Junior Johnson - Men Behind The Wrenches

driver mechanic the owner champion it doesn't matter what you label he was always the best if there's one person that defines the word legend and NASCAR Winston Cup racing it is only one man today all men behind the wrenches the story of junior Johnson the man's son Kyle the last American Hero [Music] [Music] to race fans and those within the walls of the NASCAR Winston Cup garage he's larger than life perhaps no single person has had the far-reaching influence in the sport of NASCAR more than jr. Johnson hello and welcome to the men behind the wrenches I'm Jeff Hammond Jr nurtured the sport through 30 years of growth from molding mechanics into crew chiefs and drivers into Champions and I bet you didn't know he introduced Winston to NASCAR through it all Junior Johnson has lived a truly amazing life two years roots go back to the early days of racing when it wasn't an organized sport but bootleggers testing this how faster cars would run racetracks were just getting started I basically was in the moonshine business when I was a young boy and someone in the 16 17 year old brother one minute drive a car at North Wilkesboro as a fill in for a Grand Nationals back then I was at home flying Cohen for my father was a mute and he came down and asked me to go find drive his car in a race that he had kind of put it place to entertain the fans while there's wait and I have to qualify before the race started speed was just something that I kind of fell into being in the whiskey business soon I want a parent course I was tried to get by a good friend of mine we had state it to win the race and you know one of the other bootleggers it was all a bunch of bootleggers racing each other got in front of me and I run the up a paint stuff and I wound up facing second but that was my first introduction to racing it and from that point on I would occasionally go run a dirt track race for some individual local that had a car quickly Junior's reputation is a win at no cost driver became well-known I was a young kid I didn't have no fear or nothing then I guess I was the one that everybody looked to the see how fast a car a run cuz arrest time didn't have the nerve drop he was a great competitor and we were battling for the same turf and as a result we we had a lot of run-ins along the way and and and it became a big rivalry and and certainly a big challenge and I always respected him through everything that went on on the racetrack but we had some pretty good battles along the way to drive fast you had to work on the mechanics of the machine running moonshine jr. had to outrun the law from the age 14 he was always looking for the mechanical edge it wasn't easy so sometimes you had to be creative it was kind of traffic for a way you know we just grabbed a tree someone know the big limb on it throw a chain or it and hook a chain horse to it and pull the car up there and crawl underneath I wonder every one I said and got kill them you know dropping off you know breaking a chain or something dropping on us but just many many items that made cars faster it intrigued me what made him run I was working on motors and all parts of the car when I was you know 14 15 years old tired I'm apart putting them back together with all his experience on the back roads of the North Carolina mountains outrunning revenuers jr. easily started out running the competition on the racetrack has the mid-fifties approach he was catching the eye Ford Motor Company and about to turn to a career as a race car driver when as he did some chores for his father his whole world was turned upside down my father had a scale back over the woods behind a house I'd been that about 30 minutes and I heard something behind me I didn't know what it was I look around and he's a ATU officer was standing on top of box fixes me jump right on my back poor side dish reach down and shoveled up a show look coals that go in the burner I fixed the throw it in the Vernon when I looked back over my shoulder and seen you know somebody fixing jump on my back I just give him the show look old and everything I could have and we went off down trials side to heal and I was pretty fast on my feet but I needed a defense down there and it was a gain in in about 12 14 foot wide I need for I got to I said if I miss a gate I'm caught because there's a mob or fence I'm here I get tang a little net and his dark I didn't have a light or nothing so I missed the gate one six you know just like ten foot and sure enough I got tangled up at Bob or him I got caught in 1985 President Ronald Reagan would issue a presidential pardon - jr. his past behind him jr. was ready to build his racing legacy [Music] [Applause] as soon as jr. Johnson was released from prison he headed to the track and picked up immediately where he left off winning races he quickly established his type of racing I don't know if it can be dated but I don't think there's anybody this understand when I caught you that was my style of driving I didn't run you down catch you just play with you I run you down talk to you back I didn't intentionally try to wreck anybody I want to ask them in the competition type of way and I guess a lot up and thought I rough the mud but I didn't go up her just to play around with him I went up her race well championships weren't worth anything start with you know you win a championship and then just a name winning all the races you could Glen was more important because one race paid more than the whole championship did back in basically he was one of the guys he and Curtis Turner and fireball Roberts because of their driving style they were the ones who always people came to seat they ran hard there on the front and in doing so they geometrically increase the pub buddy they weren't gonna finish their chances of blowing up a crashing was much