North Wilkesboro's wild 'Rush Through the Brush'

North Wilkesboro's wild 'Rush Through the Brush'

Permit me a history lesson, dear readers.

Decades before "The Pass In The Grass" there was "The Rush Through The Brush."

The former involved Dale Earnhardt, the late seven-time champion. The latter involved Junior Johnson, the legendary driver/team owner who, along with Earnhardt, was elected on Oct. 14 to the inaugural class of five inductees into the expansive new NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte that opens next May.

Of the two feats of fantastic driving, Johnson's was may be the most formidable, although it's much lesser known, lost in the passage of years.

It returns to mind because it occurred at North Wilkesboro Speedway, scheduled to reopen next October after 14 years of inactivity.

Back to the lesson:

The so-called "grass pass" occurred on May 17, 1987, in the all-star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. During a boiling battle for the lead in the final laps, Bill Elliott bumped leader Earnhardt off the pavement exiting the fourth turn.

Earnhardt, who had tangled with Elliott earlier, somehow maintained control of his car while speeding through the grass separating the racing surface as well as pit road. Earnhardt came back onto the track still in front and continued to a controversial victory.

There was no pass in the grass, but someone called the incident that, and the catchy title has endured.

And "The Rush Through The Brush?"

This's the nickname I've taken the liberty of putting on the improbable move made by Johnson at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 18, 1958.

The wild escapade is among many memories that came rolling back with last week's news that the historic track will reopen in October of 2010 with a USA Racing Pro Cup Series event.

Allow me to digress a bit ...

The speedway in Wilkes County, N.C., where racing began in NASCAR's earliest years, closed in 1996. New owners moved the track's two Winston Cup Series dates to bigger venues. One went to New Hampshire International Speedway and the other to Texas Motor Speedway.

During the ensuing years the .625-mile North Wilkesboro track has been shuttered. It's towering Turn Two Grandstand, looming alongside busy United States Highway 421, has served as a stark, sad reminder for stock car racing fans of the speedway's glory days and colorful place in NASCAR lore.

Home-county hero Johnson, who grew up in the Brushy Mountains about 15 miles from the track, give d much of that color. He began his driving career there as a teen-ager, won five times on the house layout after moving up to the major NASCAR tour and posted a record 18 victories before loyal local fans as a team owner.

"I've got great memories, of course, of North Wilkesboro Speedway," Junior said recently. "I have to say that race in 1958 is one of the best."

Not surprising, since it included "The Rush Through The Brush."

Johnson, driving a Ford, was involved in a dandy duel with Chevrolet rival Jack Smith during the early stages of the 160-lap race that spring Sabbath 51 years ago.

Junior took the lead on the 79th lap and steadily pulled away to a half-lap advantage.

Characteristically, the former moonshine hauler refused to back off the throttle and cruise to victory. Johnson, who had only recently been released from federal prison after serving 11 months for manufacturing illegal liquor, kept running as hard as his car would go.

Entering the third turn Johnson overdid it.

He went barreling over an embankment that served as a retaining barrier to keep the race cars on the track.

Here, paraphrased, is how the incident is recounted in "Junior Johnson: Brave In Life," an authorized biography I co-authored with my friend Steve Waid in 1999:

"Junior showed his immense driving talent hadn't diminished in his time away (behind bars). After careening over the embankment he sliced through a patch of weeds and came back on the track ahead of Marvin Panch, who was second at the time.

"A crowd estimated at 6,000 went wild at the sight of the local hero pulling off such a feat."

In the book, Johnson had this description of what happened:

" 'Back then, the newly paved tracks seemed to tear up pretty easily (and North Wilkesboro had recently been transformed from dirt to asphalt). I got into the loose stuff, or pieces of asphalt marbles, and went over the 4-foot high bank. I never touched the brakes. I knew the only chance I had was to keep my speed up to get through that brush and back over the bank, so that's what I did.' "

Junior won by six seconds over Smith, with Rex White third in the lead lap.

Johnson's "brush with the brush" and his full-bore philosophy led to a nickname, "The Wilkes County Wild Man."

