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Junior Johnson … A "Fairly Successful" Legend
August 1, 2002
Like most legends, the saga of Junior Johnson often seems unreal and exaggerated; truly a legend in the sport of stock car racing it is impossible to overstate the impact Johnson has had on NASCAR. Famous for his hell-bent, aggressive style of racing, Junior was intimidating the competition before Dale Earnhardt knew what the word meant. A moonshiner’s son, Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. began running whiskey when he was 14 years old, honing his driving skills on dark, winding mountain roads. To elude capture he tweaked on Detroit’s work, stretching the limit of speed and maneuverability, often with parts he invented and fabricated. The Federal Agents who chased him throughout the hills never caught Junior Johnson while he was in a car. However, by creeping through the woods on foot the feds nabbed him at his father’s still. Ironically, Junior’s racing career was going well enough at this time that he planned to retire from the moonshine business. He was convicted and served 11 months of a 2-year sentence. Always stoic, Johnson did his time without bitterness and took away lessons that have served him well since. He recalls, "In the penitentiary there I found out that I could listen to another fellow and be told what to do and h'it wouldn't kill me." In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted Junior Johnson a presidential pardon and his record was wiped clean. Junior Johnson was not at a racetrack when opportunity knocked. He was in the garden watching the rear end of a mule, plowing. His brother, L.P. suggested Junior drive one of his cars in a fill-in race at the nearby North Wilkesboro Speedway. Junior reasoned running the race would be more exciting than plowing; so with a stop at the house to pick up his shoes he headed for the track and finished second in his first money race. He continued to race and was soon winning at tracks throughout the area. Applying lessons learned while fleeing from the law, Junior became known for his aggressive, go for broke style of driving. One trick that left the competition dumbstruck was a "power slide" type move; never lifting off the gas and turning hard through the corners Junior would slide through turns without slowing. But they hadn’t seen ANYTHING; yet. Junior was just getting revved up. In 1960, Junior was driving a Chevy and struggled to be competitive against the dominant Fords and Pontiacs. As a privateer Johnson received no support from Detroit. His Chevrolet was giving up 5-10 mph to the factory-backed machines. Trying to get a feel for race conditions in practice at Daytona, Junior tucked the nose of his car near the bumper of Fireball Roberts’ Pontiac and the Chevy took off. The concept of drafting in a stock car had just been applied for the first time. An aerodynamic phenomenon, drafting allows two cars running nose to tail to go faster than either could run alone. "My car was about ten miles an hour slower than the rest of the cars," Junior recalled. "…I went out for a practice run, and Fireball Roberts was out there in a Pontiac and I got in right behind him on a curve, right on his bumper. I knew I couldn't stay with him on the straight- away, but I came out of the curve fast, right in behind him, running flat out, and then I noticed a funny thing. As long as I stayed right in behind him…I picked up speed and stayed right with him…my car was going faster than it had ever gone before…H'it felt like the car was plumb off the ground, floating along." In the 1960 Daytona 500 Johnson drafted his way through the field, past the Pontiacs and to victory lane. A legend was born. By defeating factory-equipped teams Junior Johnson became a hero. Thousands of hardworking, blue-collar fans, loved Junior (no last name was needed) and were proud one of their own had "made good". Author Tom Wolfe said in his 1965 Esquire profile, " God! Junior Johnson was like Robin Hood or Jesse James or David". The sport of stock car racing would never be the same; quite by chance Junior had drafted NASCAR into a new era. Things race fans take for granted today were once unheard of. For example, NASCAR fans and teams alike can thank Junior Johnson when they use their scanners and radios. The first time a race team used radio communications between driver and crew was at Martinsville when Junior ran the race wearing a helmet equipped with speakers and a microphone. His sponsor, Holly Farms Chicken, used two-way radios to dispatch their trucks. Johnson says crew chief Rex Lovette and crewman Fred Johnson, "Hit on the idea of using a couple of these radios to talk to me in the race car while they watched from pit road." This was also the first time a driver turned the radio off on his crew chief. Junior’s team wanted him to take it easy after he had a commanding 4-lap lead. It was not in his nature to slow down and he did not back off. Junior wrote, "Rex kept cussin' and raisin' the dickens on the radio. He was on there so much that he was distractin' me, so I cut the darn thing off." As both a driver or team owner Johnson was innovative and imaginative, constantly looking for an edge over the competition. When I asked my friend Hal, a lifelong race fan and an