Just Wondering....

G

Guido

Guest
... Since I was working at LMS on sunday, I was wondering if anyone caught the prerace activities on TV and did they show anything with Junior Johnson and with him taking a lap or two in that 1940 Ford.

There was a story that went along with it but I don't know if Fox got the info in time for the broadcast and if they even knew he was there.

Thanks for any info on this.
 
Did not see the car on television before the race but Junior Johnson has had a '40 Ford coupe for awhile and I think it is the same one that is in a story about the misrepresented origins of NASCAR produced, I think, by ESPN, about ten years ago. There is one scene in the movie that shows a 1940 Ford coupe outrunning the "revenooers" on a desolate country road with a souped up 1940 Ford coupe supposedly carrying moonshine.

That car was at North Wilkesboro a few times when races were still held there and even then,it always drew a lot of attention.

To me it is a reminder of the 1940 Ford I drove in the mid to late 1950's at local tracks in NJ, NY and PA. Difference being, the one I raced wasn't all tricked out but our old flathead still won a couple of races. :)
 
Thanks for your replys.

The Junior Johnson thing was put together at the last minute.

My job was to bring that 40 Ford to the track on Sunday. I had a chance to meet Junior and I even took the old car for a lap around the speedway a few hours before the race. It has a 327 Chevy V8 in it so it ran pretty good. lol

After the drive intros, Richared Kyle and Samuel Bauerlein received the American Eagle Award honoring actions of family member Staff Sgt. Rashe Ryan Hall (a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq). Hall had received a purple heart and numerous honors for galantry in Iraq. He was seriously injured and had been in a hospital for some time.
After receiving the award, Hall's family remained on the front stretch and when the driver intro stage pulled away, there was Hall standing on the grass in the middle of the trioval. It was a complete surprise to his family and a very touching moment as they ran to greet him. As I understood it from someone, Hall ran into heavy fire to rescue some of his fellow soldiers and was injured in the process. A very brave man indeed.

After the quick family reunion, he was taken to Junior Johnson's ford. He sat in the passenger seat and Junior took two laps around the track leading the field of race cars.

Afterward, Junior took the car over to my trailer and I had a chance to chat with him again before loading it up and leaving the speedway.

It was honor to meet Junior one on one. What disappointed me was that so many fans walked by him and didn't even realize who this legend was standing out in the open. I never did see anyone ever come up for an autograph. I guess the new fans never heard of him.

Anyway, I just wondered if they showed any of this on TV.

Now, I need to get to the ABC store and try some of Junior's Carolina Moonshine. It is 80 proof but should still have a pretty good kick to it.
 
Guido, of course you remember that day that I met you with my now wife out on I77. After our chat, the wife (future at that time) and I drove on out to the track at N. Wilkesboro and there she showed me where her season tickets seats were. On the way back to WS, we decided to go by Ingle Hollow and see if we could see Elliotts cars. We pulled up into the drive of the shops and stopped to look what was going on. There was Junior chatting with some people who had on Budweiser uniforms (Elliot's #11 car was sponsored by Bud) and his two dogs. The wife then said "Let's get out and look at the garages", to which I said, "No, I don't want them to shoo us away". Well, she said that she was going even if I wasn't and out she went. I followed and we walked up to where the boys were working on one of Bill's cars that had raced at Talladega. Out of nowhere from behind us came Junior and he said loudly, "How y'all doing?" We turned around and the wife introduced me to him as though she'd known him all her life. What a nice surprise that was. Junior told us to go ahead and go anywhere and showed us where the engine shop was and also where Jimmy Spencer's garages were (#22 car) and then he showed us the big house right there on the property and said "That's Flossie's place" and grinned. That day my opinion of Junior changed as he was as nice as anyone could be. I also now realize that this would never happen today, even if Junior were to own a team. What a difference things are now days.
 
