“Jimmie Johnson? Why he’s like the Michael Jordan of car racing,” my stepson Bill said ecstatically after I told him I had been invited to meet Nascar’s 2007 champion at the ’21’ Club. Because my stepson is a big fan, I asked him for background.

I had suggested in a recent column that Nascar coming to Staten Island was a good thing, but the deal was subsequently quashed by local politicians and residents who feared traffic congestion. The more I learn about the Nascar community, the more I’ve come to believe that New York missed a great opportunity.

Some 150,000 enthusiasts lined Manhattan streets Wednesday for the fourth annual Nascar Victory Lap, and when I arrived at 21, fans of all ages were outside the restaurant hoping to snare Mr. Johnson’s autograph. I’m not sure what I expected from the icons of auto racing, but I might just as well been at a Fortune 500 get-together. I had to have Mr. Johnson pointed out to me, because in his dark blue suit he looked like a young Wall Street trader. It turns out that Mr. Johnson and his wife, Chandra, have rented in Manhattan for the past four years and are reportedly purchasing an apartment in Chelsea.

I spoke to several Nascar officials who confirmed that International Speedway Corp. had finalized its deal with a trucking distribution warehouse company, Pro-Logis, to take over the Bloomfield site in Staten Island that was to be the home of the proposed Nascar track. At the luncheon, I sat at the table of team owner Rick Hendrick, who shared anecdotes about other communities that had nixed Nascar racetracks, only to find themselves with less desirable replacements.

I learned the next day that in fact the deal with ProLogis had fallen through and the Bloomfield site was once again vacant. I wondered whether Nascar would now be welcomed.

All three Staten Island City Council members had objected to the racetrack. Council Member Vincent Ignizio, who replaced Andrew Lanza upon the latter’s election to the state senate, reiterated the objection to Nascar. A spokesman for Michael McMahon confirmed that the council member favored other options for the site and would not support a Nascar revival offer. The minority leader, James Oddo, told me: “Unlike Lazarus, Nascar will not be rising again.”

I respect the need of these politicians to heed the demands of their constituents. The politicians are followers and lack a vision for our community. The overriding complaint about having Nascar races on Staten Island was the traffic issue, even though the events would only occur a few times a year. I had the misfortune to take an express bus home from Manhattan and there was nothing express about that trip. Traffic was stalled for miles approaching the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Whatever is being done right now to alleviate the congestion is obviously not working. We have three new huge ferries that are equipped to take cars and buses, but since the attacks of September 11, 2001, vehicles have been banned even though it would be a simple matter to have them checked for explosive devices before boarding. Efforts to revive the West Side rail link to New Jersey have gone nowhere. Isn’t it at least conceivable that having a huge endeavor like Nascar would spur a traffic solution?

The Bloomfield site is zoned for industrial development. That’s not going to change. Residents who’ve opposed the racetrack are living in some kind of dream world if they think whatever replaces ProLogis will have a benign impact on the island. Funny how the traffic issue never arose when we were vying for the Olympics. In the meantime, we’re all sweating an increase in the subway fare or property taxes. The mammoth revenue the races would bring to the city would definitely dispel that anxiety.

When the Nascar proposal was first offered, I had no interest in it. But when I did some homework and learned how big this sport is, my views began to change. Auto racing in toto is the largest spectator sport in the nation, even though it ranks low in television ratings. Try getting a hotel room in the Poconos when there’s an event. Families plan their year around the Nascar schedule. I never could understand the excitement of a former bowling league partner, Marie, when she rhapsodized about the trek she and her husband planned to Daytona, Fla. Now I do.

I hear Governor Spitzer is a fan, and if that’s so, maybe it will be through Nascar that he reconnects with the New Yorkers he lost during his recent controversies. I hope so.

acolon@nysun.com