As of the 2010 season, Johnson won the NHRA Pro Stock Championship in six seasons and 97 NHRA national events. Johnson is also a two time IHRA champion in the Mountain Motor Pro Stock division. In 1997, he became the first NHRA Pro Stock driver to exceed 200 mph with a pass of 200.13 mph at Richmond, Virginia. He became the first Pro Stock driver to make a sub-6.9 second pass with a 6.894-second run at Richmond, Va. He stands at the head of the Pro Stock class in every statistical category: victories, final rounds, No. 1 qualifying times, low elapsed times, and top speeds. Johnson took a sabbatical from NHRA competition from 1979 to 1981. During these "lost years," Warren won back-to-back IHRA Pro Stock championships and barnstormed his big-block Camaro on the match racing circuit, where he perfected his racecraft. Johnson utterly dominated Pro Stock in the 1990s, winning championships in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, and 1999. When he didn't win the championship, he finished second or third. He won 30 percent of the races and appeared in 44 percent of the final rounds. He claimed four consecutive U.S. Nationals crowns from 1992 to 1995 and ended the decade with his sixth career Indy title in 1999. W.J. reached drag racing's last great milestone with his barrier-breaking 200-mph run in April 1997, and in 1999 he made history again by running the top speed at every event on the calendar. He was ranked #7 of the best drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
By Jon Asher
It's been said many times that the victors write the history books, and that statement seems applicable to drag racing, where the well-respected National Hot Rod Association is the endeavor's acknowledged leader. Still, it must be noted that despite the successes many Hall of Famers enjoyed in that series, drivers like Shirley Muldowney, Raymond Beadle, Connie Kalitta and Chris Karamesines are among many who rose to national prominence as a result of their exploits in other series. Such is the case with Warren Johnson.
Long before he became a six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and Georgia resident, Johnson's big-block Chevy Vega came thundering out of Minnesota to barnstorm the old AHRA Grand American Series, taking the measure of future Hall of Famers Bill Jenkins, Dyno Don Nicholson and the vaunted duo of Sox & Martin, among others.
When NHRA added Pro Stock to their agenda, Johnson's fortunes soared. His attention to detail, willingness to work around the clock (he's been known to step away from Thanksgiving dinner to head back to his dyno room), plus his studied approach to everything from chassis setups to cylinder head configurations and more soon earned him the sobriquet "The Professor." Although Johnson was often willing to share what he knew, he preferred to teach his lessons on the track, and in that classroom he was seldom headed. His 97 wins, the second most in NHRA history, proves that as does his streak of 303 straight starts. That he was the first to break the 200 MPH barrier in 1997 was just more icing on the cake, as were his five appearances in the final round of the Horsepower Challenge, a special race for Pro Stock. Johnson has qualified for the Challenge a record 24 times. No other driver is even close.
While Johnson still makes an occasional appearance in competition, his elder statesman status with his peers has not only changed their perceptions of him, it's mellowed the man some were almost afraid to approach in years gone by. WJ rarely lost his temper while being peppered with questions from another racer, but what would set him off were questions he felt that competitor should already know the answers to. He had, and continues to have, little patience for time-wasters and glad-handers, and pity the writer foolish enough to ask, "What's it like out there?" or something equally inane.
There was a time when, despite his championships and victories, racing officials were loath to visit Johnson's pit area, for he was never afraid to voice his opinions on anything and everything. Nothing was sacred, be it a series sponsor, a rules adjustment he didn't like, or even the purse structure, something he vigorously campaigned about from Day 1. As the years went by and his sandy hair turned white, an increasing number of his competitors came to understand that it was The Professor's willingness to speak up for everyone else that set him apart from the crowd. His induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame is fitting, well-earned and maybe, just maybe, a little overdue.
Asher is the former editor of five drag racing-related magazines. In 55 years of writing and photographing, he’s received two Special Recognition Awards from the All-Star Drag Racing Team, the Founders Award from the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame and AARWBA’s Straight Shooter Award.
Atlanta Dragway events announcer Tony Sheffler (L) with Warren Johnson
(MSHFA)
