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Sprint Cup
Hall Of Fame Profile: Junior Johnson, Part 4 Of 5
In the March 1965 issue of Esquire magazine, Junior Johnson’s life as a driver was described for all to see in a brilliant article by writer Tom Wolfe...
Junior Johnson seemed to be at the peak of his NASCAR driving career when he decided to park it for good in 1966 after winning 13 races in 1965. (Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
The NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct the five members of its inaugural class May 23. Leading up to the hall’s induction ceremony, SPEEDtv.com is profiling the first five racing legends chosen for this unique honor.
Junior Johnson’s life as a driver was described for all to see in a brilliant article by writer Tom Wolfe in the March 1965 issue of Esquire magazine.
The story – titled “Junior Johnson is the Last American Hero – Yes!” – described the rise of Johnson, his natural habitat in the Brushy Mountains and the attraction of stock car racing to the thousands who streamed into North Wilkesboro Speedway to watch him run.
Johnson, a mountain man most comfortable in overalls, and Wolfe, a refined New Yorker, were polar opposites, but the story Wolfe produced became one of the most honored in the history of sports journalism. It also boosted NASCAR’s national profile and added to Johnson’s status at the center of the sport.
“He came to me and said, ‘Tell me about this and that’ and was wanting to get all about my racing and the whiskey business and all that stuff,” Johnson said of Wolfe. “He told me what his story was about. I said, ‘I’m not going to give you a story on me because that will be my story, not yours. I can take all the bad out. You go out and talk to people in Wilkes County to get your story.’ And that’s what he did.”
Johnson was a bit uncomfortable with Wolfe’s Esquire story but said he was impressed with the writer’s research. Did he think of himself as the Last American Hero?
“I didn’t then and I don’t now,” he said. “I’m no more than anybody else – just a common person. That’s all I am. But I’ve seen guys that success ruined and they turned against their friends and things like that. That never was a problem for me.
“I had a lot of problems with the title Last American Hero. But I know why Tom saw that in what I was doing. I was doing what I liked to do and trying to be as good at it as I could be. But it didn’t mean that I was Robin Hood or something. I never felt that way.”
Part of the Johnson life story involves a prison term. Although he was never caught by authorities on the dozens of moonshine runs he made from the mountains to cities to the south, he was nabbed while working at one of the Johnson family stills in 1956 and was found guilty in federal court. He was sentenced to two years but served 11 months in a prison in Chillicothe, Ohio. Upon his return home, he jumped back into race cars and re-energized the career he had begun before illegal whiskey sidetracked him.
The Johnson story includes another dark chapter. Brent Kauthen, a North Carolina State University student from Michigan who had been spending summers with Johnson and working with the race team, was killed in a single-car accident near Wilkesboro in April 1990. Kauthen had been under Johnson’s care part of the year since he was 8, and the loss was like part of his family had disappeared.
“I thought as much of him as if he’d been my own,” Johnson said. “I enjoyed all the years I had with him. It was a sad situation. He was just at the point in his life when he would be stepping out into the world.”
Junior Johnson’s life as a driver was described for all to see in a brilliant article by writer Tom Wolfe in the March 1965 issue of Esquire magazine.
The story – titled “Junior Johnson is the Last American Hero – Yes!” – described the rise of Johnson, his natural habitat in the Brushy Mountains and the attraction of stock car racing to the thousands who streamed into North Wilkesboro Speedway to watch him run.
Johnson, a mountain man most comfortable in overalls, and Wolfe, a refined New Yorker, were polar opposites, but the story Wolfe produced became one of the most honored in the history of sports journalism. It also boosted NASCAR’s national profile and added to Johnson’s status at the center of the sport.
“He came to me and said, ‘Tell me about this and that’ and was wanting to get all about my racing and the whiskey business and all that stuff,” Johnson said of Wolfe. “He told me what his story was about. I said, ‘I’m not going to give you a story on me because that will be my story, not yours. I can take all the bad out. You go out and talk to people in Wilkes County to get your story.’ And that’s what he did.”
Johnson was a bit uncomfortable with Wolfe’s Esquire story but said he was impressed with the writer’s research. Did he think of himself as the Last American Hero?
“I didn’t then and I don’t now,” he said. “I’m no more than anybody else – just a common person. That’s all I am. But I’ve seen guys that success ruined and they turned against their friends and things like that. That never was a problem for me.
“I had a lot of problems with the title Last American Hero. But I know why Tom saw that in what I was doing. I was doing what I liked to do and trying to be as good at it as I could be. But it didn’t mean that I was Robin Hood or something. I never felt that way.”
Part of the Johnson life story involves a prison term. Although he was never caught by authorities on the dozens of moonshine runs he made from the mountains to cities to the south, he was nabbed while working at one of the Johnson family stills in 1956 and was found guilty in federal court. He was sentenced to two years but served 11 months in a prison in Chillicothe, Ohio. Upon his return home, he jumped back into race cars and re-energized the career he had begun before illegal whiskey sidetracked him.
The Johnson story includes another dark chapter. Brent Kauthen, a North Carolina State University student from Michigan who had been spending summers with Johnson and working with the race team, was killed in a single-car accident near Wilkesboro in April 1990. Kauthen had been under Johnson’s care part of the year since he was 8, and the loss was like part of his family had disappeared.
“I thought as much of him as if he’d been my own,” Johnson said. “I enjoyed all the years I had with him. It was a sad situation. He was just at the point in his life when he would be stepping out into the world.”
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