The Man, The Myth, The Legend has passed at the age of 88.

https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/stor ... on-dies-88

If anyone can get around Hillsborough, and likes NASCAR or history, in general, would recommend visiting Occonneechee Speedway. It's overgrown now but it's one of the original tracks from the bootlegger days and included racers like Petty and Johnson. Cool place. Trails run through it and you can walk out into the grandstands.

A helluva racer

Goodbye to The Last American Hero.

His home is off the 1st exit off 421W, West of I 77.

A great man, a great owner, a great racer, a good farmer. RIP.

This one hurts. So high country it’s not funny. Good bye to a legend.

Heard many stories from Junior, but my favorite was how the revenue agents finally caught him on moonshine charges. They tried to catch him running 'shine but they could never catch him even with setting up road blocks. They had to stake out the family still and catch him on foot when he was tending to the still. He took pride in the fact that they kept trying but could just never catch him in a car..he would laugh and laugh about it when telling the story. He was a great guy and a lot of fun.

Another great story was how he came up with the drafting strategy. "See, there were these boys in these Pontiacs and their cars were just faster than my car and I got mad so I decided to just ride up on their tails and realized they were "sucking" me right in." He then swung out and passed them at the end to win the race and "drafting" became a thing.

If Richard Petty was the face of NASCAR, then Junior Johnson was its soul.

That sport, and the High Country lost one of its giants.

appstate77 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:57 pm

His home is off the 1st exit off 421W, West of I 77.

His old shop is still there too...I think it's an antique store now but its still down there on Ingle Hollow Road in Ronda.

He was famous for hosting big breakfasts at his shop and I've heard that he used to have Coach Moore and players come down for them...

appstate77 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:57 pm

His home is off the 1st exit off 421W, West of I 77.

actually, he sold off most of his memorabilia and ended up selling that house at auction about six or seven years ago?

APPRIDE wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:22 am

appstate77 wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:57 pm

His home is off the 1st exit off 421W, West of I 77.

actually, he sold off most of his memorabilia and ended up selling that house at auction about six or seven years ago?

Yep, he and Lisa moved to Charlotte about 7 years ago, with a short stint in Waxhaw thrown in there.

May 1, 1960 200 lap modified race Hickory Motor Speedway (dirt) Bobby Isaac driving my brother's (Frank Steelman Jr) 37 ford modified #9 won race (won Columbia Speedway 50 lap the night before). Junior Johnson finished 2nd driving #8 subbing for Ralph Earnhardt. I was 15 years old, remember it well. This is David Steelman and Junior was a good guy!!!! RIP

From the WILKES JOURNAL PATRIOT

Racing star and Wilkes native Junior Johnson dies

Wilkes County native Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson Jr., renowned stock-car racer, mechanic and team owner, died Friday in Charlotte.

He was 88 and had been in declining health for some time.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte announced Johnson’s death Friday afternoon, saying he entered hospice care earlier this week. Johnson was in the inaugural class of five inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010.

From the days of his youth making and hauling moonshine in Wilkes through those as a Wilkes-based team owner, his career spanned the history of stock car racing.

Johnson became widely known as a result of Tom Wolfe’s 1965 Esquire magazine article titled, “The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!” and a 1973 movie adaptation of the Johnson profile starring Jeff Bridges.

Wolfe said Johnson was “one of the last of those sports stars who is not just an ace at the game itself, but a hero a whole people or class of people can identify with. Junior Johnson is a modern hero, all involved with car culture and car symbolism in the South. A wild new thing.”

Even Bruce Springsteen referenced Johnson's exploits in his song, "Cadillac Ranch:" “Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Carolina."

Continued here ...

https://www.journalpatriot.com/news/rac ... 0c358.html