This weekend at the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Steve Johnson will go where no other Pro Stock Motorcycle racer has gone before when he makes his 500th career race.
Very few NHRA Pros make 500 races in a career, and that mark is unheard of in Pro Stock Motorcycle because that category features a reduced schedule that averages 15 events. Johnson will be the first rider to hit the 500 mark, and no one else is even close.
To put Johnson’s achievement into perspective, no one else in Pro Stock Motorcycle has 400 races. Hector Arana Sr. is a distant second with 331, while six-time champion Matt Smith sits at 318. No one else has more than 300 (although Andrew Hines retired as a rider with 299).
Johnson is never at a loss for words, so it didn’t take much to get him to wax poetically regarding his latest milestone.
“I’ve been trying to promote this and come up with an angle, but it’s really cool,” said Johnson. “The way I see it, anyone can do this if you just build a bike and then go to all of the races for 34 years. It’s a gratifying deal, especially when I look back because I just wanted to be part of a fraternity that included Terry Vance, Dave Schultz, John Myers, Pizza John [Mafaro], and the rest of the guys who raced back in the '80s.
“I grew up street racing in Southern California, but that was dangerous; people were getting killed, so I discovered real dragstrips. I also fell in love with bikes because they were so much cheaper than cars. I also got really lucky to have a good run learning about sponsors. I’ve always been a marketing guy, which helped me with Slick 50, Snap-on, K&N, and the other partners I’ve had.”
Johnson also looks back with fond memories to his debut at the 1987 NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown. Many NHRA fans recall that Johnson went to great lengths to get his motorcycle from his home in California to Englishtown, shipping the bike from coast to coast in a large crate.
“Everything about that race is still crystal clear,” said Johnson. “Harry Gunnison, Rusty Gill, and Eddie Alverez were all locals from Van Nuys [Calif.], and they helped me get started. I had someone to take the bike to New Jersey, but that fell apart at the last minute. My buddy, Craig Burns, said, ‘Why not just build a crate and ship it to yourself?’ That’s what we did. I think it cost $600 for three-day shipping.”
Johnson qualified on the bump at his first race and managed to beat Rick Gero in round one. At that point, he had no inkling that he’d still be active nearly four decades later.
“It’s funny because after the race, we said, ‘OK, how are we gonna get this thing home?’ Thankfully, Alan and Blaine Johnson put the bike in the stairs in their lounge. They hauled it from New Jersey to Bakersfield [Calif.] for free.”
It took 26 events for Johnson to reach his first semifinal, a feat that occurred at the 1991 NHRA Spring Nationals in Columbus. In 1995, Johnson briefly raced as a member of the Star Racing team, and that brought his first final-round appearance in Richmond, which was his 68th career start.
Known for his never-give-up attitude, Johnson found a way to stay on the NHRA tour, and after 193 races, he finally earned his first Pro Stock Motorcycle Wally at the 2004 St. Louis event. Sadly, the epic winner’s circle celebration that many had expected was muted following the tragic loss of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell earlier in the day.
Six months later, in event 202, Johnson finally got to celebrate in the proper manner after he defeated Craig Treble in the final of the 2005 NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville.
“It took 17 years to get my first win, and I remember telling my mom that I was going to make a million dollars racing a motorcycle,” Johnson said. "At times, it’s been a struggle, but I’m so proud to say I raced against Schultz, Myers, and Vance. Of course, I wanted to win, but I had different goals. I was trying to make a living, and thanks Slick 50, K&N, and Snap-on, I was able to.”
Johnson also credits late NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt with some sage financial advice that helped keep his career going.
“Dale taught me how to sell my die-casts,” Johnson said. “When Action Collectibles was making the bikes, you could let them do all the work and get a royalty of about 15%, or you could buy all of them and sell them yourself. I remember putting $80,000 on my Amex card and buying 2,000 bikes. And I signed every one of them. We had them lined up in my driveway.”
When it comes to memorable moments, Johnson has plenty of them, including his first NHRA U.S. Nationals victory, which came in 2005, his 214th race. Johnson defeated Matt Smith in the final, but there was another delayed winner’s circle celebration as the win was initially awarded to Smith. However, video tape evidence showed that Johnson’s bike was clearly the first to cross the finish line, and on Tuesday, he was crowned the champion.
“That first Indy win was extremely memorable. We went over to the TV compound to watch the tape, and it was clear that we won the race. [Then crew chief] Shane Maloney said, ‘We won the damn race,’ and stormed out of the truck. When I did the interview, I remember it was just after Hurricane Katrina, and I said 'There’s people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama with no water. How can I complain?' ”
"Winning NHRA’s 1,000th race in Las Vegas [2021] was also very special, and we won in Charlotte back to back. I also got to ride Dave Schultz’s bike when we did his memorial tour. They let other riders make a run, and I got to do that in Pomona. I raced in Japan with Dave, and that meant a lot.”
Through both the good times and the lean years, Johnson has remained the Pro Stock Motorcycle class' biggest supporter, and someone who is willing to go to great lengths to sell the sport to the masses. He lists the formation of the Pro2 riders organization as another of his career highlights.
“In 1997 in Denver, we got all bike racers together, including Terry Vance, and we talked about things like better payouts and more TV time. We agreed that we needed a single voice to work with NHRA. We didn’t just ask for things, we offered things in return, including more professional uniforms and more fan-friendly pit areas; things to help grow the class. For 10 years, I ran Pro2 and put the class ahead of my own program.”
Johnson admits that he still enjoys competing, and his results show that he is still competitive at age 63. He also acknowledges that today’s bikes are much different than the one he brought to Englishtown in 1987.
“My first bike had a stock chassis, a raked front end, and a car tire on the back,” Johnson said. “The engine maybe had 200 horsepower, and it ran 8.40s. Today, we’ve got 400 hp, and we’re going 6.6s at over 200 mph. For me, they’re difficult to ride, and I’m in awe of anyone who can make a perfect run where you hit all the shift points and keep it in the groove. Those runs [are] few and far between.”
With race No. 500 in the bank, Johnson faces the inevitable question of how much longer he can continue. Could he make it to 600 races?
“The way I’ve been getting beat up lately, I don’t know if I can make it to 501,” he laughed. “I still enjoy it, and I still love using the NHRA platform to promote skilled trades to kids [as part of the NHRA Youth & Education Services program]. I’d like to stick around for a while longer.”
STEVE JOHNSON MILESTONES
First race 1987 Englishtown
100th race 1997 Memphis
200th race 2004 Las Vegas 2
300th race 2011 Houston
400th race 2017 Chicago
500th race 2024 Sonoma
First low qualifier 1995 Atlanta (No. 66)
First Final 1995 Richmond (No. 68)
First win 2004 St. Louis (No. 193)
First Indy win 2005 Indy (No. 214)
