Whiskey Roads featuring Junior Johnson (2006)

From 2006 on the old Speed Channel, this documentary examines the links between bootleggers and the early days of NASCAR with a focus on legendary driver/mechanic/car owner Junior Johnson.

[@tkso.philly3879]

I truly love this.To hear these old boys tell their stories,makes feel like a little boy again,listening to the old men sitting around telling their stories of years ago.As a kid,during family get-togethers,I LOVED to sit around the old fellas and listen to them speak of their old tales...And I STILL do-

[@artsysparkybtm]

I enjoyed this and learned some things I never knew before. Thanks so much!

[@petramundo]

Today I found out that Jr Johnson was my father in laws cousin. my kid was thrilled with this connection to his family.

[@lewisfrazier3506]

Fantastic! A great man who will never be forgotten. 100 years from now, if the history of stock cars is mentioned, Junior Johnson's name will come up.God Bless Him

[@mattgoodmangoodmanlawnmowi2454]

Was in suburban Atlanta in 88, out around Marietta, saw a perfect condition 38 Packard. Had to pull over to look. An old man came out. Turns out he was a mechanic and he had built the Packard up for power. Said he had built cars in the 30s for many other guys. A free history lesson. And a remarkable visit.

[@jpalberthoward9]

NASCAR and the Allman Brothers Band are two reasons for anybody to feel really good about being a southerner.

[@jeffscott8323]

Yeaaaaah !!!!

[@billp5424]

Jr. was proud of the fact the Feds never caught him on the road. His one arrest was at a still site when he was on foot.

[@themanfromcabowabo1559]

Thanks for the clarification. I knew he did prison time and wondered why they said he was never caught.

[@adamUDavies]

How come the Ball jar manufacturing company didn't run out of jar's and lids back then ?? They are just like every other company now , just make excuses.

[@caseysmith544]

@@adamUDavies Lots of companies now only make or have what they need to manufacture right now due to the Corona Virus.

[@adamUDavies]

@@caseysmith544 that is just an excuse so they can raise the price of their product. Corporate B.S. !

[@deantait8326]

Yep, Dey was da danged Revenuers . Up by the holler

[@samdurbin6566]

Much much much respect for this man as i was never caught on a chase either back then

[@jackalister1662]

Thank you for your service!👍

[@mikesmithey4882]

Junior Johnson was the first driver to realize and utilize the draft. He figured it out by accident when he noticed he could pull up behind a car and then pull around that guy any had much more speed built up by doing it and made the pass easier.

[@jackalister1662]

Junior was a very innovative character. Didn’t have a lot of patience from what I’ve heard from an old timer from my home town that worked for the Pettys in the 60s.

[@warrenfloyd1484]

The birth of NASCAR

[@tobydog247]

We lived just off Brushy Mountain Rd in Wilkes county in the early 80s. One night my brother in law and I decided to run Thunder Road after a few. Scared the living heck out of us. No guard rails, no lights anywhere. We were quite subdued when we got back to the house. Junior just walked around town like he was nobody.

[@adamUDavies]

Junior Johnson was a legend of NC He did more for Nascar than they will ever admit . They wouldn't be what it is without him.

[@eltonspurlock]

He got WINSTON to sponsor NASCAR.

[@adamUDavies]

@@eltonspurlock and NHRA for a while

[@howabouthetruth2157]

For those who don't already know: Humpy Wheeler didn't give the details, resulting in being inaccurate about Junior Johnson and Winston coming into major sponsorship for NASCAR. The whole story, is Junior Johnson approached Winston execs proposing sponsoring his cars for somewhere between 1.5 and 3 million dollars. ( I could be a little off on those figures, I'm simply going off memory. ) The Winston execs said: "Hell Mr. Johnson, we were thinking more along the lines of 20 to 30 million"..........seeing as Junior didn't need anywhere near that kind of money ( back then ) to sponsor his cars, he did NASCAR a huge favor by bringing the two together, so he was directly responsible for bringing Winston into the whole deal, resulting in the Winston Cup series. Before that, the France family had never approached Winston about such a huge venture, it was all thanks to Junior Johnson. Yet NASCAR refused to induct him into the Hall of Fame due to his past felony for bootlegging. NASCAR has screwed the living hell out of many, if not most of the old legendary drivers, teams, and car owners. Just like NASCAR screwed the living hell out of its main source of money: THE LIFE-LONG DIE HARD FANS in more recent years, to create the joke they are today, as opposed to the once glorious motor sport we all so loved for decades.