greater than somebody wasn't running as hard as they were as a result the old point systems never rewarded how you grow though as much as we finished going into the 1960 season jr. had been to Victory Lane 19 times starting with the Daytona 500 he was poised for a career year when I went to Daytona to dry the car ray Fox is working on it and he had two weeks to put it all together and two or three times I almost got my car came home but I kept enemies you know they'd get it better and we'll be okay and race and stuff like it and I kept fooling around for us finally the is almost time you know to start the race and cotton Owens came whistling by me one time out on the racetrack when I was running and when he came by this duct over him behind him and all of a sudden my car this group right up to it and I sat down run a couple laps I dropped off and coming in and Rafe off he he was tickling death he run all the way and he stood by that we got this thing running that we will contend I never said not to worry about it I never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I was gonna hold a long way in the 500 race by doing that but that's exactly what happened I drafted him pontiac's right down the tube until the last one on one out and not sitting there Safari here the rest up but I wound up playing all right by 1966 jr. had 150 times in the NASCAR grand national series as a man who thrives on challenges in his heart he felt he needed to find something new to conquer I lost [Music] I just decided this is enough I've went as far as I'm gonna go with this kind of atmosphere at lunch so I quit that's what I did is a drive I won 13 races last year I drove and I probably would have won 15 or 20 motor and load up in the car and I think we all are on 28 races or shankara and hit just for iron 85 whew Johnson was about to hit into uncharted territory to find out if he could use the same style he had uses of when the driver to be a successful car owner and peppy steering wheel for the keys to the shop at needle hollow and we set out to build a winning race team he thrived at what lay ahead Junior Johnson is smart a man as I've ever met in my life Eve may have only gone to the eighth or ninth grade but this is a guy that got in with the Lords of American industry when he was negotiating sponsorship deals and he more than held his own his cars from the time in the mid sixties that he quit driving himself until he quit that's a car owner in 1995 were always very very competitive through the 60s and 70s some of the sports greatest drivers pass through Jr's organization names like Leroy Yarborough Bobby Allison Cale Yarborough and eventually Darrell Waltrip found success with Jr's guidance as a fellow driver Johnson respect adhesive and he changed my whole attitude everything everything I knew and everything I had done in the past when I went to work for jr. kind of like wipe all that out we don't do it that way here and I had to start all over again and of course with winning comes credibility and when you're driving for Jimmie Johnson at the time no people get it about being the company car the engl Halloway shop soon became a breeding ground for innovation it was the place to work as a mechanic the sport best honed their skills in with little team tournament I had a good system got it off all along and I did never go in and jump on a guy over something he did wrong I did show him what he did wrong because I wanted to do it right next time not you standing at me and not listening you know the period of times that you're working with somebody and you see development as time goes along if they had a party and you don't do know one thing that yourself you gotta have other people's ideals to bounce your ideals all from in the face you know you're set to talking somebody to say what you think about this he said I like then you if he don't like it use it all from wonder well why do I like and you get to analyze into things and figure out what's wrong and you go in the direction the pixi problem but I've had some I've had some great they proved to be great mechanics how they went on to be successful herself and a lot of key people in my operation still and still in the bid I think jr. had an appreciation of several aspects of it he was a good businessman he was probably one of the best mechanics in relations he knew how and why things worked and how to adjustment that the driver could communicate with him he couldn't think of our better he also knew how I hire people I asked him one time we had a stack of resumes up the shop and I said you put you before I'm finding the cackle degree welding metallurgy physics he said honestly do you Johnson and all the pieces of the winner driver crew members equipment sponsor victory all they could top off in success would be a championship [Music] [Applause] in the 70s cale yarborough got behind the wheel of juniors car instantly impressing the season better one of the things that I learned from from Julian Johnson as he is he never was of the above guy I learned that early in my driving career with junior doesn't matter what happens doesn't matter for you to let down a two-lap town or three that fan doesn't ever give up oh you may you may give out but don't give up he was a monster talent you might say eg I seen him do a lot of the car I didn't think you and he had the knack for taking nothing and making some powder I seen that a lot awesome started in 76 the Johnson Yarbrough combination would earn 20 wins and three championships in a row here ailing the reigning champions Richard Petty had never got nose to nose or anything like that you know I mean he would get you next week you know and he said underneath breath it was never public or anything they had won so many of them and basically if you raced with him over the years it was kind of expected of them