Flashback Friday: Stories and Statistics from Kevin Harvick’s Victory in the 2002 Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway

        On July 14, 2002, the stars of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series invaded Chicagoland Speedway for the second annual Tropicana 400 at the 1.5-mile track. 75,000 fans packed the Illinois grandstands and 43 drivers delivered a thrilling race. In the end, though, the battle for the win came down to some late strategy thanks to a beautiful accident. Going to complete lap 197, Kevin Harvick made an aggressive three-wide move onto the frontstretch apron underneath Kurt Busch and Dave Blaney as he tried to move into fourth spot. The apron caused Harvick to break loose and he barely saved his #29 Chevrolet before riding below the banking all the way into turn 1.

        After brilliant save attempts, the California driver ended up stopped in the turn 1 grass with all his track position gone and his tires flat spotted. It wasn’t all bad news for the reigning Rookie of the Year. He only dropped to 14th for the next restart and he had the freshest tires in the field and no damage to his RCR Chevrolet. Over the next run, he passed drivers on older tires and looked to be faster than the leaders. Laps were clicking away, though, and Ryan Newman had a sizeable lead with Harvick mired outside of the Top 5. Fortunately, Harvick caught a break with the seventh and final caution on lap 240. 

  Just about 15 seconds apart from each other, Newman and Joe Nemechek had tire issues in turn 1. While Newman kept his #12 Ford off the wall, Nemechek wasn’t so lucky as his #25 Chevrolet Monte Carlo grazed the outside wall in turn 1 and prompted the yellow flag. This allowed the teams that needed to stop do under yellow without the threat of green flag pit stop mistakes. On the other hand, Harvick, Jeff Gordon, and Robby Gordon stayed out with enough fuel to make it to the end. This put the #29 Chevrolet in the lead with just 20 laps to go and that was the break that the struggling Harvick needed. 

        For the last 20 green flag laps, he put distance between himself and Gordon to take the white flag comfortably with nearly a second lead. He crossed the finish line ahead of the #24 by eight tenths of a second to grab his first checkered flag of the season. It turned out he had just enough gas to finish the race as he ran out on the frontstretch in the middle of his burnout. The entire Richard Childress Racing #29 team happily went to victory lane and celebrated a much-needed boost to their season. In addition to Harvick’s win, the rest of the NWCS field featured a variety of stories and statistics. Some of those include Kevin Harvick’s 2002 struggles in the first 17 races, Ryan Newman’s large number of laps led at Chicagoland, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s missed opportunity at a win, Jeff Gordon’s continued long winless streak, the Burton brothers’ Chicagoland struggles, and a short recap of the races for all eight of the drivers carrying Muppets on their cars for 400 miles of racing.

        While the 2001 season could be considered a success for Kevin Harvick and the #29 team considering everything all RCR faced as an organization, the first 17 races of 2002 were far from good. Other than a third-place finish at Darlington and a tenth at Bristol, the California driver finished outside of the Top 20 in eleven races. Eight of those finishes occurred in a row from Race #7 of the season at Texas until Race #15 at Michigan. During that eight-race streak, Harvick even missed an event after he was suspended for the Cup race at Martinsville due to an incident in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the half-mile track. Because of all the struggles, he was 30th in the points standings. Race #18 of the 36-race schedule at Chicagoland Speedway came as a possible turning point, though, as the young driver could claim to be the only Cup winner at the track when the series arrived at the Illinois track. 

        Despite a 32nd place starting spot, Harvick methodically moved through the field with his eyes on his best finish of the year. He finally made it to the Top 5 on the restart after the fifth caution on lap 192, but he promptly spun out just a couple of laps later. The aforementioned strategy shuffle allowed him to inherit the lead to steal his best finish of the season and capture a momentum shifting win. Interestingly, the win was his third career victory and it came just 364 days after his second one. On July 15, 2001, Harvick won the inaugural event at Chicagoland. His win made him the only winner two races into the track’s history.