[@HODIUSDUDE]

Johnson WAS inducted into the NASCAR HOF in 2010... the very first year.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

@@HODIUSDUDE ONLY AFTER HE WAS GRANTED A FULL PARDON. Before that, they wouldn't even consider him as a nomination. That is A FACT. ( Yet many other drivers were inducted who had only a fraction of wait time after retiring. ) Just as they refuse to induct Smokey Yunick. Smokey not only gave speeches back in the day to various groups & entities such as the Rotary Club, to entice many folks into investing into building the Daytona Super Speedway, he was an investor himself. Smokey and his cars & engines ( sold to many other teams ) played a huge role in attracting fans before, during, and after the super speedway was built.

[@sidebite2533]

I refuse to watch or purchase anything to do with NASCRAP. I stick to my local dirt bullrings. The France family is by far the most crooked lying knieving evil family on this planet. Look what they did to Jeremy Mayfield

[@adamUDavies]

It was a slap in the face what Nascar did to Junior Johnson. But he didn't seem to let them know that. He was smarter than they ever will be.

[@caseysmith544]

Yes for the two on his team he went looking for the sponsorship along with those drivers who lived in Alabama at the time. Only after the Winston got forced to be dropped was Mandated by Congress that a sporting event could not have Tobacco Sponsors, in the early 2000's was there a slight gap in sponsorship that others were then quick to fill. Then there was there a slower decline in 2009 after the peak when less and less sponsors wanted to sponsor the individual races and the cars themselves due in part to the Great Recession and then how mismanaged the racing from the top has been since the Recession was over. Now it looks with the new car and top person In NASCAR, that we have more Driver and Fan input, but NASCAR doing the extremes for this type of listening on the fan side, of adding too many road races and some odd short track stuff that does not need to be there like the Olympic Colosseum for a track in the 2022 Bush Clash.

[@hdbikerdave5835]

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

[@WMS345]

R I P Junior Johnson

[@warrenfloyd1484]

Love the way you put in the harmonica music in!!! I play😎👍

[@mikechurch2359]

WOW great video

[@357bullfrog9]

Junior Johnson is a legend here in east KY

[@demej00]

I remember when agents raided my uncles ranch in Arkansas in the early 60s. They had been walking around town looking for information but you knew who they were by the bulges at their beltline. They showed the still to my grandma and me before blowing it up.

[@Backwoods_870]

Think about how cool a good movie this would make🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@williamstamper442]

There is alot of embellishment in this vid. My daddy from Letcher county kentucky drove like a moonshiner in his 1950 ford along with many other cars from 15 years old and up. Dad always admired the powerful oldsmobiles and became an oldsmobile fan and im 51 years old today and im an oldsmobile man still today. Oldsmobiles were too expensive for most people in the mountains back then. Dad hauled moonshine one time only and was afraid of the feds and didnt want to go to jail. The thing about turning the headlights off was different than the video.. Dad said from running them tight roads of kentucky dad said he cut the lights off to see if another car was coming by their headlights...if none he put that 50 ford on the inside and 4 wheel drifted it thru the curve. At this moment i own a 1950 ford Tudor, 2 door long roof car. Its still 6 volt and all original and my daily driver. Bought this car for dad around 2000...he came out and cried a little reminding him of good ole times. Dad died in 2016. He was my best friend.

[@sidebite2533]

May your father rest in peace. Sound like he was a hell of man. 🙏👍

[@jeffscott8323]

Bless you and your Dad. May he rest in peace pop wasnt a moonshiner. But he had a 50 Ford 2 Dr sedan. Love to have it now

[@bigcheeezzz7135]

Great video!, Great Guy!!