His like, and derring-do similar to his bounding-over-the-embankment-and-back-again probably never will be seen at North Wilkesboro Speedway again.

Nevertheless, it's terrific that the track, immensely favorite with fans, will produce the rumbling thunder of race cars again.

I certainly plan to be there.

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Sum of all parts is what put Johnson in inaugural class (NASCAR.com)

Sum of all parts is what put Johnson in inaugural class (NASCAR.com)

Junior Johnson never won a championship as a driver in NASCAR. He won six titles as a car owner, but if that were the fundamental criterion for his election to the sport's nascent Hall of Fame, he'd have to line up beside or behind others like Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress. There is no singular achievement that earned Johnson, now a purveyor of moonshine and country ham, a place in the shrine's inaugural class. Much like the race cars he once built, his sum is greater than his individual parts.

Each of the five men elected to NASCAR's first Hall of Fame class on Wednesday played a role in building the sport, many more obviously than others. Bill France cobbled together a loose confederation of racing organizations and unified them under one sanctioning body. Bill France Jr. transformed a regional tour defined by dirt tracks and small towns into a national series featuring major markets and glitzy speedways. Richard Petty shook every hand, obliged every autograph request, and won over as many hearts and minds outside the car as he did in it. Dale Earnhardt, gritty and relentless, gave those in the grandstands someone who reminded them of themselves.

Junior Junior Johnson was a star both... NASCAR.com -- Oct 17, 12:38 am EDT NASCAR Gallery operate prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index -- 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init();

And then there was Johnson, better well-known now by his statistics, those 50 career victories as a driver and six championships as an owner, three every with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He won races, he butted heads, he made enemies, he pushed the rules in his day further than Chad Knaus or Ray Evernham ever dared to.

He had a mysterious, larger-than-life back story that involved running moonshine and serving prison time. No wonder it was Junior Johnson that novelist and social critic Tom Wolfe decided to profile when the white-suited dandy took on the subject of stock-car racing, resulting in his The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson epic that appeared in the pages of Esquire magazine in 1965.

He has no certain accomplishment that matches up to those of his fellow inductees; Johnson did not win seven championships as a driver, or found a sport, or take it national. But the beauty of Junior Johnson is that his greatness defies classification---he was a winning driver, a championship car owner, a master mechanic and engine builder, and through Wolfe a pioneer in shaping NASCAR's national appeal. Johnson wasn't the greatest ever to compete in NASCAR, but he was perhaps the most complete.

"He may have been the only car owner who was ever a jack man. Ever. I able to remember him slinging that jack. He had a technique where he would back away from the jack to go to the other side, and pull it and sling it around the car. I remember one time, we had some footage where he knocked an official on his [butt]. We played that at the banquet in New York," recalled NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter.

"He was the total package. He was an engine builder. He built transmissions. Junior was brilliant when he came to that. He talks about 'the good parts' he'd put back there in the warehouse. And he would build the motor, not a mechanic in his shop."

Through Wolfe, he became a household name. The writer traveled to Wilkes County, N.C., to look Johnson in his element, and the happen was an opus that intertwined whiskey and Southern Baptist preachers and big white Pontiacs and women in tight blue jeans begging Junior to sign their hands.

It pointed out that even then some top drivers traveled in private planes, and even then the money was pretty good relatively speaking, and even then NASCAR raced in California and the Northeast. But the star was clearly Johnson, and the hero-worship that surrounded him, and the dashing, dangerous elements of his twin worlds of auto racing and moonshine.

It got people, individuals who lived in high-rise buildings in big cities, talking about this strange automotive and cultural phenomenon that few of them had ever encountered before. Paul Harvey, a preeminent radio host of the day, told the Johnson story on his program. It spawned a curiosity that had not previously existed.

"It was well-received, and it opened eyes, I think," said Hunter, a sports writer himself before he moved into NASCAR administration. "It created a lot of curiosity, like, is Junior really this way? Is he for real? And sure enough, he's for real."