        In the end, a flat tire on lap 240 cost Ryan Newman the win as he lost all his track position and didn’t have enough time to make it up on his four fresh tires. The Indiana Rookie of the Year contender fought back to fifth, but it wasn’t the points paying win he hoped for after his triumph in The Winston exhibition race just two months earlier. Yet, the hopeful NWCS star achieved some important feats in the race. Newman captured his third career pole and started his pursuit of the “Rocketman” nickname he has carried throughout his career. 

        Starting first allowed him to the lead the first 56 laps of the race before the first round of green flag pit stops. He returned to the lead on lap 209 and led for 31 more circuits before his unfortunate flat tire. Despite not leading the most important lap, the Purdue University graduate led 87 laps in total of the 267 laps. At the time, it was the most laps he had led in a single race in his 26th series start. Of course, he led more laps in future races and victories, but the 2002 Tropicana 400 paved the way for the “Rocketman” to show his speed for a majority of an event for the first time in his career.

        For several runs of the race, it looked like Dale Earnhardt Jr. would capture his sixth career NWCS win. He was third when the final caution of the race waved on lap 240 and it appeared some good strategy would hand him the win. However, his team decided to change all four tires while everyone either to took two tires or just added fuel. Being back in traffic made the #8 Chevrolet struggle to handle. Junior could only muster a tenth-place finish when the checkered flag waved. The finish didn’t give the team complete disappointment, though. 

        After leading 133 of 188 laps in his dominating victory at Talladega Superspeedway in mid-April of 2002, Junior struggled to run up front and finish well. He led only 15 laps between California and the previous race at Daytona. His fortune changed at Chicagoland, though. He led 81 of the 267 laps and returned to the lap leading form he had early in the season where he sat 5th in the points at one point. While the win slipped away, Earnhardt Jr. gained some momentum by leading 30% of the race’s laps.

        As soon as Jeff Gordon started running full-time in the NWCS, he became a weekly contender for wins and championships. Yet, in July of 2002, the California born driver found himself in a slump he had only experienced once in his career. Gordon went 41 races before he won his first race in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600. That streak was the longest of his career as he started winning races consistently after the Charlotte Motor Speedway win. When he entered Chicagoland Speedway twelve years after his first win, though, his winless streak stood at 25 races. It appeared he would come close to matching his longest winless streak, but his crew chief, Robbie Loomis, had a plan to try and end the streak.

        After running in or around the Top 10 all day from his 15th place starting spot, Gordon brought his #24 car down pit road under the sixth caution on lap 197 while most of the field stayed out. Despite the loss in track position and being off strategy, he could finish the race without stopping again. The seventh and final caution waved on lap 240 and it appeared the strategy move would put Gordon in contention for the win. Ultimately, though, the #24 restarted second and could not pass Harvick to take the win. The streak extended to 26 winless races and the #24 team left Illinois a bit disappointed as victory lane continued to elude them.

        Starting in 1994, the Burton brothers, Ward and Jeff, began a career battle in the NWCS. The Virginia natives, of course, wanted to beat each other as much as possible, but they wanted each other to have success. In 2002, Ward experienced the ultimate moment of success in stock car racing as he captured the win in the Daytona 500. Yet, the rest of the season until Chicagoland proved to be forgettable for both Burtons. At Texas and Charlotte, the two brothers both finished outside of the Top 35. Also, they had several bad runs and terrible finishes in addition to those shared bad days. Unfortunately, while they hoped Chicagoland would be a turning point, it proved not to be.

        On lap 4, Ward went for a spin on the frontstretch in a pack of traffic to bring out the first caution. Just 13 laps later, the driveshaft on his #22 Pontiac exploded and littered some debris on the 1.5-mile race track. The mechanical issue put Ward behind the wall early and he spent a portion of the race in the garage. He ended up in 41st place and 130 laps down to the leader. Jeff had a solid start to his afternoon in the race, but on lap 165 his good run disappeared. He reported to his crew chief, Frank Stoddard, that his engine was running on just seven cylinders. Seven laps later, he was on pit road with the #99 team pushing their car to the garage. The team’s day was done and the younger Burton brother finished in 39th, 100 laps down. It proved to be yet another difficult day for Ward and Jeff Burton as they combined to finish outside of the Top 35 together for the third time on the 2002 season. 