[@treaverbombard3398]

Definitely one of my favorite NASCAR racers of all time a true American outlaw moonshiner that 63 Impala Mistry Motor race car is amazing

[@catheyahannas3240]

Junior Johnson was one of the Great men of stock car/Nascar racing!

[@jamesholcombe435]

My grandpa worked for junior.

[@Bobthebuilder.69]

Some of us in the NC Mtns still make good ole corn squeezins and Apple and Peach brandy.

[@howabouthetruth2157]

Just bought & finished reading ( the late ) Smokey Yunick's excellent autobiography .........the NASCAR Days volume......and sure enough, Smokey tells the story of how he had the strongest motor of everyone & had the winning car, but Junior Johnson had managed to maneuver his slower car so close to the rear of Smokey's car to take advantage of the draft, that it really did suck the rear glass clean out of Smokey's car........and at those high speeds, it took the handling away.........and Junior won. HIGHLY recommend Smokey's books. I'm about to purchase & read the volume about his days at Indy plus his inventions & patents.....also included with the Indy stuff.

[@petesmitt]

Yunick was a disgrace as a pilot in WW2.. using Air Force planes to amass a small fortune running crooked errands, instead of doing his duty.. no wonder he waited until he was dead to release his tell-all book.

[@davidcleveland9815]

Thats and Awesome video 🙂👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@maverick3576]

Everytime I go by that house, I call it the house that Budweiser built, I think he retired shortly after it was built, later sold it and moved to Charlotte, his latest race shop isn't far away. I once was on lunch break at a little nearby cafe, Junior walked in and ate, He acted like all the rest of us normies but pretty sure everyone there new they were in the presence of an American legend

[@logtrkr4693]

Man junior was one of the greatest 63 Chev with 427 rat motor and yellow bird ford not one panel on that car went untouched him and smokey bent the rules like a pretzel!!!!!!

[@warrenfloyd1484]

I went to school with Cale Yarboroughs kids, and shook his hand in the late 70s, he financed the rebuild of Hudgens academy God bless him!! After the fire, there, we still don't know who did it but Cale and a few others got a new building built, one of the saddest things I saw was mrs Hudgens piano burnt😨

[@ragingbull154]

RIP Junior Johnson

[@jonathanfaulkner1023]

Legend!

[@tarheelpatch3386]

R.I.P. my fellow Tarheel

[@classic-kool]

Junior was a "Billy's Billy"....They LOVED Junior Johnson!! 😂👍

[@robertgrider4346]

....how fast were 'ya driving when your shinning??...we was a " carrying the mail" ,mid 60's thru early 70's till I joined the Army, Putnam Co. Tennessee,yee -haw 🤠 👍🇺🇸 🏴‍☠️

[@michaelhatcher5264]

Ain't nobody ran Jr. Johnson off the road Booy. 😆 😆

[@charleshowe7640]

DAMN , , , I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT USED THAT LINE . . . " WHITE LIGHTING " . . . ( BO HOPKINS ) Said That . . .

[@DixytheGoat9]

Not even the boys in blue

[@davidoverman785]

What a cool.show clay county NC here something special about our mountains my family had there share of making whisky an would haul it over the mountain to Tennessee and hiwasse Ga my uncle was the only 1 who ever got busted

[@user-xy1eg3tj8h]

Junior was known for his drivin', not for his speakin'. 😂

[@SHENDOH]

He'll yeah JJ!! FTP

[@gilbertrocha4137]

Amen yee haw

[@ccsg1313]

Yep👍RIP

[@ianmangham4570]

God bless jj

[@warrenfloyd1484]

Hell yeah!!!

