Warren Johnson isn’t exactly a nostalgic kinda guy. However, when the sanctioning body declares you as a legend, some adjustments 
must be made along the way.
This weekend at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals, the oft-called Professor of Pro Stock, has returned to 1981, the first year Johnson ran an NHRA event at Atlanta Dragway; a race he said was just a drag race in town so he decided to run it. At the time Johnson was in a three way battle for the IHRA’s Pro Stock championship.
Johnson ran a 1981 Oldsmobile Starfire bearing a simple maroon paint job with his initials boldly emblazoned on the side. He’s the running the same scheme this weekend, replacing the refrigerator white cloaking his Chevrolet Cobalt.
Warren Johnson isn’t exactly a nostalgic kinda guy. However, when the sanctioning body declares you as a legend, some adjustments
must be made along the way.
This weekend at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals, the oft-called Professor of Pro Stock, has returned to 1981, the first year Johnson ran an NHRA event at Atlanta Dragway; a race he said was just a drag race in town so he decided to run it. At the time Johnson was in a three way battle for the IHRA’s Pro Stock championship.
Johnson ran a 1981 Oldsmobile Starfire bearing a simple maroon paint job with his initials boldly emblazoned on the side. He’s the running the same scheme this weekend, replacing the refrigerator white cloaking his Chevrolet Cobalt.
“The car needed a paint scheme and it did resemble what everyone called it – a butter bean,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Since this year is the 60th, it’s the perfect time to go retro.”
And when you look back Johnson’s drag racing credentials are impeccable. He’s raced his way to 97 career victories in 151 final rounds and that’s only on the NHRA side. Before he became an iconic NHRA driver, Johnson was a two-time IHRA world champion.
Drag racing fans labeled him legendary a long time ago. NHRA officials have joined the chorus, labeling him a bona fide legend as part of their 60th anniversary celebration.
“I really haven’t come to grips with the term legend as it applies to me,” Johnson admitted. “I don’t really consider myself a legend, just someone who has been fortunate enough to make a living with a race car.”
Johnson moved from Minnesota to the Atlanta area in the late 1970s to be closer to the IHRA competition which was staged primarily in the southeastern part of the country. He won IHRA titles with Georgia-based team owner Jerome Bradford in 1979 and 1980. Johnson was successful with an engine he proudly proclaims displaced “a whole 452 cubic inches” against others as large as 700 inches.
Those championships were won with a Chevrolet-branded race car. In 1982, Johnson returned to the NHRA tour with the Starfire and up until the most recent Charlotte event had nearly three decades of non-Chevrolet service. A testing accident the weekend before the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte forced him back into the Bowtie brigade.
Sporting the maroon paint scheme with the familiar WJ emblazed on the doors conjures up memories for the driver who prides himself in being a forward thinker.
“This track holds a lot of memories for me because I won my first IHRA championship back in 1979,” Johnson recalled. “I came into the race in third place and everything worked out and we left with the championship.”
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