i'm so hpy to seehat. wee slowly having every wall around the racetrack covere with an outside wall. the inside walls are n being addresd. the topography ofhe race tracks, even though a lot of them may look the same the way the corns are digned, the radius, theransitions from the straightaways to the turns, they'rall different and have their own peonalities. and the rface itself, the different aggregas they use in differt parts of the country make for a difrent surface. and th affects the tire ware. >> rose: what ist about you though you come on strong in the last

stages of the series, corre? >> we have. that's been our strong suit. >> rose: what is that abt? >> w try just as hard all year long. >> rose: (laughs) you're not holding bac >> no, i think some tracks in the summ are tough onus. we'vemproved on aot of those ratracks but we get into this final stretch and works well. i reond well to pressure and so does my tm and for t last four seaso it hasn'taveled us. rose: who's in a team? >>e have over 500eople, 500 employees at hendric motor sports thessembly sho that ts together the car i drive, the 48 car and jeff gordon's 24 car has over 90 employees. my specific 4 team h 15 members that trave each race and sevethat go over the wall to perform the pit sps. so the team is far and wide. we have a four car operati with mark martin and dale earnhardt, jr., as well. >> rose: as faas you're concerned, who's t greest driver eveto drive? >> i can't say i've really thought abt it.

i ok at the htory books a who's won the most championships. so i look at pet and earardt on that one. iern so certainly ho to catch them. >> rose: (laughs) how long will ittake you? >> i wld love to do inhe seven years. seven ars consecutively whi would be, guess, 14 years i the sport. >> ros so you've got three more years. >> yeah. >> rose: tt's doable. but were theydifferent drivers? >> i wasn't aroundo race against eier one of them. what whathey dealt withn their era is different than what i'm doog witnow. rose: let me taken a easy one for you. how do you drivedifferently than jeff? >> than jeff? the car hasn't changed a lot since jeffas started and i give him credit to adjusting to so many things that he changed but jeff's background,he likes a ce car that he can man handle and for a turn with the steering wheel. i spent a lot oftime with the dirt a the front tires didn't do a lot in the vehicle i drove.

so i need to door respond with my right foo so my car i a slide leading with the back of the car or je's car leading with the back of the car is much more comfortable with him. >> rose: someone toldme you'r playing golf now. i'm trying. that's a great way to frustte yourse. >> rose: (laug) harder than learningo drive? >> oh, m, i can't believe how aggraving that sport can be but it'so much fun. fome it's a great way... >> rose: grt courses where you live. >> great courses,great people involved in the sport. injoy it. >> rose: physical tness represents anew dimension to cing it seems to me. >> re: sure. >> how so? >>ell, i think as time goe on and we make the race cars strongernd stronger it falls back on th driver'slap. how ch strength you have, how far can you push the car? now the rs are much stronger an the drirs. rose: back in a moment and we'll talk to the man i charge of fitnessor jimmie johon, stay with us.

joining jimmy johnson and she john sitaras, he's founder and c.e.o.f sitaras fitness. among many of his clients is jimmie johnson. i also wk out with him. he h a sdio across th stre. but he and iave had lg conversations about whate does with jimmie and jimmie, when i read and know wh hislans are understandthat fitness in mo spor-- lookt golf and how mu tiger work out-- look at the way baseballlayers are in much better spe today, obviously football plars, fitness has become essenti of being an athlete. lk about in the terms of dring a car >> well, in t carthere's certaiy... you do build streth by doing the job. with the reputation whave and how many races weave you need to do mo than that. i ink over timif you want to be in the spo and you want to succeed and be arod for a while you ne to focus. >> ros if you want to win four champiships, you betr have

endurance. how did you two mt? >> through one of his friends, actually. a couple years ago broht him in as a gue and i didn't reallyollow the srt. >> rose: didn't kno a lot about nascar? >> no, i'm in lo with fitness so i prettyuch can design any progm, you just tell me what you want to dond i'll plot ay and find out your eurance but particularly i nt to know what are your als so i can actually plothe course. when he me in,he camen interpret n pretty good sha and so... yeah, and he was confident, but he actuall very, very humble. i would do assessmen with him and i rememberis friend id , no assessments, he's in good shape, put him through a workout. i s like nope, i have to do sessments and see where he was. he w pretty open andt was well roued, very fit, i would say. but toh, i would do assessments that were a lile bit hardnd i was like, okay, we have to stohere ande's

