Junior Johnson, one of the great figures in NASCAR history is stepping back into the sport, albeit not at the top level, just yet. Junior has fired up Junior Johnson Racing, a team that will support his son as 17-year old Robert Johnson works his way through the ranks to the Sprint Cup. It can’t be the easiest thing to be racing in the shadow of a living legend, but Robert Johnson, has some legitimate skills.
Racing late models, Robert Johnson came in fourth overall on the UARA tour and earned Rookie of the year honors there as well. For 2011 he plans a full schedule of 28-30 races in the K&N Pro Series East, UARA, and Whelen All-American Series. The team will be based out of Junior Johnson’s 280-acre estate in North Carolina.
The building has been constructed and leadership for the operation has already been hired so this is the real deal for Robert. We’d have to guess that after completing this series of races in 2011, he’ll be looking for a Nationwide series ride for 2012 and then sniffing the big time from there on out.
From the sounds of it, this kid has a couple of Junior’s driving genes floating around in his system. While it would be easy to lay the “lucky sperm club” moniker on him, we suspect that Junior (who was always one of the most underestimated minds in the sport) isn’t foolhardy and would not invest this level of his own money into an operation to satiate the begging of a son who may not be committed. Robert seems like the real deal. We’ll find out over the next few years.
Source — NASCAR.com — Johnson Launches New Racing Team
