Jason Johnson did not have it in his demeanor to be anything but a nice guy.
And on the race track, there was no questioning his greatness.
Johnson, 41, a sprint car driver from Eunice, La., died Sunday morning from injuries suffered in a crash during a World of Outlaws event Saturday night at Beaver Dam (Wis.) Raceway.
Johnson spent much of the early portion of his career with the American Sprint Car Series, with which he raced many times at tracks in Arkansas several times each season.
"A great racer, maybe even a better guy," said Tracey Clay, the promoter at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway, where Johnson won eight ASCS events between 2006 and 2013, including the Short Track Nationals in 2006.
"He was a professional and a great ambassador for the sport. He understood my end as a promoter and his end as the racer and how we had to work together."
Johnson's wife Bobbi and his 5-year-old son were fixtures in the pits, and Clay said Jason was always quick to help his fellow competitors.
"On the Outlaws website, on the driver profiles, they always have the guys scowl for their pictures, right?" Clay said. "I'd see Jason's picture and I would always just laugh. Jason was always smiling. It was humorous for me to see him trying to look mean."
On Saturday night, Johnson was fighting for the lead with his old ASCS rival, Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Okla., on a lap 18 restart. The two cars made contact entering turn 3, sending Johnson's sprinter tumbling over the concrete retaining wall and into a billboard sign before landing back on the wall.
Johnson was extracted from his car and airlifted to Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh, Wis., where he later died.
"It was a racing accident. No one's fault," Bobbi Johnson said in a statement on the team's website Monday. "Just two great drivers racing hard for the lead at Beaver Dam. ... Daryn has always raced us clean and did on this night for sure. No this or that, just clean hard racing."
Johnson won five ASCS national championships (2008, 2010, 2012-2014) before becoming a full-time competitor with the World of Outlaws. He had 12 career feature victories with the Outlaws, including two this season. His career topper came in 2016 when he won sprint car racing's richest and most prestigious event, the Knoxville Nationals in Iowa.
Quick tour
The American Sprint Car Series Mid-South Region's mini-tour through Arkansas continues tonight at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway.
The tour began Thursday night at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis with Howard Moore of Memphis taking the victory. Marshall Skinner of West Memphis was second and Benton's Tim Crawley took third. On Friday night, the tour was at Crowley's Ridge Raceway in Paragould.
Tonight's event at I-30 also will include the track's IMCA modified, super stock, mini-stock and mini-sprint divisions. Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 7:30 p.m. Adult grandstand admission is $20 and children aged 6-12 get in for $2. Pit passes are $35.
The final event is Sunday night at Diamond Park Speedway near Murfreesboro. Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 8 p.m. Adult grandstand admission is $21 and pit passes are $36.
Fix it
Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Billy Moyer walked away with no injuries after a hard crash Thursday night, but afterward his son, Billy Jr., was on Twitter, imploring tracks to take steps to improve safety.
The elder Moyer, 60, was running in the top five during the feature race at the United Midwestern Promoters Summernationals event at LaSalle (Ill.) Raceway. He was on the outside of a three-wide battle with Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., and eventual winner Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. Moyer made contact with Erb, sending his car into the wall and slamming head-first into the end of the wall after an exit road into the pits.
Moyer Jr., who is a late model driver who raced Thursday night at a Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Okla., tweeted later that night after seeing a video of the crash.
"FIX YOUR DAMN WALL OPENINGS, RACE TRACKS," he tweeted. "It should not be possible to to hit a blunt end."
Moyer Jr., who also tweeted that his father was "OK, just sore" after the crash, later added, "I hope we don't have to wait for a fatality before a change is made."
Sports on 06/30/2018