CUP: Junior Johnson - From Bootlegger To Mentor

Sprint Cup

CUP: Junior Johnson - From Bootlegger To Mentor

SPEED™ to chronicle Johnson's life and career in one hour biography...

Megan Englehart | Posted May 19, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Junior Johnson, shown here behind the wheel before the 1963 Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida, won 50 races as a driver and six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championships as a car owner. (Photo: ISC Archives/Getty Images)

SPEED™ TO CHRONICLE JOHNSON’S LIFE AND CAREER IN ONE-HOUR BIOGRAPHY AS PART OF WEEKEND HALL OF FAME BIOGRAPHY MARATHON

Darrell Waltrip: “He was like a pit bull. He’d latch onto something and he wouldn’t let go of it until he conquered it.”

Spencer: “He defined ‘checkers or wreckers.’ But I think he learned from those mistakes and was able to pass those lessons on to drivers like me.”

“The Last American Hero” molded some drivers into iconic racing heroes all their own …

When Junior Johnson is inducted into the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Sunday (12 p.m. ET live on SPEED), he will be lauded not only for his 50 wins as a driver but also for his six championships and 132 wins as a car owner.

NASCAR Hall Of Fame Biography Specials on SPEED

Johnson led Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough to three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships each, and those who didn’t garner titles under his tutelage stockpiled knowledge just as valuable. Stars such as Waltrip, Yarborough, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Neil Bonnett, Geoffrey Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Sterling Marlin drove for Johnson and in doing so, learned from the best.

“We knew we had the best car, we knew we had the best owner, we had the best sponsor,” Waltrip, now a SPEED and FOX Sports analyst, said in a Johnson Hall of Fame biography special that will re-air Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. ET on SPEED. “Those six years I drove for Junior defined my career … the wins, the championships.”

Spencer, now a SPEED analyst, earned his two Cup victories with Johnson and says the car owner imparted lessons no one else could have.

“When I got the opportunity to drive for Junior, I asked him what he expected of me,” Spencer said. “He said, ‘The first thing I expect you to do is to stay on the lead lap and bring the car home in one piece.’ As time went on, I realized what he was talking about. You’ve got to be a factor at the end of the race. Never show your hand too early and take care of your equipment.”

Taking care of his car was a skill that didn’t always come naturally to Spencer, known as a hard-charging, aggressive competitor. But he couldn’t have picked a better teacher in this department than Johnson, one of the most aggressive drivers in the sport’s history. Of Johnson’s 313 Cup starts, 165 resulted in DNFs. But he scored top-10 finishes in each of the 148 races he completed.
No doubt Johnson embodied the catchphrase “checkers or wreckers.”

“Junior was one of the most aggressive drivers the sport ever has seen and he probably blew up and had more DNFs while leading races than anyone in its history,” Spencer said. “He defined ‘checkers or wreckers.’ But I think he learned from those mistakes and was able to pass those lessons on to drivers like me. You can’t contend for the win if you’re not around at the end. No one battles for the win from the back of a tow truck.

“He was a hell of a race car driver who learned that you can’t push your equipment to the limit for 500 miles in those days, driving it as hard as he did,” Spencer continued. “Your equipment will fall off, break and blow up, and it often did with Junior driving until he toned it down. Since he learned that discipline as a driver, he was able to instill it in Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, me and the other drivers he hired.”
His mechanical genius and innovation are among the legacies Johnson has left the sport.

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