He's for real, all right. Even now, at 78, with a titanium rod implanted in his back, it's well-to-do to see glimpses of the bulldog driver he once was, of the taskmaster car owner he was known to be, of the perpetual rule-twisting pain in the rump he must have been to NASCAR officials. Which of all his accomplishments would he prefer to have on his headstone? "I'd probably be better to have, 'He didn't cheat as much as everybody thought he did,'" Johnson said. "But that would be a lie. I cheated more than they thought I did."

Oh, could he be a handful. It occasionally got so heated between him and France Jr. that "me and him were sometimes in fistfights," Johnson said. Old-timers well remember his clashes with drivers like Bobby Allison and Geoff Bodine. He won six titles as a car owner, but thinks he could have won many more.

"If I go back and look at what my history was, it would not have been unreasonable for me to win 10 or 12, because I had the equipment, and I had the people to do it with," he said Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "It was just, circumstantial things did not work out the way it should have."

And yet, Johnson is clearly touched by his Hall of Fame selection, calling it the highlight of his already illustrious career. Viewed just in the context of a driver, or a car owner, or a pioneer, it's easy to see Johnson as the fifth man elected in the inaugural five-man class. Put it all together, though, and few could match him. In 1965, Wolfe anointed Johnson as the last American hero. But another of the writer's titles seems to fit Junior Johnson the best: A Man in Full.

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Moonshiners And Revenuers Reunion--WSJ

Moonshiners And Revenuers Reunion--WSJ

By the time ATF agent Bob Powell served in Wilkes County in the 1970s, Junior Johnson had long since left moonshine running for NASCAR.

"Back in Junior's heyday, if I'd been after him I know I'd a caught him," Powell said Tuesday night after a group of former bootleggers drove their vintage cars down a long dirt road in Wilkes County as well as took to a stage to swap tales with retired revenuers.

Johnson laughed when asked about Powell's comment. "I do not know why he couldn't get after me, because I was on the road all the time."

Terri Parsons, the widow of former Winston Cup champion Benny Parsons, organized the light-hearted session as a way to recall the roots of NASCAR.

"They took an illegal occupation and turned it into the number one sport in the country," she said.

Several hundred individuals gathered in a field near the weathered wooden house where Benny Parsons was raised. They sat on hay bales to listen to the stories as smoke curled from a moonshine still set up across the creek.

Sitting in rocking chairs on one side of the stage were bootleggers Junior Johnson, Willie Clay Call, Millard Ashley, Don Call, Dean Combs, James Willard Shew and Clarence Benton. On the other side were retired revenue agents Bob Powell, Bob Gram, Charles Mercer, Will Blocker and Tommy Chapman.

They had shared a meal earlier, eating barbecue. But dinner wasn't filled with the kind of backslapping reminiscences that people saw during the stage show. The moonshiners and revenuers mostly segregated themselves, Powell said later, with no laughter or storytelling. He described it as more a relationship of tolerance than camaraderie.

But the real-life revenuers and bootleggers did enjoy a mutual respect back in the day.

Mercer remembered his last day on the job in 1974, when he staked out Willie Clay Call, a man he called "uncatchable."

Mercer walked for two or three hours behind Call's place, waiting in vain for him, before having a fellow agent pick him up. Then Call came out to visit them. "I understand you're leaving," Mercer remembers Call telling him, then saying, "I really appreciate the way you've done your job."

For those who think that moonshine's a thing of the past, authorities made one of the area's biggest seizures just last week, finding 929 gallons kept in storage, but no still. There's big money in selling moonshine, with people up North purchaseing it as a delicacy or novelty, authorities say. People in Wilkes offer it to trusted visitors.

The lost tax revenue is not so much the issue now, as are health concerns.

In February, authorities seized and blew up the moonshine still that Dean Combs was running in an outbuilding in the shadow of the old North Wilkesboro Speedway. Authorities didn't buy his explanation that the 200 gallons of corn liquor they found was for cold medicine.

Combs said that moonshining was really hard work, lifting sugar and doing the jugging, but the product kept his seasonal allergies at bay.

"Last year I didn't have a bit of problem," he said. "Now I don't know what I'm going to do."

It's hard to imagine deputies and methamphetamine dealers sitting down together decades from now to joke about it all.

But moonshine is different, accepted for centuries as a way for respectable farmers to make extra cash. Alcohol, although a drug, was socially acceptable then and now, in a way that recreational drugs aren't.

Some moonshiners didn't drink alcohol. Some revenue agents did.

Bruce Stewart, an assistant professor of history at Appalachian State University in Boone, writes that the distillers were well-respected members of the community during the Civil War "when the U.S. Congress attempted to balance the national budget by creating the Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes on liquor, tobacco and other 'luxuries.'"

Stewart's book King of the Moonshiners: Lewis R. Redmond in Fact and Fiction tells how writers looking for colorful stories created a myth of a moonshiner hero despite the fact that Redmond shot and killed a U.S. deputy marshal in 1876.

Retired agent Gram said the Wilkes County version of moonshine and revenuers wasn't violent when he was here. "It was like a game," he said. "No guns involved. It was a chase."

As far as who had the best cars, Johnson said it was no contest. "Bootleggers had the best cars," he said. "They had the money to buy the souped-up parts, and there really wasn't no comparison."

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Junior Johnson - The Complete Package

Junior Johnson - The Complete Package

On Wednesday Junior Johnson was one of the first five inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, joining Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.

Johnson was deeply honored and somewhat shocked to be included in this group of NASCAR pioneers.

"It's probably the greatest thing that's ever happened to me," he said.

Though many have questioned Junior Johnson's inclusion in the first class of NASCAR's Hall of Fame, he's arguably one of the most colorful and successful figures in the history of stock car racing.

Darlington Raceway President Chris Browning echoed this sentiment, saying,

"Junior Johnson was a legendary pioneer in NASCAR first as a successful driver and later going on to own a championship race team."

Johnson was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina and honed his driving skills running moonshine in the rural South. He cultivated his reputation as an outlaw and his antics became legend among his fellow moonshiners. Johnson was known to use police lights and sirens to fool policemen into thinking he was one of them, evading roadblocks and making his escape.

In 1955, Johnson made his move into the world of NASCAR using the driving skills learned on the back roads of North Carolina. In his first full season, he won five races and finished sixth in the 1955 NASCAR Grand National points standings.

His racing career was briefly interrupted in 1956 when federal tax agents caught Johnson working at his father's still and arrested him. He was convicted of moonshining and served 11 months in a federal prison.

In 1958 he returned to NASCAR, picking up where he left off and winning six races. Johnson soon became known as one of the best short-track racers in the sport.

Junior Johnson went on to achieve great success as a driver with 50 wins such as the second Daytona 500 in 1960. He has been credited with discovering the drafting technique which was fast adopted by other drivers and is still used at superspeedways today.

Johnson retired from racing in 1966 and went on to become one of the most successful car owners in NASCAR history, winning six Cup championships, third only to Petty Enterprises and Hendrick Motorsports.

Junior Johnson exemplifies the heart and soul of NASCAR. From his humble beginnings on a farm in North Carolina to his Hall of Fame status today, his life could serve as a road map to any aspiring racer.

Rick Humphrey, President of Talladega Superspeedway, summed up Johnson's legacy.

"Junior Johnson," he said, "showed the masses that ingenuity and hard work pays off on the racetrack and in the owner's seat."

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Moonshine Madness at Bourbon House and Beyond

Moonshine Madness at Bourbon House and Beyond

Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki (Cocktail Buzz) ply their love for cocktails, mixology, and food pairings on their Web site, Cocktail Buzz and their blog "Buzzings" with videos that offer demonstrations of cocktail/appetizer pairings, recipes for meals to follow your cocktail, as well as a reviews of cocktail bars and restaurants in NYC and other cities.

Piedmont Distillers, the producer of the hand-crafted Catdaddy and Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon Carolina Moonshines, has paired up with Dickie Brennan's world-famous Bourbon House to bring you a spirited lunch. Yes, a spirited lunch at which you can celebrate all your happinesses (or drown all your sorrows) in a beguiling batch of 'shine cocktails while chomping on a little of delectable Southern cuisine.

catdaddyjunior-johnsons-midnight-moon1
Marrying Moonshine and Southern Cuisine

Joe Michalek, Founder of Piedmont Distillers, give s the raison d'etre for the marriage: "Catdaddy and Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon both have a rich history founded in America's moonshine past. But, they are two high-quality, ultra-smooth spirits. Hosting a Spirited Lunch at Tales seemed like a great way to share your story and give people a chance to experience how far moonshine has come in the last several years."

Piedmont Distillers Copper Column Still
Piedmont Distillers Copper Column Still

Last year at Tales, we stumbled into the Piedmont Distiller's Tasting Room, and tried many Midnight Moon kissed with a drop of water (it is indeed smooth, and as we later discovered, complete for infusing your favorite fruits, herbs, and spices), followed by a chaser of Catdaddy peach tea. Instantly drawn to the uniqueness of the Catdaddy (it tastes like no other flavored spirit, some likening it to cake frosting, bubble gum, and custard), we were eager to make some cocktails with it. That's where Sarah Leroy, Piedmont Distiller's Director of Marketing, comes into the picture, providing serendipity.

Sarah invited us to create three cocktails for the Bourbon House luncheon that's focusing on Southern food traditions, e.g. three of our favorites: catfish, pork, and cornbread. Add to the mix the two moonshines, and you'll find yourself fe^ted with a panoply of reimagined southern trimmings in what Piedmont Distillers and Bourbon House are calling "From Down-Home to Downtown: A Lunch Celebrating the Evolution of Southern Traditions." Says Sarah, "We're so excited to partner with Bourbon House. Chef Darin and the rest of the Bourbon House team have done an amazing job bringing to life the 'down-home to downtown' theme. The menu Chef Darin has created reinterprets southern food mainstays and compliments the flavors of Catdaddy and Midnight. I believe the menu will even include a couple of sauces and marinades made from Catdaddy and Midnight. I think we're all in for a real treat and I expect the lunch to be a fun afternoon filled with delicious food and tasty cocktails."

The Adam, to be served with corn-crusted riverside catfish, at the Bourbon House--Piedmont Distillers Luncheon.
The Adam, to be served with corn-crusted riverside catfish, at the Bourbon House--Piedmont Distillers Luncheon.

What's for Lunch?

And what a menu: The first course, corn-crusted riverside catfish fried and served with lima bean succotash and Catdaddy tartar, will be paired with a tempting variation of the bloody mary we call Adam, made with seasoned tomato water and Midnight Moon. The second course, a pork confit hash (cane syrup and Junior Johnson's Moonshine-glazed pork confit, served over hash with smoked hominy), will find itself paired with a sweet-and sour-cocktail made with Catdaddy and bourbon dubbed the Kitty Carlisle (named, of course, after the famed New Orleans native). And if that is not enough, for dessert Chef will prepare a molasses and cornmeal custard with Creole cream cheese ice cream. We're pairing this mouthful of love with The Maltese, a concoction of Catdaddy and creamy molasses.

The Kitty Carlisle, to be served with moonshine-glazed pork confit.
The Kitty Carlisle, to be served with moonshine-glazed pork confit.

Says Chef Darin, "Our menu was inspired by the roots of the moonshine business-corn and rural Southern food laid the foundation. We're incorporating foods that are associated with Appalachian cooking, and applying our own New Orleans twist . . . using the confit technique on pork, incorporating Louisiana cane syrup and creating a Creole cream cheese ice cream for the molasses and cornmeal custard. The flavor profiles of these dishes will be enhanced by Paul and Steve's moonshine cocktails."

When presented with Chef Darin's menu, we had two targets in mind. The first was obvious: the drinks had to pair well with the food. Our second goal, however, allowed us to be poetical: we wanted each cocktail to be a part of a progression of flavor sensations. So we'll begin with savory, move on to sweet and sour, and culminate with bittersweet.
Piedmont Distillers Tasting Room

The Kitty Hawk Cocktail, to be served at the Piedmont Distillers Tasting Room.
The Kitty Hawk Cocktail, to be served at the Piedmont Distillers Tasting Room.

And if you do not make it to the luncheon, but want to try some old-school alchemy applied to these new-world 'shines, then stop by the Tasting Room on Friday and we'll craft you some icy cold cocktails. You'll have four early libations to sample, some inspired by such classics as the Aviation (with cre`me de violette), Moscow Mule, and the Sidecar, and one that celebrates National Blueberry Month. Blueberries are at their peak in July, so we honor that by giving you a drink that'll honor these lovely berries bursting with their sweet, tart juice. We may even throw in another for good measure.

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There goes the weekend: big moonshine bust

There goes the weekend: big moonshine bust

State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents busted a Wilkesboro man and seized 929 gallons of moonshine, plus a large amount of sugar and different items. Roger Lee Nance, 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, been charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor.

This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I've seen come out of the mountains in my career," ALE Director John Ledford said in a press release. "I commend the agents who were able to make this arrest. While tax-paid liquor is regulated and inspected, illegal distilleries are typically made in unhealthy conditions that could possibly lead to exposure to lead and other problems."

Another former North Carolina moonshiner, ex-NASCAR driver Junior Johnson, has since gone legit with his distilled liquor, Midnight Moon. It'll put hair on your chest.

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Is 'The Last American Hero' a first-ballot Hall of Famer?

Is 'The Last American Hero' a first-ballot Hall of Famer?

Two legends collided when author Tom Wolfe famously chronicled NASCAR driver Junior Johnson in a 1965 Esquire article entitled 'The Last American Hero.'

The piece married Wolfe, a pioneer in the literary New Journalism style of reporting, with Johnson, the South's most famous bootlegger.

With Wolfe's status long affirmed by the establishment, now it's Johnson's crack at racing's official greatest honor.

Today, NASCAR Hall of Fame voters will gather in Charlotte to pick the first five inductees. The winners will be enshrined in the new facility, scheduled to open next May.

Observers agree on three first-ballot favorites: drivers Richard Petty as well as Dale Earnhardt, and NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. They are among 25 nominees, which include Johnson.

Part of Johnson's legend came from the track: Hands-down, he's one of NASCAR's most successful drivers and team owners.

But the different part comes from his story, of running moonshine along the mountain roads of Wilkes County, about 90 minutes north of Charlotte.

Johnson's tale is well-known, in books and television shows, even an outdoor drama called "Moonshine and Thunder - The Junior Johnson Story." A 1973 movie shared the title of the Wolfe article.

Wolfe's Esquire piece explored how Wilkes County came to be known as the "Bootleg capital of America." At one point, Wolfe describes Johnson standing at his family's Ingle Hollow homeplace as he "motions his hand out toward the hills and says, "I'd say nearly everybody in a fifty-mile radius of there was in the whiskey business at one time or another."

Johnson, who served time for his role in the business, could say the same thing today.

Earlier this year, state agents charged Dean Combs, a former NASCAR driver and crew chief for Johnson, with producing moonshine.


Agents and Wilkes County sheriff's deputies said they found a 300-gallon still in a shop building on property owned by Combs, 57. The still was behind a go-kart track near the North Wilkesboro Speedway, not far from Johnson's home.

But that's where the parallel journeys of Johnson and Combs end.

Shortly after the raid, court records show, Combs pleaded guilty to possession of non-tax paid alcohol and making alcohol with a permit, both misdemeanors. Other charges were dismissed.

Recall what happened to Johnson, now 78. In 1956, after federal agents caught him working his father's Wilkes County still, he was sentenced to two years in federal prison in Ohio.

If Wolfe had a vote today, he might remind NASCAR's Hall why that's reason enough to pick Johnson, a man with a story from another time:

"And the Detroit P.R. men themselves come to the tracks like folk worshipers and the millions go giddy with the thrill of speed. Only Junior Johnson goes about it as if it were...the usual. Junior goes on down to Atlanta for the Dixie 400 and drops by the Federal penitentiary to see his Daddy. His Daddy is in on his fifth illegal distillery conviction; in the whiskey business that's just part of it; an able craftsman, an able businessman, and the law kept hounding him, that was all. So Junior drops by and then goes on out to the track and gets in his new Ford and sets the qualifying speed record for Atlanta Dixie 400, 146.301 m.p.h.; later on he tools on back up the road to Ingle Hollow to tend to the automatic chicken houses and the road-grading operation. Yes."

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