Robert Johnson

Robert Glen Johnson, Jr. or Junior Johnson as he is more popularly known, was one of the earliest stars on the NASCAR circuits. Like many other pioneers, Johnson also honed his skill running moonshine across the back roads of rural North Carolina. With an astonishing 50 NASCAR Cup Series wins, 47 pole positions and an impressive 148 top-10 finishes, Junior Johnson finished sixth in his rookie year, in 1955.

In the years 1961 and 1965, Johnson had the most number of laps led and also most number of races led, numbering to 2373 laps and 23 races in 1961 and 3998 laps and 30 races in 1965. In the meanwhile, in 1956, Johnson spent 11 months in prison when he was caught working at his father's moonshine still. But he returned to NASCAR in 1958 and won six races.
His first win on a superspeedway was at the Daytona 500 in 1960. Junior Johnson retired from racing in 1966 and became an equally successful car owner. In his new role, he had some of the most famous drivers, including Jimmy Spencer, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Darel Dieringer and many others drive for him. He had 119 race wins and six NASCAR Cup Series championship wins, three with Yarborough and the other three with Waltrip.

To honor Johnson, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Motorsports Press Association, in 1973, at Darlington Raceway. In 1990, he was further inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, in Talladega, Alabama. Johnson was then inducted into the Lowe's Motor Speedway's Court of Legends in 1996, and into the Bristol Speedway's Heroes of Bristol Hall of Fame in 1997.