like "co on, let's go." >> rose: you two e-mail each other all day. >> tt. >> bei on the road lik i am, i'm in new york, going to be assessed andfigureut workout plans and what we're ing do but so much oft is done om afar so he'll send me an-mail what the plan is, il print it out, filout the sht and fax it back to his office. >> rose:ow many repetitions you do? >>he exact workout of wt i need d and he updes me on my run schedule that i ha to . >> do your fellow drivers know w much woryou have to do? >> over the lt year my appearance has chang so much... as joh mention, i've always done something but my appearance hashanged so much that people are ke what is john doing?" (laughter) >> re: what is he doing? keepg you on the a regimen. >> there are a lotof aspects to it that i didn't takeeriously

and e nutrition side, rest and sleep an proins and the differt aspects a that i just didn't realize. >> ros have you given up certain kinds of foods, too? >> i live in southern california so avocados are a huge tat for me and i had to cut those thing ways back if not cpletely out. so a lot o adjustments have been made. >> rose: what kind of routine do you ha him on? >> predominaly a lot of endurance. he ds do strength aining, i don'want to take that ay from him. he's doing chest p which is he'soo hum to believe s but he's doing chest dips wit a 45 poun plate strapped betweenis legs and hs doing several sets and he canrip out a does his body weight at the very end. soe take him pasthis threshold and en we pass endurance, reshold. i want him t get stronger and actually the recovery, it's my goal to get himhe recovery so

fast that monday would seem like the hard day fohim. and being the race would be the easy day for him. ife can run teniles, it's easy. >> it is. and the easie thing i do duri the week is to race. monday is tip typically a toh day. i'm little dehydrated and monday a tuesday are heavy da with the weights d depeing on the run schedule he has, someeeks it could be 20 miles. >> he has a two-hour workout and heas many repetitions and sets of abdominals from all dferent angles and internal obliques, experson obliques syouhave a pretty mu... it'seaved in so it's not one set he has maybe fromight sets to ten sets for hundreds of reputations. so we don't really rest between sets, u would have to jump rope in tween. pretty mh training like a xer so his heart rate hits

ov 120 to 150 and comes back down a lite bit and helphe om, we're at it again the next set. soy kn his ect threshold. but mine you it evolves, it gets rder and harder as the weeks on so it's not the same program and he jt checksit f. and metimes he's ahead of schedule and he's like "okay, what'sext how do we go past re?" so i'd s he's actuay a smart student i ca everyone my students by nature. but he's smart. besides doing the work he knows ahead of te what he has to do. when he's finished he want a specific areto get stronger. he would ask "how do i get st this peak?" well, you're doingell as is. i like to get st this, i like to getbetter, how do i get? is there anyther way. well, technicay the's two other ways and hewould want to plug ay, have ahart and do it. ve never seen such dcipline. >> re: discipline is key. >> hs talented.

show timnew ercise, so he has goodhand/eye coordinaon, hean do it, but the discipline, the dedication and when it'done, it'sone. if i say okaywe have a f miles per weekleft for a run, he'd like ay, m busy but i'll find a y within my schedule to do it. i'll give him... he has great structure. discipline, strucre, i'm fosed. >> rose: now other drivers are comi to you sayinghow are you doin ?" >> well, i've been ting to keephis a secret. >> rose: i screwed you, haven't? (laughs) >> iyou look through the garage area, virtually evyone on a program of sorts. he's kept mynterest because he has eat structure as well and in our world and dealingwith numbers and strucre and sdeing growth and measuri things, th's the way he goe about his fitness, as yoknow,it's really kept my interes >> ros conatulations again. >> thank you so much >> rose: this is a great achievement as everybody i racing knows. >> pleasure to be the sho

and thank you ry much. rose: onward and up wd. >> i'm n sure where else we can go but we'll tryo go there. >> rose: thank you. congratationsingss, jimmie. >> rose: youere there. >> i was there. >> i'm ov there and he's handg me a towel and i'm like... w. >> so hemade thisormer body ild intera nascar fan. >> depends on how u look at it. wrong place, wrong time. rit place, right time. he was just there on the stage and was soaked the process. >> i knew i s going toet it. >> rose: againthank you, jimmie. thank you, john thk you for joining us see you nextime. captioning sponsored by rose communication captioned by media access gro at wgbh acce.wgbh.org