You are correct Buckaroo. These days people are mean and everything has to be guarded. We went to Rusty's Busch shop one time its been years ago. Me, my sister and a friend. They let us in and Rusty was there. We took a picture of him and later he had a grand opening at his ponitac dealership in Morristown and he was there signing autographs. We took that picture and got his autograph on it. But you are right. These days you don't get near the cars or anything else.
 
buckaroo said:
Guido, of course you remember that day that I met you with my now wife out on I77. After our chat, the wife (future at that time) and I drove on out to the track at N. Wilkesboro and there she showed me where her season tickets seats were. On the way back to WS, we decided to go by Ingle Hollow and see if we could see Elliotts cars. We pulled up into the drive of the shops and stopped to look what was going on. There was Junior chatting with some people who had on Budweiser uniforms (Elliot's #11 car was sponsored by Bud) and his two dogs. The wife then said "Let's get out and look at the garages", to which I said, "No, I don't want them to shoo us away". Well, she said that she was going even if I wasn't and out she went. I followed and we walked up to where the boys were working on one of Bill's cars that had raced at Talladega. Out of nowhere from behind us came Junior and he said loudly, "How y'all doing?" We turned around and the wife introduced me to him as though she'd known him all her life. What a nice surprise that was. Junior told us to go ahead and go anywhere and showed us where the engine shop was and also where Jimmy Spencer's garages were (#22 car) and then he showed us the big house right there on the property and said "That's Flossie's place" and grinned. That day my opinion of Junior changed as he was as nice as anyone could be. I also now realize that this would never happen today, even if Junior were to own a team. What a difference things are now days.
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Buckaroo, that was quite an experience. It is sad to see how things have changed but I guess the changes are necessary since Nascar has become so popular.
 
Exactly what I meant. That experience happened in '93 I believe (Guido, help me out on this). Also, Junior's shops didn't have any signs out on 421 that showed where to turn off. After Elliott left Junior and formed his own team outside Statesville, we went there and it was totally different. There was the showroom out front but the garages were in the back and you could only watch through the big windows. Haven't been back there since Evernham took over, but I imagine that it's not only bigger, but with more restrictions.
 
After touring the Rusch shops and listening to Carl Edwards for awhle I stopped in to the No Fear office next door. Sitting in a lawnchair in the front office was Boris Said with just a few No Fear employees hanging around. I introduced myself to him and we talked for close to 15 minutes. He actually gave me the impression he wanted to talk to me about his career.

I've been lucky enough to meet Sterling Marlin (3 times) Robby Gordon, Steve Wallace, Martin Truex, Ron Fellows and Boris. All of these meetings were just by chance and all the drivers were very giving with thier time. :beerbang:
 
Canadian GP said:
After touring the Rusch shops and listening to Carl Edwards for awhle I stopped in to the No Fear office next door. Sitting in a lawnchair in the front office was Boris Said with just a few No Fear employees hanging around. I introduced myself to him and we talked for close to 15 minutes. He actually gave me the impression he wanted to talk to me about his career.

I've been lucky enough to meet Sterling Marlin (3 times) Robby Gordon, Steve Wallace, Martin Truex, Ron Fellows and Boris. All of these meetings were just by chance and all the drivers were very giving with thier time. :beerbang:
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I had a similar experience in CA at Robby Gordon Off-Road shop. I went in to ask a question, (I needed a couple spring rubbers) and a voice to my side rear said "don't use to many or you'll get real loose." and laughed. I turned around and it was Robby out here during the week. Then he walked over and we talked for a bit and he even walked out to the car and looked at the problem and helped me solve it. I got the spring rubbers. :) Super nice guy!
 
Guido said:
... Since I was working at LMS on sunday, I was wondering if anyone caught the prerace activities on TV and did they show anything with Junior Johnson and with him taking a lap or two in that 1940 Ford.

There was a story that went along with it but I don't know if Fox got the info in time for the broadcast and if they even knew he was there.

Thanks for any info on this.
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I'm watching the replay of the race (because I was there) and they showed the soldier standing out by himself and then his family running towards him with a short explanation, no mention of J J or his car.
 
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