Sunday 28th June 1931

Legendary moonshiner (bootlegger) in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s, Junior Johnson was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s he became a highly successful NASCAR racing team owner. He sponsored such NASCAR champions as Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He is also credited with discovering slipstreaming.