Junior Johnson | |||||||
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Johnson in 1985
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Born | Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. June 28, 1931 Wilkesboro, North Carolina, U.S. |
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Achievements |
1960 Daytona 500 winner 6-time Winston Cup Series Owner's Champion with Cale Yarborough (1976, 1977, 1978) and Darrell Waltrip (1981, 1982, 1985) |
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Awards | Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee (1990) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee (1991) NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee (2010) |
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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
313 races run over 14 years | |||||||
Best finish | 6th - 1955 in NASCAR and 1961 (Grand National) | ||||||
First race | 1953 Southern 500 (Darlington) | ||||||
Last race | 1966 American 500 (Rockingham) | ||||||
First win | 1955 Hickory Motor Speedway | ||||||
Last win | 1965 Wilkes 400 (North Wilkesboro) | ||||||
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Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. (born June 28, 1931), better known as Junior Johnson, is a former NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became a NASCAR racing team owner; he sponsored such NASCAR champions as Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He now produces a line of fried pork skins and country ham. He is credited as the first to use the drafting technique in stock car racing. He is nicknamed "The Last American Hero" and his autobiography is of the same name. In May 2007, Johnson teamed with Piedmont Distillers of Madison, North Carolina, to introduce the company's second moonshine product, called "Midnight Moon Moonshine".
Johnson was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, the fourth of seven children of Lora Belle Money and Robert Glenn Johnson, Sr. His family is of Ulster Scots descent, and settled in the foothills of North Carolina in the early 1600s. The Johnson family was involved in the whiskey business before he was born. Johnson supported the family through prohibition. His maternal great-grandfather served as the second highest ranking Confederate general in North Carolina. His father, a lifelong bootlegger, spent nearly twenty of his sixty-three years in prison, as their house was frequently raided by revenue agents. His family experienced the largest alcohol raid in United States history, seizing 400 gallons of moonshine from the house. Junior spent one year in prison in Ohio for having an illegal still, although he was never caught in his many years of transporting bootleg liquor at high speed.
In 1955, Johnson began his career as a NASCAR driver. In his first full season, he won five races and finished sixth in the 1955 NASCAR Grand National points standings.
In 1958 he won six races. In 1959, he won five more NASCAR Grand National races (including a win from the pole position at the 1959 Hickory 250); by this time he was regarded as one of the best short-track racers in the sport.
His first win at a "superspeedway" came at the Daytona 500 in 1960. Johnson and his crew chief Ray Fox were practicing for the race, trying to figure out how to increase their speed, which was 22 miles per hour (35 km/h) slower than the top cars in the race. During a test run a faster car passed Johnson. He noticed that when he moved behind the faster car his own speed increased due to the faster car's slipstream. Johnson was then able to stay close behind the faster car until the final lap of the test run, when he used the "slipstream" effect to slingshot past the other car. By using this technique Johnson went on to win the 1960 Daytona 500, despite the fact that his car was slower than others in the field. Johnson's technique was quickly adopted by other drivers, and his practice of "drafting" has become a common tactic in NASCAR races.