The moonlight at midnight is a haunting glow. Colors turn to shades of black, blue and silver. What would be a mild thicket of trees becomes a wall. Normally, the only noises to be heard are the leaves rustling in the wind, the scratching of woodland creatures as they go about their nightly business. But if you lived near Wilkes County in North Carolina, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to hear a car move along at speed, lights off, the driver utilizing every ounce of the faint glow of that giant silver nightlight in the sky to carve a path through the roads and trails and hidden paths of the land. Many drivers of legend grew up around racing. Junior Johnson grew up learning how to make a car move via a much more illicit method, the historical makings of a legendary stock car driver and the root of stock car racing, period: moonshine running.

The Johnson family had a strong history of bootlegging in the area. His father spent a third of his life in prison, the family was the center of a 400 gallon moonshine bust and while he legendarily was never caught actively running ‘shine, Junior was jailed in Ohio in 1956-57 for having an illegal still. He knew how to handle himself at the wheel, so when he made his first run at the NASCAR Grand National in 1955, it was no real surprise that he won five races and wound up sixth in points. He could run dirt-track races and in 1960, proved that he could not only run on asphalt, but could do so in an old Chevrolet while using the aerodynamics off of Pontiacs to leap forward…otherwise known today as drafting. He was an all-or-nothing racer, the kind who would rather break stuff than nurse it along just to finish it. He wanted to lead. And he did, especially in 1965, when he took thirteen checker flags behind the wheel of a Ford.

After retiring from driving in 1966, he revived a racing team that went dormant a decade prior and started working with names that should ring bells to roundy-round racers: A.J. Foyt, Gordon Johncock, Curtis Turner, Bobby Issac, Cale Yarborough, Donnie Allison, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, Terry Labonte, Geoff Bodine, Sterling Martin, Bill Elliott, Jimmy Spencer, and more would drive for Johnwon between 1965 and 1996, when Junior sold off the racing team. He starred as a a 1940 Ford in Cars 3, a member of the old guard of racers. He was in the first class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010, along with Dale Earnhardt, Big Bill France, Bill France, Jr., and Richard Petty. He might not be as well known for rule-bending as Smokey Yunick is, but ask anyone who knows about the “Yellow Banana” Ford Galaxie that he put together for Fred Lorenzen.

Post racing career, Junior went back to old ways…although, a bit more legally. His “Midnight Moon” brand of moonshine has been commercially available for a while, and is still based on the old family recipe. He was a racer to the core, a gifted team owner, and yet nothing about his past was left in the background..except maybe for the jail time. He was the same good ol’ boy that he always was, with the same drawl, the same skillsets, and the same hat tip to everyone who taught him everything he knew. He didn’t set out to be a pioneer. He just did what came naturally, led others by his example, and kept the charm on full. With eighty-eight years of living hard and fast under his belt, Junior Johnson lived a life worthy of the movies.

Rest easy, Junior, and thank you for the memories.