Junior Johnson through the years

By Staff Report | Published: December 20, 2019 24

ISC Archives via Getty Images

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ISC Archives via Getty Images

Once a simple moonshiner from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Junior Johnson took his driving skills to the track where his legacy began. Johnson passed away Dec. 20, 2019, at age 88 after a period of declining health. He is remembered as the hardest of the hard chargers and a connection to the sport's earliest times. Take a look back at some of the best photos, dating back to 1953 of this Last American Hero.

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ISC Archives via Getty Images

1953: Junior Johnson made his NASCAR debut at Darlington Raceway at the age of 22. A crash left him with a 38th-place finish, but this was only the beginning of a booming career for Johnson that saw him win 50 premier series races as a driver and 132 as a team owner.

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1955: After having run only 15 races in a span of more than two years, Johnson earned his first NASCAR win at Hickory Speedway on May 7. Driving the No. 55 Oldsmobile, Johnson led 123 laps of the 200-lap event in North Carolina.

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Don O'Reilly/Dozier Mobley | Getty Images

1956: Junior Johnson had to climb from the rear window after rolling his Pontiac on the actual Daytona Beach beach.

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1958: Johnson poses for a portrait next to his Paul Spaulding 1957 Ford before a race in Columbia, South Carolina. Johnson would win six races that season, including a stretch of three in a row and four out of five.

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1960s: Johnson, left, poses with NASCAR greats Ralph Earnhardt (center) and Ned Jarrett.

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ISC Archives via Getty Images

1960: Johnson races with Curtis Turner's No. 26 in the 1960 running of the Daytona 500.

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1960: Johnson won the second annual Daytona 500 in 1960, a victory he would later call the first big win of his career. The significance of that win took on extra meaning with a discovery that is now superspeedway canon. During preliminary events at Daytona, Johnson learned how to use the aerodynamic push and pull created by the air at high speeds. The technique of "drafting" was born.

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1962: Johnson, right, poses with David Pearson, left, and car owner Ray Fox in front of LeeRoy Yarbrough's car in 1962.

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1965: Junior Johnson drove a yellow Ford in 1965, a year before it appeared in enough of an altered state that garage dwellers labeled it the 'Yellow Banana.'

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1968: Trading places from the driver's seat to the pit box, Johnson served as crew chief to LeeRoy Yarbrough during the 1968 season. The duo won two races together that season, at Trenton and Atlanta.

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ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images

1953-1995: Starting primarily with his own ride, Johnson began his stint as a NASCAR owner in 1953 with Junior Johnson & Associates. During his 42-year career as an owner, Johnson earned 132 wins with drivers such as LeeRoy Yarbrough, Neil Bonnett, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Terry Labonte, Geoff Bodine, Bill Elliott and Jimmy Spencer. He also tallied 13 of his personal wins as a driver under his own ownership.

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1974-1980: Legendary driver Cale Yarborough, a member of 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame class, drove for Johnson from 1974-1980. During that time the pair won 45 races and three consecutive championships in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

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1981-1986: Hall of Fame driver and former NASCAR broadcaster Darrell Waltrip drove under the Junior Johnson emblem from 1981-1986 before leaving to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. During his stint with Johnson, Waltrip won three national Cup titles in 1981, 1982 and 1985.

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1982: After winning his first NASCAR Cup Series title in 1981, his first year with the Junior Johnson Mountain Dew team, Waltrip repeated with a late-season rally.

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Racing Photo Archives | Getty Images

1983: Stack of tires? No problem. Junior Johnson would watch the race from anywhere.

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Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images

1985: President Ronald Reagan granted Johnson a presidential pardon in 1985 for his moonshining conviction in 1956.

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Bob Leverone | NASCAR via Getty Images

2007: Johnson's moonshining passion, which once got him into trouble back in his early days, became a successful business when he became a part owner of Piedmont Distillers and created Midnight Moon Moonshine in 2007.

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Streeter Lecka | Getty Images

2010: Johnson was inducted into the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class on May 23, 2010, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other inductees that year were Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

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2013: From one Junior (Dale) to another.

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Rainier Ehrhardt | NASCAR via Getty Images

2014: Two legends in one room: Johnson talks with fellow Hall of Famer Richard Petty.

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Jeff Zelevansky | NASCAR via Getty Images

2015: Johnson continues to make cameo appearances in the NASCAR world, enjoying a famed Martinsville Speedway hot dog on March 29 during the STP 500.

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Bob Leverone | NASCAR via Getty Images

2016: As a Hall of Fame inductee, Johnson votes on the Hall of Fame panel each year. Here, he's shown during the selection for the Class of 2017.

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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

2017: Johnson and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rick Hendrick share a laugh prior to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Welcome Dinner at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.