        Finally, some beloved characters in American culture made an appearance on eight NASCAR racecars at Chicagoland. The Muppets Show, created by Jim Henson, celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2002. To bring awareness to the event, several NASCAR teams were contacted to run cars with various Muppets characters on them. The schemes were released in March and fans anticipated each team’s arrival at the track in Chicagoland for the Tropicana 400. Unfortunately, some controversy surrounded the crossover as the actual Muppets weren’t allowed into the track due to legal issues. Despite the controversy, all eight teams competed with their respective paint schemes and had very different days.

        Of all eight teams, Bill Elliott had the best afternoon at the Illinois track. Elliott put his #9 Dodge featuring the Swedish Chef on the second row for the initial start. He quickly moved into the second spot and set his sights on the lead. The 1988 NWCS champion spent the first half of the race solidly in the Top 5 before he dropped into the Top 10 around the halfway mark due to various strategies from his other competitors. When the seventh and final caution waved on lap 240, Elliott and his crew chief, Mike Ford, decided to use some strategy of their own. The Georgia driver took fuel only, which allowed him to restart sixth with just 20 laps left. Unfortunately, the move didn’t work out and Elliott ended up in seventh place at the finish, in a close battle for the sixth spot with Kurt Busch. It was his eighth Top 10 of the season and made him the highest finisher of the drivers with Muppet racecars.

  After the first set of green flag pit stops, it looked like Dale Jarrett would give Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy the best finish for the Muppets at Chicagoland. The 1999 NWCS champion moved from his 11th place starting spot to second following the first round of green flag pit stops on lap 84. On the run following the third caution on lap 138, though, Jarrett’s #88 Ford struggled with a tight condition and he slipped outside of the Top 10. From there, he struggled to find his way inside the Top 10 and when the checkered flag waved on lap 267, Jarrett finished exactly where he started in 11th. The race ended in a disappointing fashion for the Robert Yates Racing team, but the #88 finished second highest of the Muppets drivers.

        Of the 43 drivers in the field, Bobby Labonte had the quietest day with Pepe the King Prawn on his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac. The 2000 NWCS champion started in 12th spot, but struggled to stay inside the Top 15 in the first half of the race. Following the two rounds of green flag pit stops in the first 140 laps, Labonte found himself a lap down just inside the Top 20. Throughout the remainder of the race, he stayed consistently at the front of the drivers a lap down. Yet, he couldn’t move in front of the leader on restarts to earn his lap back and fight to move up the running order. The #18 Pontiac finished the day in 18th after a simply quiet and average day at the 1.5-mile track.

        Ricky Rudd had a very eventful day with Gonzo the Great on the hood of his #28 Robert Yates Racing Ford. After starting 38th, he powered through the field hoping to gain as many positions as possible in the early laps. He did advance through the running order, but he lost a lap to the leaders following the two rounds of green flag pit stops during the first half of the event. With still a lot of time left in the 267-lap race, Rudd hoped to earn his lap back. His pursuit of trying to move back onto the lead lap created some controversy with the leader following the fifth caution on lap 192. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed the pace car on the backstretch just after the yellow flag waved, Rudd drove up to the leader’s left side door and bumped him a little bit. The 23-time race winner was upset Earnhardt Jr. hadn’t allowed him to gain his lap back racing to the caution. The intense moment ended quickly, and the Virginia driver returned to working hard on restarts to earn his lap back. Rudd never did return to the lead lap and he finished the day in 19th. While it wasn’t a Top 10, the #28 did improve his starting spot by 19 positions.

        The worst starter of the eight Muppet drivers was Tennessee’s Casey Atwood. He qualified his #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge featuring Rowlf the Dog in 41st for the 400-mile race. Fortunately, he moved up a few positions for the start as drivers dropped to the rear of the field. Atwood hoped to take his Ultra-Evernham Motorsports car into the Top 20 for a much-needed good run, but he struggled in the early portion of the event. He quickly went a lap down and appeared to be in position for his eighth finish outside of the Top 30 on the season. Yet, the two-time NASCAR Busch Series winner didn’t give up. He fought all race long and thanks to some attrition and adjustments, he crossed the finish line in 28th with a clean racecar. Interestingly, it was exactly where he finished a year before in his first trip to Chicagoland Speedway.

