The Wide World of Dirt

Junior Johnson’s career began in the same way as many others at the time: bootlegging.

Johnson’s family moved liquor even before he was born with his father serving almost a third of his life in prison for bootlegging the Johnson family’s drink of choice: moonshine.

He learned how to drive while running from the feds, moonshine splashing in the trunk as Johnson’s car swung around the winding mountain roads.

Johnson modified his car a number of times to stay ahead of the authorities, and local racers began taking notice, applying the same adjustments to their cars.

This gave Johnson the idea to go to his local track the next time NASCAR came to town, with Junior making his debut in the 1953 Southern 500, crashing his ‘53 Oldsmobile after 222 laps and finishing 38th of 55 entries.

Despite the poor showing, Johnson was not perturbed, running four races the next year. He took home his first top-5 at Hickory and earned his first pole later that season at LeHi.

This influenced Johnson to run more races in 1955, and he made the most of them.

Johnson parlayed his strong run at Hickory the year before into his first career win, and he didn’t seem to want to stop winning after that. He scored four victories in the next eight races he ran with only one finish outside the top 20 during the streak.

He added one more win at Altamont in July before going winless the rest of the year. Though he ran only 80% of the schedule, Johnson finished sixth in points after a strong rookie campaign.

While Johnson’s NASCAR career finally took off, his heritage soon caught up to him.

In 1956, authorities arrested Johnson for owning an illegal moonshine still, and the judge sentenced him to 20 months in prison. What could have been a promising racing career for the 25-year-old was now in serious jeopardy.

Johnson spent nearly a year of his sentence in prison before Ohio officials released him in 1957. Due to his background in farming, the prison’s higher brass offered Junior an early exit if he helped them tend and harvest their crops, which he happily accepted.

Though the road back to the NASCAR Grand National Series was treacherous, Johnson persevered and got back on the circuit by the start of the 1958 season.

Johnson returned with renewed vigor, snagging five top 10s in his first eight races before grabbing the checkered flag at his home track in North Wilkesboro.

Johnson finished 2nd the next race at Trenton before winning three races in a row. Inconsistency shrouded the rest of his 1958 season as poor results kept him out of the points, but he ended the year on a high note, winning at Wilkesboro again and Atlanta.

Johnson won five races the next season, but he ran a partial schedule, dropping him to 11th in points from 8th in 1958. Johnson entered the 1960s primed and ready to prove himself.

He didn’t waste any time by showing out at the 1960 Daytona 500. Though his car was 20mph off the pace of the pole sitter, Johnson discovered drafting during practice while riding behind a faster car.

The wake of the faster car actually pulled his car closer, enough to where Johnson could slingshot past the lead car. Junior waited until the final lap, passing Bobby Johns to score the victory in the Great American Race.

Johnson found himself in the winner’s circle two more times that season on his way to a seventh-place points finish, a return to form.

His 1962 season was nothing to write home about outside of a win at Charlotte in the fall, but 1963 was the year Junior would be the driver to beat.

Johnson ran 33 races in 1963, and he never went on a tear like he had in previous years. He never won back-to-back, but he went out and won seven of those 33 races he entered. Unfortunately for Junior, 33 only amounted to 60% of the schedule, so the points championship eluded him again.

1964 looked a lot like his 1960 campaign. He won once at Daytona during the qualifying races and won two more times later in the season at Winston-Salem and Roanoke. Johnson ran less than half of the races, which kept him out of series contention.

1965 became Junior’s shining achievement.

He started off the year strong with a 2nd-place finish at Riverside and a win during duel qualifying races for the Daytona 500. He dominated at Richmond a few weeks later on his way to a win before traveling to Hillsboro where he led the most laps before finishing 2nd.

A win at North Wilkesboro in the spring led to a ridiculous run where Johnson brought home 8 trophies over his next 15 races. Though he cooled down as the summer heated up, Junior returned to form as the season drew to a close by winning three more races.

The most important of those races was his last victory of 1965 at North Wilkesboro. Johnson set the pace for most of the day at his hometown track, leading 204 of 400 laps on his way to his 50th and final career victory.

Ned Jarrett equaled Johnson’s win total that year en route to his second title, but Jarrett had 18 more chances to win 13 times. Even after his best season, Johnson sat 12th in points.

Junior came back briefly the next year, running only 7 of the 49 races. He showed he still had the speed to compete, winning three poles, but he didn’t have the drive.

Johnson retired from racing at the end of the 1966 season. His swan song race took place at Rockingham and yielded his final top-5 finish.

Johnson left the sport as a star and a pioneer. His use of the aerodynamic draft helped shape superspeedway racing to its current form, and his many technical innovations helped push the sport forward into the modern era., and the sport grew immensely from people just wanting to see the bootlegger race.

To this day, Johnson remains as the sport’s winningest driver to have never won a Cup Series championship.