Breakfast With Junior

This is a true story from many years ago, but I relish the retelling. I’m still a little bit amazed that it even happened.

"Before sunrise this morning I walked into a garage shop in Yadkin County, NC and discovered one of my favorite living legends in a kitchenette in the corner of the shop, calmly tending to a pan of sizzling bacon. He was cooking my breakfast.

Junior Johnson is one of a small group of men who actually helped invent a professional sport. We know it today as NASCAR. As a driver, he won 50 races. As a team owner, his drivers won 139 races. Two of his drivers, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough, brought him a combined 6 Winston Cup Championships. The list of drivers who worked for him could fill the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and undoubtedy will - one of these days. The names are Waltrip, Yarborough, Foyt, Pearson, Allison, Bonnett, Labonte, Elliott, and many more. Junior personally invented the technique known as "drafting" on a race track. His life was the subject of a movie. When they opened the Hall of Fame, his name was in the first class.

And there he stood, scrambling eggs and frying sausage and keeping an eye on a pan of hot biscuits. He stopped long enough to extend his hand to me with a big smile. "Thank y'all for stoppin' by this mornin'." We moved around the shop, talking to the other dozen or so visitors for the next few minutes, and then Junior gestured to the pair of long tables set up for us and said "Food's ready. Y'all find a place and dig in."