Back جونيور جونسون Arabic Junior Johnson Spanish Junior Johnson French Junior Johnson ID Junior Johnson Italian Junior Johnson Dutch Junior Johnson SIMPLE Junior Johnson Swedish Junior Johnson Tagalog
| Junior Johnson | |||||||
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.jpg) Johnson in 1985 | |||||||
| Born | Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. June 28, 1931 Ronda, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | December 20, 2019 (aged 88) Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||
| Achievements | 1960 Daytona 500 winner 6× Winston Cup Series Owner's Champion with Cale Yarborough (1976, 1977, 1978) and Darrell Waltrip (1981, 1982, 1985) | ||||||
| Awards | International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1990) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1991) Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) NASCAR Hall of Fame (2010 - Inaugural Class) Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023) | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 313 races run over 14 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 6th (1955, 1961) | ||||||
| First race | 1953 Southern 500 (Darlington) | ||||||
| Last race | 1966 American 500 (Rockingham) | ||||||
| First win | 1955 Hickory Motor Speedway | ||||||
| Last win | 1965 Wilkes 400 (North Wilkesboro) | ||||||
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| NASCAR Convertible Division career | |||||||
| 2 races run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 64th (1959) | ||||||
| First race | 1959 Catawba 250 (Hickory) | ||||||
| Last race | 1959 Old Dominion 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
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Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became a NASCAR racing team owner, winning the NASCAR championship with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip three times each; Johnson was the first owner to win multiple championships with multiple drivers. He is credited as the first to use the drafting technique in stock car racing. He was nicknamed "The Last American Hero," and his autobiography and movie based on his upbringing is of the same name. In May 2007, Johnson teamed with Piedmont Distillers of Madison, North Carolina, to introduce the company's second moonshine product, called "Midnight Moon Moonshine", a nod to the days of his early youth in the 1940s when he made a living as a moonshiner/moonrunner and bootlegger.