Johnson first came to drag racing renown for his work porting and polishing cylinder heads, carefully massaging them by hand in the days before CNC machines.

In 1956 Johnson, who carved wood as a hobby, took that artistry to the dragstrip when he designed a fiberglass body that would cloak a mid-engine dragster chassis from front to back. Over a two-year period, Johnson hand-laid the fiberglass body to fit over the mid-engine machine and capped it with an aircraft- style canopy to enclose the driver. The car debuted in July 1958 was "Jazzy" Jim Nelson at the wheel. That car eventually ran 8.,35 at 178 at Riverside Raceway over Memorial Day weekend in 1959, a pass that was among the fastest and quickest times run by its traditional contemporaries, but the body cracked on the run and disintegrated.

Johnson later built an aluminum body for the car which debuted at Lions Dragstrip in 1964 with an Allison aircraft engine for power but the added weight made the car uncompetitive and it was never ran in competition again. Emory Cook took the car on tour under the name Thundercar as can be seen in the Jim Kelly photos above..

In 1971 Johnson built an updated version of the car for Garlits and driver Connie Swingle, but the car, dubbed Swamp Rat 17, was too heavy and ill-handling and was quickly shelved.

Johnson is survived by his wife Joanie and his son Ben.