Junior Johnson was one of the greatest drivers and pioneers in NASCAR. He was one of the few who had their origins in moonshining. Back in 2011, decades after he had stopped racing, Johnson sat down for an interview. He revealed and relived some of his memories from the days he was doing moonshine runs.

Johnson said, “Bootlegging cars was the start of race cars. We souped them up to outrun the law, and that’s where they got the idea to start racing. We’d find a strip of road and race our moonshine cars. I retired from driving in NASCAR when I was just 35 because, honestly, the speed and the danger I experienced running moonshine and racing on those country roads was greater than the speed and the danger I dealt with on the racetrack.”

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Johnson further mentioned that he might have stayed longer in the racing scene as a driver. Only if the rewards during his days were as high as the current times. The prize money at the end of the 2011 season amounted to approximately $6 million, which in comparison to what Junior earned throughout his racing career would amount to nearly 20 times more. Throughout Junior Johnson’s career, he was able to earn a total of just $301,866.

How did Junior Johnson get into NASCAR?

Before his days racing in the top flight of American Motorsports, Johnson used to help around with the family business of moonshining. Their family used to both make illegal alcoholic beverages and drop their supplies off using souped-up stock cars to outrun the local authorities.

During that time, Johnson and his peers realised that they could also start racing against each other in their powerful cars. Slowly, his moonshining drops turned into professional racing, from the beaches of Daytona to the high-banked ovals.

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Throughout his career in NASCAR, he was also actively involved in his family’s moonshining business. At one point he was even caught by the police after a long chase on foot. However, considering his achievements in the sporting world, he was later given a presidential pardon to remove all charges against him. Years later, he continued with his moonshining business, however, this time around it was done legally.