        With Animal on his #41 Target Dodge, Jimmy Spencer looked to capture a good finish for his race team. Unfortunately, track position and a late-race incident prevented him from earning a good finish. Spencer rolled off in 39th spot and made some moves early in the first half of the race to gain spots. He rode around inside the Top 25 until an incident ended his shot at finishing there. As Kevin Harvick spun in turn 1 on lap 197, Spencer crashed with several other drivers like Hut Stricklin, Kurt Busch, and Jerry Nadeau. When the smoke settled, the #41 had a huge hole in the nose and smoked heavily while driving away. Despite the damage, Spencer continued off the pace after some repairs. He ended up in 32nd spot when the checkered flag waved, 28 laps down. A clean day for Spencer and his team turned into a damaged racecar with a less than stellar finish.

        Unlike his Evernham Motorsports teammate, Bill Elliott, Jeremy Mayfield’s #19 Dodge featuring Dr. Honeydew and Beaker didn’t end the 400-mile race with an excellent finish. Mayfield started the 400-mile event in 20th and held station in the Top 20 for the first half of the event before mechanical troubles faced the team. A rear gear burnt up in his racecar and it forced him behind the wall as his fellow competitors continued to race. The #19 team did an admirable job repairing the car and returned their driver to the race, about 30 laps down to the leaders. For the remainder of the event, Mayfield rode around gaining points as drivers fell out of the event. When the checkered flag waved, he finished 34th, 33 laps down. A mechanical problem created an issue for the three-time NWCS race winner, but he showed speed in the early portion of the event.

        When Action Racing Collectibles originally announced the line-up of drivers with Muppets racecars, Johnny Benson Jr. was scheduled to drive the #10 Pontiac with Fozzie Bear for Nelson Bowers. Of course, things change often in NASCAR and Mike Wallace actually drove the racecar in the Tropicana 400. Benson had been involved in a vicious crash at Daytona the week before, which left him with bruises and injured ribs that kept him out of the racecar. Wallace, who had made sporadic appearances in NASCAR’s Top 3 series throughout the 2002 season, hopped into the car for the Chicagoland event. The Missouri driver gave the car a good run from his 36th place starting spot before engine woes started around lap 170. He reported to his team that his car was running on seven cylinders. His teammate, Ken Schrader, had dropped out of the race earlier with the same issue. Wallace only ran a few laps after reporting the issue before he pulled into the garage. He finished in 38th spot, 95 laps down to the leader. For the entire team and driver, it was a disappointing day as Wallace tried to highlight his skills and the #10 team tried to run without their usual driver.


  The 2002 Tropicana 400 provided everything a NASCAR fan could want in a race. Consistent battles for position at the front of the field, green flag pit stops, drivers moving from the back to the front, spins and crashes, interesting strategy calls, and a late-race battle between two of the most talented competitors in the sport. All 75,000 fans got exactly what they paid for thanks to Kevin Harvick’s late duel with Jeff Gordon and Harvick’s late race strategy gamble. Plus, some very interesting stories and statistics emerged from the race thanks to many of the drivers in the field. Finally, fans young and old were able to see the Muppets sail around Chicagoland Speedway at over 180 miles per hour.

  On Sunday, 16 years after the second Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Illinois for the 18th race at the 1.5-mile track. Just like 2002, the series heads to the speedway with a lot of potential storylines brewing. In the last two races at Chicagoland, only one driver has visited victory lane: Martin Truex Jr. He captured the victory in 2016 and won last season en route to his first Cup championship. Truex will be a legitimate threat for the win again. Chase Elliott hasn’t won a Cup race in 93 career starts, but he has an average finish of 2.5 at Chicagoland and a goal of winning this weekend. Kevin Harvick won the first two Cup races at the Illinois track, but he hasn’t been to victory lane there since. With five wins on the 2018 season thus far, he will be another contender for the win. The stars of the MENCS hope to thrill the fans on Sunday just like the NWCS drivers did in 2002. 
(More Stats Down Below!)





Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 4- Ward Burton went for a spin exiting turn 4 as he raced in a pack of traffic. He spun to a stop on the frontstretch apron without damage and continued in the race.