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-FINDER2525]

Just wanted add my own family story about manufacturing delivering and racing. My grandfather immigrated with his parents from what we would call Germany today. Very very early in the 1900s well before world war I. Now if you read through this you'll find it includes a US president and something to do with Hitler's Germany prior to the world war II. My grandfather like his parents were farmers but he won't do something else and work for a particular railroad. The name is not important. He retired from that railroad somewhere around the mid 1960s. There were over 30 years between the ages of his oldest and youngest child with my grandmother. My dad was at the youngest and. So that would kind of explain how I can cover a hundred years so quickly between my grandfather's life and my own. Well raising crops like corn and wheat and making medicinal beverages 😉 has a connection. Just like his father before him my grandfather was making medicinal beverages. My grandfather continue this activity up into the early 1960s when a certain federal agency grew tired of his activities. So they don't cold water into the radiator and use a regular pickup truck to load up the steel and go dump in the local city dump on which the local police station still sets. Emphasize in the word still. With 12 kids are so he had little army. And they all knew exactly what to do. They were mechanics and they used to race. My dad was pretty good chasing tail lights around the circle. His father would not let him get his driver's license until he won his first race. It was interesting to ride with my dad when I was very young and how he could make his way through rush hour traffic. I don't condone those activities but this is a different world that we live in now. During prohibition they will bring in medicinal beverages through Canada from Canada but most often from Europe. Now my grandfather's marriage is would go back to the other way. And it would sit on some of the finer tables of Europe. He didn't reap as much benefit from that as you may think. If I remember the man's first name that handle all of this transaction I think it was Joe Senior. Later on he would lose his son in world war II and so by default his younger son John ended up in the White House. This is how family legend goes. By time I was born well before my grandfather had quit or shall we say retired from manufacturing medicinal beverages and the railroad. They actually gave him a watch which he was really proud,a pocket watch! Now I knew my grandfather but not that well I was pretty young I can still remember him. But move about 15-20 years forward and he passed away and out of everybody he left his old truck to me. Which I still have. Everybody had gone through the house and pick what they wanted. This is a couple years later after my grandmother had passed. My dad says it's here someplace so we go into the Old Stone basement which is built after the house was built. Pounding on the walls with our hand parrot we are looking for my grandfather's stash of the remainder of his medicinal beverages. All sudden I kind of switched around still pounding on the wall. I can hear my dad's muffled voice in colorful language wondering where I'd had disappeared to. My grandfather was an engineer for the railroad to kind that built and design new track and bridges. He had a hidden room underneath the driveway which he had paved who knows how long ago. And we parked over this room and never knew it was there. Talk about a man who could keep a secret parrot on special holidays he go down and bring up a little bit. The only time I saw my dad drink was with his old man. That's something special. Anyway one of us hit the right leg if you will to rock stone and my dad is ready and he threw in a piece of timber and 8x8 probably about 6 ft long and it jammed it. We picked up the cloth there's the jugs and we took the jugs out to the truck but first the cloth and kept everything covered. In the back of my grandfather's old truck. My dad told me to wait here so I did hear it he says I'm only selling the jugs. Anything that happens to be in them just happens to be in them. He came back with several thousand dollars in a stack of $100 bills! It was roughly $4,000 he just found it out once and I was pretty good with Math even at that age. Now I still got a couple of empty bottles he didn't keep anything as far as the medicinal beverages. I seen the statue of limitations has long since passed but we'll just keep it that way. Now that we're entering the year 2023 it's time to share the story because my dad no longer with us either. I have only shared this story a handful of times over the years. One time was when I was in Tennessee and we're down in the hollers. Like normal at the time I was hauling an old car. I believe it was a mustang first generation convertible. And this man came over and looked and started talking. 6:00 in the morning and somehow we got over to talking about running shine and rum running. He shared a couple of stories by his old Ford and a couple of runs. I shared some of the story I just shared with you with him. He said he had to go and had a trip to make. As he pulled away I realized there was a difference in our stories. I was talking about something that happened last century during the 1900s. He was talking about something from last week! The old Ford he described it to me but we'll leave that out. Apparently he's still cruising the highway with it or at least a back roads. Thank you for indulging me and if you read this whole story thanks for reading.

[@gregoryj.m.8985]

This is great Brother...Thank you for sharing this .

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-FINDER2525]

@@gregoryj.m.8985 Well thank you specially if you read through the whole thing sounds like it.. did not realize it was so long. As the people around me laugh because they think I post Malone entries I guess. I was just feeling nostalgic and what-have-you when I post this. Thank you for the reply.