engineer, about Junior Johnson he said, "…Junior was one of the smartest drivers and mechanics in the history of stock car racing." Johnson was also a smart, talented coach to his drivers and mechanics; he was a natural teacher. At Martinsville, a track notorious for brake wear, Junior tried to persuade Darrell Waltrip to stop braking with his left foot. Ol’ DW told his boss, "Junior that's the only way you can drive a track like this. You have to brake with your left foot or you'll run over everyone out there." The following day Waltrip returned to the garage to find that Johnson had installed a piece of plywood between the brake and clutch pedals it was now impossible to reach the brake with the left foot. "That'll teach you not to brake with that left foot", he told Waltrip. Junior knew that when a driver uses his right foot he does not stay on the brakes as long, resulting in the brakes being conserved and minimizing the chance of costly brake failures. Waltrip said the plywood accessory was very uncomfortable but did break him from left foot braking. When Junior retired from driving in 1966 his NASCAR career had only begun. As a car owner he is second only to Petty Enterprises in victories, 139. The list of his drivers reads like a who’s who of NASCAR; Fred Lorenzen, Curtis Turner, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte all drove for Junior. Waltrip, who won three championships with Johnson said, "Nobody knew more about race cars and how to set them up and make them go fast…There was nothing like the sense of confidence you felt when you rolled onto the track driving one of Junior's cars." The driver turned owner expected his guys to take care of the equipment, too. DW also reports, "I used to be out there running away with the race and feeling pretty good…Junior would get on the radio and say, 'Boy, you ease up and take care of that car!'" Right! Ease up, like Junior eased up the day he turned the radio off. Undoubtedly, Robert Glen Johnson’s most lasting contribution to NASCAR will be the perfect marriage that resulted from his matchmaking. He found the perfect match for the "outlaw" tobacco industry with an "outlaw" sport with a shady past. A ban on television advertising in 1970 left the tobacco industry with a huge excess of advertising money. At the same time, NASCAR was losing the support of Ford and Chrysler, some of the major players had already announced they could not run the 1971 season unless sponsor dollars could be found. Knowing the impact an advertising ban was going to have on the tobacco industry, Johnson approached R. J. Reynolds about sponsorship for his race team. Meeting with Ralph Seagraves of RJR, Johnson found there was millions budgeted for advertising and the tobacco company had nowhere to spend the money. Shrewdly Junior Johnson put Bill France in touch with R. J. Reynolds. After sponsoring two races in 1971 RJR was pleased with the results. The tobacco giant had discovered the loyalty of NASCAR fans and the tremendous untapped marketing resource of American motorsports. Soon RJR furthered their involvement with a $100,000 contribution to the point fund. For what today seems a paltry sum of money an agreement was reached and the NASCAR Grand National Championship trophy became the Winston Cup. The result of Junior Johnson’s stroke of genius is the sport of NASCAR racing, as we know it today. Prior to RJR’s involvement there were very few corporate sponsors available to teams and the few companies involved were primarily automotive related. When R. J. Reynolds’, a tobacco company, made such a huge commitment to the sport of stock car racing a myriad of diverse industries sat up and took notice. Soon Tide, Budweiser, Maxwell House and other household names were appearing on hoods and quarter panels. It wasn’t long before the cars became rolling billboards, with every decal representing money in the points fund the sport continued to grow. The return on advertising dollar proved to be greater in NASCAR than other sports and companies rushed to jump aboard the 200-MPH bandwagon. In the wake of terror and war the economy is a bit shaky and sponsor money is more precious than ever. However, the bond between NASCAR and R. J. Reynolds continues to be solid. In retirement Junior is comfortable being a living legend, always a modest man of few words he describes himself as "fairly successful". As a young man the racing legend dreamed of pitching in the major leagues, he had talent and showed promise. However, at the age of 16 his pitching arm was injured in a tractor accident and Junior Johnson turned his genius to stock car racing. Thank you, Junior. TO THE WOODSHED: This week Monte Dutton gets a trip to the woodshed for publishing the unaccredited, idiotic statement that NASCAR is considering 13 gallon instead of 22 gallon fuel cells at Talladega to increase the number of pitstops. Apparently the idea is that "additional pit stops will create greater space between the cars and reduce the likelihood of multi-car pileups." WHAT? Monte, you rascal, did you think people would actually fall for this one? Is your opinion of your readers really this low? If this report were valid, I for one would appreciate knowing who at NASCAR really thinks this will work.
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