to win the championship but he wouldn't arrival on me to beat the pigs is just something that I decided I'd go after [Music] I put a lot of effort into making sure we got when we won three in a row it was a good accomplishment but I had no idea that it would still be a record you know when you got people like that have won championships like the Fed like from Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jeff Gordon and these guys in Darrell Waltrip and these guys you would think that somewhere along the line as many as they won somebody would have won three in a row so it's it's just amazing to me that that record still stands after the 1980 season Gerber decided to cut back from the schedule and departed jr. statement Johnson tagged a guy who had been the team's archrival to drive the very vocal Darrell Walker I just felt like there was a people with Earnhardt which is the two utmost best things come in about the only thing is their talents was different ironheart was a slam-bang rough type driver sort of like myself Darrel's was sober when you reach back to the team flock they stuff but he knew how to win races and he was as good as anybody was there when he wanted to put out and go up to the cross I was just forced him to be with junior at the right time when we had the pitch when they downsized the cars from the big Monte Carlo 115 inch wheelbase down to the 110 little Buick I mean the first year poor Tim brewer we built I know 20 race car and they built most of them by himself under the direction of jr. and banjo Matthews but I had fallen into it the best situation you could call into the combination clicked Junior Darrell and the entire team would end up winning three more championships in 1981 1982 and 1985 we wanted 12 races we won twelve posed we won the Busch clash we want a championship I mean won everything and and I knew I would I knew if I got in that 11 car with the people junior had kind of cars he had and as smart as he was I knew that was that was going to be the perfect situation for me Junior Johnson was now a six-time champion it was a long way from moonshine runs of the fifties to the waldorf-astoria in New York City Junior Johnson had nothing left to prove [Music] [Applause] as a sport headed in the 90s jr. Johnson had been involved in racing for six decades he was still winning races for Bill Elliott and Jimmy Spencer as drivers in 1995 with a young family to enjoy Jr made a tough decision to leave the sport he helped field racing it was something that I kind of lost interest and more [Music] I had sold two of my race teams and I had one more with sprayable down with Lowe's home improvement and I said well if I get rid of this team all the selling thing just plumb out of it and I had some other businesses enough looking after two so when the two kids come along and me and lisas darkness a new house and stuff I just had too many other things I'd rather be doing and doing and racing a lot of 10 times better than the road race and I ain't doing my life now I hadn't enjoyed it in a long long time the sport goes on without the last American hero as author Tom Wolfe pointed but his legend and influence live out a remarkable career a remarkable personality it still should stun everyone that this man for all he had accomplished for all he had done was able when the time was right to completely do an about-face in his life walk away from racing when he was still a contender when he still could have won any given week walked away from the whole thing and said I've done my part just as the author Tom Wolfe calling wolf calling last American hero I don't think he was the last one but he was one of the great American heroes and his color and full-bore attitude certainly propel great party propelling NASCAR for this but at the end junior Johnson became one of the best friends and still is that I've ever had he's sly like a fox I mean you know that the silver hair and and he comes across his you know almost like died he didn't like like he doesn't know what whole like you know but that man he's got the sharpest mind even today I've never done anything hurtful you know start with I've tried to hit them they're only up here they like getting the factors she ablaze will be upon all of my birthday and I have you had as many sponsorship for hip work out at ministership as I've had myself I think I'm the one who got she all the way back into I know and in the mid sixties they got out 66 fold I want to build fencing then asked him to help you know and the motors side and stuff and I could get forward back and I got them back into it through the process of doing things falling and I don't want to see later there we got my came through guitar the monkey Charlotte said on the phone lead the race and I started running on my own I said GG already we're sir Bobby else whether I've kept it to the extent of what it looks like or not I don't know I just know I'm the only one it was doing meantime I was trying to help myself because I needed that help too you know to survive NASCAR Winston Cup racing I miss him but junior Johnson is not one to look back these days Junior Johnson lives a contented life he is a family man with two small children Robert and Meredith and a wife Lisa he tends to his various businesses ranging from real estate to junior Johnson country ham the legend of Englehart is thriving like never before for the men behind the riches I'm Jeff Hammond thanks for joining me [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: HODIUSDUDE

Views: 72,960

Rating: 4.7664232 out of 5

Keywords: Junior Johnson, NASCAR, Jeff Hammond, Moonshine, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Ned Jarrett, Presidential Pardon, Bob Latford, Drafting, Tom Higgins

Id: 8K-Aspo193I

Length: 22min 22sec (1342 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 13 2017