Johnson: NASCAR is no different today
By Kenny Bruce - Assistant Managing Editor
Thursday, February 14, 2008
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As a driver, Junior Johnson won 50 times in NASCAR’s premier series, including the 1960 Daytona 500.
He’s one of only a few folks who have won NASCAR’s biggest race as a driver as well as a car owner. In 1977, Cale Yarborough piloted Johnson’s formidable No. 11 Holly Farms Chevrolet to the Daytona 500 title.
Johnson, 76, has been “retired” from the sport since 1995, but he’s here at Daytona International Speedway this week for a couple of reasons.
First of all, he is one of 24 living winners of the 500. Secondly, he’s on hand to watch the fortunes of driver Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the Haas CNC Chevrolet. Mayfield’s No. 70 entry is carrying sponsorship from Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon, billed as Carolina moonshine and produced by Piedmont Distillers.
“What goes around comes around,” Johnson, a former moonshiner, said Wednesday. “I’m glad that I’m the one that brought [moonshine] around. It’s been in the car, just not on it [in the past].”
Johnson is credited with being the first driver to discover and utilize the art of drafting at NASCAR’s first 2.5-mile superspeedway. But Johnson say that, at the time, he wasn’t exactly sure what he had discovered, only that whatever it was, it allowed his slower car to keep up with, and pass, faster cars on the race track.
“I came here and I was in a car that was very slow compared to the Pontiacs,” Johnson said of his No. 27 Chevrolet owned by John Masoni and sponsored by Daytona Kennel.
Pontiacs were expected to be strong at Daytona that year, with drivers Bobby Johns, Fireball Roberts and Cotton Owens among those fielding entries backed by the manufacturer.
“Pontiac had four factory-backed teams here,” Johnson said. “I was in a ’59 Chevrolet with a 409 engine — basically it was a truck engine. It just wouldn’t run. One day I was out messing around trying to get it to run faster. Cotton Owens came by, I ducked over behind him, and heck, going down the backstretch I was running all over him about half throttle.
“I didn’t really know what I’d found or what it did, but I didn’t say anything about it.”
On race day, though, Johnson put what he had been learning to the test. Despite having a slower car – he had qualified ninth – he led 67 laps of the 200-lap race, and beat Johns to the line by 23 seconds.
“Come race day, I used it all day long ... and I finally drafted myself to the checkered flag,” Johnson said.
In spite of all the changes that have taken place in the sport over the years, Johnson says he doesn’t think it’s that much different from when he was a driver, or an owner for that matter. The new car, the influx of engineering assistance, the rising costs are all just part of the evolution of the sport, he says. He stepped out not because he was unhappy with the direction the sport was taking, but because “I had had enough of it.
“It’s no different today than when I was involved – just a different bunch of people doing it,” he said. “I think the sport is advancing forward with a lot of good people, good teams. I don’t see it being any different than when I was here. It’s just more expensive, more engineers coming into it. I think the sport is in good shape.”
And while he’s seen his share of altercations between drivers, he said NASCAR needs to be careful in how strict it polices the drivers and their actions. Incidents such as the one involving Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart prior to this year’s Budweiser Shootout are a part of the fabric of the sport.
“I think they ought to let people express their feelings,” Johnson said. “They’re going to settle it some time or another. If they don’t let them do it when they have friction with each other at that time, sooner or later they’ll get it done. They might as well leave them alone. Let ’em lose their temper, get it settled and get it over with and go on down the road.
“Ain’t nobody that wants to be treated like a little young kid, [get] spanked for whatever they do. This is a manly sport, and I think they should be treated like that.”
Johnson won six championships as a car owner – three with Yarborough and three with Darrell Waltrip. He doesn’t deny that his teams pushed NASCAR’s rulebook to its limits to remain competitive.
“[NASCAR] called me on the mat so much I got used to it,” he said. “I’d take every rule they had to the extent ... it could be legal, it could be illegal. It was their word against mine. They had the authority, so they’d do what they wanted to. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to win many races. I’d rather take a gamble on getting caught than not to win the race.”
As for advice for today’s teams, Johnson said they don’t need his input. But if he’d offer anything?
“Go out and buy you a lot of Midnight Moon,” the legendary Johnson said, laughing.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jeremy Mayfield
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