[@tkso.philly3879]

You GO JUNIOR.THE G.O.A.T.-😎😎😎🎇🎇🎇

[@tkso.philly3879]

Wilkes County,the Moonshine Capital of the World.I believe that title goes to Franklin County,Virginia.There was even a movie made about it.The Bonderant family.And they still live in Franklin County.

[@adamUDavies]

How come the Ball jar manufacturing company didn't run out of jar's and lids back then ?

[@caseysmith544]

​@@adamUDavies Because there were other not nearly as nice of brands and a few better ones making the Jars and Jar lids since Canning was a bigger deal in the well into the mid 1940's before the Cans of food we see now were as prevale. Other items like some ceramic jugs that were used for other liquids as well as milk jugs were used for the booze transport back in the day.

[@dewightkey6975]

Jr was the best

[@RC.41]

Yessssssss

[@pughoneycutt1986]

I've always thought that the real reason JR. went to the penitentiary was that judge thought he was killing nascar, because if he sent one of the biggest stars to the penitentiary that was proof that nascar was a criminal enterprise and would be shut down immediately. What I base this on is I went to school with kids whose dad had been busted at the same time by the same people all the other 1st time offenders got a fine and a year of probation, but JR. Got hard time for his 1st offense. It was well known that the legal system hated racing in any form ,to them racing on a track was no different than street racing, but they couldn't prosecute the racers on the track which made them more vindictive toward racers

[@allencollins6031]

That wouldn't surprise me at all. Interesting.

[@pughoneycutt1986]

@allencollins6031 if the NC highway patrol and the judiciary had their way there would be nothing on the road but vw Beatles and Chrysler K cars

[@allencollins6031]

@@pughoneycutt1986 haha PT Cruisers!! Well God bless the South is all I can say.

[@davidwiner8571]

Forever junior

[@jerryshepherd1645]

I would give anything if they would let Jhonson and Stewart run Nascar to day i believe that is the only thing that will save Nascar. Damn shame Nascar is gone to hell

[@johnnycrash3270]

I Loved 🤩The good days of NASCAR Racing late 60's to the late 70's THAT WAS MAN & MACHINE 🤗 ROUGH TOUGH 💪WHEELING DEALING CHICKEN 🐔STEELING HOT ROD 😎🤠DRIVERS no high tech computers JUST 💪MUSSEL AND GREESE a Snap on 🔨hammer 🔧wrench & 🪛screwdriver and some Budweiser 🍺🍺🍺's with your 🐕‍🦺dog beside you 👍👌and mama cooking 🍔's on the BBQ⚗

[@gilbertrocha4137]

Moonshine should be legal now it's a lot better than the drug of today

[@larryok8156]

If they left the Lowes guy out this would be a great documentary

[@billgibson2418]

It was good story. Franklin County, VA made Wilks County look dry!!!!. Curtis Turner was the real man!!. You need to check his life out. He made Junior look like choir boy!!!!!!!!

[@dockey6942]

I would rather listen to Jr then any body that agent was a pretty good guy

[@Riverdeepnwide]

What's that at 14:50 , a Dart? Skylark or another Buick?

[@84glewis]

65 Wildcat buick

[@BuzzLOLOL]

Wanted to hear from the Revenuer he hit with a shovel...

[@beernutjr]

The moonshiners, where doing it to put food on the tables of their families

[@dewightkey6975]

I would like to set down with junior and have breakfast and shine

[@bryanfranks1378]

Junior Johnson did get caught boot legging , he spent time in prison because of it !

[@themusicman1556]

Capitalism does do this especially unregulated capitalism but it's also advancements in technology and in racing techniques that turned nascar as competitive as it is today

[@conniehenry2714]

Don Baumgartner told me about you.

[@savagenomore]

3:26 and that folks is what's wrong with it today...

