Junior Johnson

Junior Johnson was NASCAR's original outlaw, a former moonshine runner from the hollows of Wilkes County, North Carolina who channeled the driving skills learned evading federal agents into a Hall of Fame racing career. He won 50 Cup Series races as a driver, and then as a team owner, his cars won 132 more, making him one of the most influential figures in the sport's history. Johnson is credited with discovering the draft at Daytona in 1960, using the aerodynamic tuck behind faster cars to slingshot his underpowered Chevrolet to a victory that remains one of the most celebrated in Daytona 500 history. That innovation, born from necessity, changed the fundamental strategy of superspeedway racing forever. As an owner, Johnson's teams powered Cale Yarborough to three consecutive championships and Darrell Waltrip to three titles of his own, assembling operations that competed with and beat the best-funded organizations in the sport. His eye for talent and his understanding of what it took to win at the highest level made him the most successful team owner of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan granted Johnson a full presidential pardon for his 1956 moonshining conviction, a gesture that recognized both his reformation and his contribution to American culture. Tom Wolfe immortalized him in a 1965 Esquire profile titled 'The Last American Hero,' and the title fits -- Junior Johnson was the real thing, a genuine article in a sport that has always celebrated its outlaws.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference