Roy Johnson has been on the Mopar fast doorslammer scene for over 40 years. In the early Sixties Johnson and Terry Earwood (older brother of Rockingham Dragway owner, Steve Earwood) teamed up to be absolute killers in NHRA’s Division 2 as well as IHRA competition. They had bad-fast wedges and Hemi’s and Johnson was always the engine builder. In more recent times Roy and son Allen were the first successful non-factory-backed Pro Stock Mopar racers. They now enjoy a relationship with Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing as a factory-backed team. The Johnson cars (driven by Allen Johnson and Richie Stevens Jr.) were both in the finals of Pro Stock at the recent NHRA Mile High Nationals. Mopar Max contributor Darr Hawthorne sat down with Roy for a candid and entertaining conversation with one of the true Southern gentlemen of drag racing.
When did you start racing?
Roy Johnson: I started racing go-karts in 1961 and then I moved from that to dirt cars (oval track) and ran those until '71. I started drag racing in '68 with a friend of mine who had a '68 Road Runner. I actually had two friends, one had a GTX 440 and one had a Road Runner. We kind of, in the area, became popular with the '68 Road Runner car because it was a good car. We ran local tracks in Stock (Eliminator) back then. We enjoyed it and that's kinda how I got involved with racing.
Was that car your first Mopar?
RJ: I actually didn't own either car; I couldn't afford anything. All I did was work on them. The '68 Road Runner we did so well happened when I met a guy that had a little more money than I did. He had the car all pretty but it had no “go,” so he and I kinda became friends, joined hands and formed Earwood and Johnson, and that was in the early '70s. We had two '62 Plymouths just alike that we started with. We ran IHRA, AHRA and then NHRA. We did that for three or four years until he became…well…divorced and he quit, so my wife and I just kinda picked it up and we kept on racing.
When you look back in the early '70s, mid-'70s, I was pretty dominant with that car in Super Stock. I ran Top Stock early on and then it changed to Super Stock IHRA and we ran a two-barrel class (383ci two-barrel wedge motors) most of the time.
What tracks did you compete at?
RJ: All of IHRA's national meets. Back then they just ran on the Eastern coast, and, I think, Amarillo, Texas, we went there a couple times, but mostly on the Eastern coast.
What kind of times were you running?
RJ: I think I remember when we first started we ran 13’s and then I built a new motor and we improved a whole second and were heroes for doing that. We eventually wound up with a 383 two-barrel running in the low 11's.
