Forever A Champion-Blaine Johnson (1 Viewer)

[TopFuel@Lions]

Not a re-post here for a change, another year, another year of thinking about one of my all time favorite drivers, Blaine Johnson. When the calendar hits late August and the Nationals comes around, I think of Blaine. One of the best pure drivers ever.

This guy would have fit in any era, he would have been a beast in the golden age of front engine fuelers or todays beasts.



TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Short Track Announcer

 

[TSK]

It wasn’t just that Blaine was such a great driver, although he was. But Alan Johnson was beginning to prove he is one of the best to ever tune a blown nitro Hemi.
Between the two of them, the nitro record book would have been completely rewritten to never be equaled, or surpassed.

 

[stitcherbob]

Not a re-post here for a change, another year, another year of thinking about one of my all time favorite drivers, Blaine Johnson. When the calendar hits late August and the Nationals comes around, I think of Blaine. One of the best pure drivers ever.

This guy would have fit in any era, he would have been a beast in the golden age of front engine fuelers or todays beasts.



TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Short Track Announcer

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[ZWeinstein]

Blaine is one of those what ifs that happen in motorsports when somebody is killed before the reach their potential. I truly believe Blaine and Alan would have changed the face of top fuel racing for decades to come.

 

[Under_Pressure]

I buy quite a bit of tooling for work from Travers to this day in part because of that sponsorship. I was only 14 when Blaine died, but I remembered that car, and when I was in a position where I needed to make those kinds of purchases it stuck with me. I just thought Blaine and Alan were the coolest- no big money owner, no slick corporate sponsorship, just a couple of brothers off the farm who worked their way up through the ranks together as driver and tuner. The definition of motorsports privateers.

 

[TopFuel@Lions]

What Ted and Zed said, well put.

I got to see the Johnson run the sand drags as well.



TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Short Track Announcer

 

[SoCal Racer]

We were there that day and left the track not knowing Blaine's condition, only to return the next day and find he had passed. It was the first time my son had been at an event where there was a fatality - actually two, as Elmer Trett was also killed that weekend - and very difficult for him. It still brings sadness after all these years. Thankfully Alan stayed in the sport, as his success honors Blaine.

 

[mike]

The best period. I will never forget receiving the news and being reduced to tears, and then hearing of Elmer's death on my way to school put a big punch back in the gut. Blaine would have been the greatest ever, no question about it. He will always be missed.

 

[Tybamf]

We were there that weekend, it was my second U.S. Nationals and I was 12. I'll never forget the feeling of the entire weekend with Elmer's passing as well. My dad and I always stuck around late after the race to wait out traffic. We purchased a nitro piston and were getting autographs on it. On our way out the entire Johnson family had a table set up at the end of the grandstands and we're signing autographs. That is just amazing to me.

 

[Pete]

Blaine is one of those what ifs that happen in motorsports when somebody is killed before the reach their potential. I truly believe Blaine and Alan would have changed the face of top fuel racing for decades to come.

So true. I simply extrapolate what Alan has done since ‘96. How many championships with Scelzi, Schumacher and Al-Amabi? 10?

 

[TSK]

I’ve collected various die cast cars for over 30 years. I had the two red cars prior to Blaine’s wreck. I found the blue car at a small shop in Tulsa a couple of weeks after the wreck and made the drive to get it.