2nd Caution: Lap 17- Debris from Ward Burton’s exploded driveshaft littered turns 3 and 4.

3rd Caution: Lap 138- Michael Waltrip blew an engine entering turn 1, which littered debris and oil on the track. Waltrip came to a stop alongside the wall with his day finished.

4th Caution: Lap 182- Debris was spotted on the 1.5-mile track in turn 4.

5th Caution: Lap 192- Elliott Sadler broke loose exiting turn 4 and spun down the frontstretch. He ended up stopped on the apron without damage before he continued on.

6th Caution: Lap 197- Kevin Harvick shot to the apron past the start/finish line to pass Kurt Busch and Dave Blaney. The apron made Harvick’s #29 loose and he ended up spinning in turn 1 after riding the apron to save his car. He spun harmlessly into the grass and continued after he refired his racecar. Hut Stricklin, Jerry Nadeau, Jimmy Spencer, and Elliott Sadler also spun during the incident.

7th Caution: Lap 240- As Ryan Newman coasted on the backstretch with a flat right front tire, Joe Nemechek had a left front go flat, which sent his #25 Chevrolet up the track and into the outside wall. Nemechek only made slight contact with the wall and he continued after repairs from his Hendrick Motorsports team.

Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Kevin Harvick
2nd: Jeff Gordon
3rd: Tony Stewart
4th: Jimmie Johnson
5th: Ryan Newman

Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Kurt Busch
7th: Bill Elliott
9th: Mark Martin
10th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
11th: Dale Jarrett
13th: Terry Labonte
14th: Matt Kenseth
18th: Bobby Labonte
21st: Elliott Sadler
25th: Rusty Wallace
33rd: Joe Nemechek
39th: Jeff Burton
42nd: Michael Waltrip




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
~~racing-reference.info/race/2002_Tropicana_400/W
-Full Race:
~~www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp68t_QrbO4&t=1398s
-Images:
~~www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jimmy-spencer-dirves-his-ganassi-racing-dodge-intrepid-on-news-photo/1157200#/jimmy-spencer-dirves-his-ganassi-racing-dodge-intrepid-on-july-13-picture-id1157200
~~www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ricky-rudd-drives-his-havoline-racing-ford-on-july-14-2002-news-photo/1157369#ricky-rudd-drives-his-havoline-racing-ford-on-july-14-2002-during-the-picture-id1157369
~~www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/casey-atwood-drives-his-ultra-motorsports-dodge-intrepid-on-news-photo/1157197
~~www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jeremy-mayfield-drives-his-evernham-motorsports-dodge-news-photo/1157167#/jeremy-mayfield-drives-his-evernham-motorsports-dodge-intrepid-on-13-picture-id1157167
~~www.sorte.org/tropicana400-2002/index2.html
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photos/?race_type_id=117&year=2002&driver_id%5B0%5D=590
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photos/?race_type_id=117&year=2002&driver_id=30&location_id=69
~~www.qvc.com/Bill-Elliott-Swedish-Chef-1%3A24-Scale-Die-Cast-Car.product.C19823.html
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012764072-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012764072/?p=2&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002-1012764124/1012764124/?p=3&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012763808-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012763808/?p=5&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012763729-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012763729/?p=4&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012763748-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012763748/?p=4&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012763709-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012763709/?p=3&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1
~~www.motorsportimages.com/photo/1012763707-2002-nascar-chicagoland-usa-july-13-14-2002/1012763707/?p=7&search=2002%20Tropicana%20400&is_popup=1

A Tribute to the “Ragin’ Cajun,” Jason Johnson

        Last night felt just like Sunday night, August 7, 2016. On that night two years ago, I combed through various social media websites trying to gather information about Bryan Clauson’s condition following his terrible crash in the Belleville Midget Nationals just the day before. On that Monday morning, I woke up to tragic news delivered by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Clauson was gone. 

        Last night, around midnight in South Carolina, I searched Twitter and other social media outlets hoping to find good news about another driver: Jason Johnson. The “Ragin’ Cajun,” as he was affectionately known thanks to his proud Louisiana roots, first caught my attention watching Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series races on MAVTV. Johnson won five championships in the ASCS and anytime I turned on one of their races on my TV, he was certain to be a contender for the win.