[@dontaylor7315]

I'm pretty sure the guy who said "Junior Johnson never got caught" was mistaken. I think Junior did get caught once but didn't do near as much time as his daddy had done, and it didn't stop him from continuing in the family business. Edit: Come to think of it I don't know how he was arrested. If it was during a raid then maybe the guy in the voiceover meant he was never chased down while on a run. Update: Found it. The video got to the part where he was busted - he was firing up the still, NOT driving!

[@darrellsomers5427]

He never got while driving a car he was cought at the still

[@lewisfrazier3506]

He never got caught driving. He got caught firing his Daddys still up one morning.

[@lewisfrazier3506]

Jr got caught firing up his Daddy's still one morning. Did 11 months in prison. Reagan pardoned him in 1983

[@garyross1279]

The scum feds should have left those people alone.

[@FRLN500]

Yeah, and they should leave the Meth makers alone also! Cuz we all know that alcohol and meth never hurt anyone.

[@charleshowe7640]

(" AIN'T NOBODY RUN JUNIOR JOHNSON OFF THE ROAD BOY ") ! ! ! TELL ME WHAT MOVIE THAT WAS IN AND THE ACTOR THAT SAID IT . . . """ WOOO """ 👍 👍 👍

[@ronniemercer7056]

White lightning Matt Clark

[@charleshowe7640]

@@ronniemercer7056 THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT 👍👍👍

[@charleshowe7640]

@@ronniemercer7056 it's Good To Know That I Ain't The Only One Out There Who Loves Those Old Fast Car Movie's

[@charleshowe7640]

@@ronniemercer7056I Saw That Movie When It First Came Out At The Drive - In , , , That And ( EVERY CLINT EASTWOOD , CHARLES BRONSON , LEE VAN CLEEF , PAUL NEWMAN , And GEORGE KENNEDY JUST TO NAME A FEW ) Dad Would Make ( A TON ) Of Popcorn , Put It Those Brown Paper Bag's ( THAT OUR GROCERIES USED TO COME IN ) . . . Wrap Up A Bunch Of Hot -Dogs In Ten Foil , A Couple Or 3 Gallons Of Kool - Aid , , , Load Us Kids ( AND ANY OTHER KIDS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WANTED TO GO ) In The Pick Up , , , And To The Drive - In We Went . ( THE BEST THAT I CAN TELL ) , , , Just You Knowing That Gets Me To Thinking That You Might've Had The Same Up - Bringing . Sincerely Your's Trully , , , " Gator " From Down Here In Good Ole'Jacksonville, Florida 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@ronniemercer7056]

Well friend all of that sounds pretty close, life was simple and fun back then. We're not what you call neighbors but we're not too far apart I'm down here close to Sarasota Bradenton area

[@bartcomeau2855]

It’s too damn bad nascar forgot where they came from and got woke hope nascar goes broke

[@jeffscott8323]

I dont think moonshineing is gone I mean Whats. A Po man goin do especially now

[@FRLN500]

Grow pot and make meth.

[@jeffscott8323]

@@FRLN500 Dont. Know bout that Meth part but would definitely go for the. Weed

[@weblightstudio8215]

Darned cops

[@millardhardy8093]

I know n by no means am I saying it is ok to break the law.PERIOD!!.it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it .Revinewers made a lot of kids go without food.They were only trying to dam eat n out shoes on their kids feet.Now u can but moonshine at our local beer store for little $ .idk how those old Revinewers could be proud back then.What u did was a many child went to bed hungry.Yes it was the law but I don't wanna hear I'm just doing my job at the expense of really poor but good ppl and the children suffered because of it .Yes it's your job n yrs all laws must be OBEYED! These old Revinewers are proud of starving kids n those days .

[@michaelcollie6568]

The dead ping surprisingly obey because internet reilly curl from a filthy karen. decisive, hospitable kitchen

[@jpalberthoward9]

Check the sugar cubes under the black light before you put them in the coffee.

[@michaelcollie6568]

The tasteful desk currently excuse because brow thankfully ski around a skinny file. obnoxious, calculating skill

[@jpalberthoward9]

If the mushrooms turn blue when you cut them, don't put them on the pizza.

[@chrislucas7046]

Legend!