        Over the past three and a half seasons, though, Johnson has been a regular in the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series driving the #41 for the team he owned. The World of Outlaws are widely considered to be the premier series for sprint car racing and Johnson integrated into the series smoothly. After going winless in 2015 after missing races due to injury in a crash at Placerville Speedway, Johnson captured four wins each in 2016 and 2017 in addition to two wins just two weeks ago in preliminary features leading up the Jackson Nationals. Plus, Johnson had two wins in the series as a part-timer in 2003 and 2005. 

       The Louisiana driver’s most thrilling victory came in the 2016 Knoxville Nationals where he outdueled a nine-time Knoxville Nationals winner at the time, Donny Schatz, to capture a thrilling checkered flag for his self-owned race team. As a fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the battle between the two and it made me respect both competitors more for how hard they raced. Johnson’s performance in that 50-lap race was enough to establish his place as a legendary figure in sprint car racing, but he kept racing and looking for more victories behind the wheel of his #41.

       Last night at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin, it appeared he would be adding another win to his World of Outlaws total. He recorded quick time in qualifying and led three of the first 17 laps after starting thanks to the Craftsman Dash. On the third lap 18 restart, though, the unthinkable happened. While racing with Daryn Pittman down the backstretch for the lead, the two drivers locked wheels and a vicious crash occurred, one I don’t want to describe. Quickly, safety crews arrived on the scene and took Johnson to the local medical center. The race finished and Pittman, somberly, captured his fifth checkered flag of the season. Everyone’s thoughts were with Johnson, though.

        As I sat in my bed looking through social media at around midnight last night, I read statements from several sources and Johnson’s outlook seemed bleak based on their wording. I watched the crash two times and it looked awful, which made me regret watching it. But hope and faith were still there for a recovery for the Louisiana driver. His wife, Bobbi, had a positive statement before I went to sleep and I hoped to wake up to better news. As I woke up, though, the morning resembled August 8, 2018, as the news of Bryan Clauson’s death broke. Unfortunately, the announcement was the same: Jason Johnson was gone. And my emotions of sadness overflowed.



The sport of auto racing is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I will watch any racing and support it as much as possible. This includes NASCAR, the World of Outlaws, IndyCar, Formula 1, and so much more. Most importantly to me, though, is the drivers who compete in those respective series. Every racecar driver is my hero. They are willing to climb in a racecar and risk everything to provide a show for fans like myself. 

        Jason Johnson is my hero. 

        Every time he could be at the track, Jason was there. Many nights, he gave me excitement and thrills as I heard his name over the DirtVision audio broadcast of the World of Outlaws and saw his name on Race Monitor gaining spots while running blazing fast laps. 

        That is what makes days like today so challenging as a huge fan of racing. Sometimes, I wonder if the risk is worth the reward for drivers, Is the show they put on enough to suffer through the tragic loss of great men like Jason Johnson, Bryan Clauson, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and so many others? But that question would be laughable to any driver who has lost their lives in a fatal crash. While the risk is great, they love what they do and I truly believe Jason Johnson died doing what he loved. So, no one can ever question a driver’s motivation to race because the real racers want to compete every single day. And, truly, I believe God has a plan even in tragic circumstances.

        The void left by Jason Johnson will never be filled in both the racing world and in the lives of the people close to him. I never met Jason and didn’t know him personally, but I already miss him and wish I could change the outcome of the entire situation. Yet, time must go on through the hurt. And I have decided the best way to honor Jason, as many people have said, is to just enjoy auto racing like he did. Watching a race can heal some of that hurt while providing an opportunity to remember such a great person both on and off the race track.

        Thanks for all the memories in the past few years, Jason. My prayers and thoughts will be with your wife, your son, your family and friends, and everybody who has been affected by your tragic death. You will be missed greatly. RIP.




Credits:
-Image:
https://www.lakeexpo.com/community/community_news/local-racer-jason-johnson-wins-knoxville-nationals-sprint-car-championship/article_edf4a1ec-6433-11e6-811b-2f1d531873e3.html