He Trades Two Wheels for Four, Still Wins

Once a winner, always a winner.

That defines the career of Rick Johnson, who came out of San Diego’s El Cajon area to become perhaps America’s greatest motocross rider before retiring at age 26 because of a wrist injury that didn’t heal properly.

Over a 10-year stretch, he won seven national championships and 62 national events, and won three 250cc U.S. Grand Prix events on the world circuit from 1987-89.

Forced to give up motocross, he turned to stadium trucks, and in his fourth race in the Mickey Thompson stadium off-road series, he drove a Chevrolet to victory at the Coliseum in 1992, defeating such veterans as Ivan Stewart, Roger Mears, Walker Evans and Rod Millen. Johnson was named Grand National truck rookie of the year.

But when Chevrolet pulled out of the Thompson series after the 1994 season, he had no ride.

“I had an old San Diego friend, Steve Wright, who had won a lot of ATV championships [and] who was looking for something to do and he said, ‘Why don’t we go run stock cars at Cajon Speedway?’ ” Johnson said. “One thing led to another and I heard that Ed Hale’s car was up for sale. I bought his whole deal--a Chevy Lumina, the trailer, truck, spare parts, everything--for $29,000.”

Hale, who drove in the first race held at Cajon in 1961, is the track’s all-time main event winner.

Cajon Speedway is the grass roots of racing, a three-eighths-mile, semi-banked asphalt track in El Cajon where hard-core drivers bang fenders and trade swear words in a Saturday night labor of love. Drivers such as Hale, John Borneman, Mark Harris and Jerry Gay spend a lifetime racing for a few bucks. Gay, who has won 115 races in various classes over more than 30 years, has been racing there nearly as long as Hale.

Johnson, the new kid on the block, soon found that his reputation as a motocross champion didn’t mean much at Cajon.

“One of the first things I learned was that you’re a lot more vulnerable in a car than on a motorcycle when someone wants to run into you,” he said. “On the bike, you think twice about running into another rider because you’re liable to get hurt yourself. In a car, with all that sheet metal around you, you can just bang away.

“There were times when I felt like retaliating, but I decided it was better to bite my lip, keep my car going and try to work my way back to the front. I learned in motocross that if you want to run for the championship, you’d better finish every race you can.”

Johnson’s plan paid off, although rival drivers sometimes complained that he was overly aggressive. He won four races to six for Gay, but it was the rookie and former motorcycle racer who won the championship, 1,056 to 1,022, by finishing second to former Saugus driver Sean Woodside in the season finale Saturday night.

“I knew all I needed was to finish fifth or better, so I just followed Woodside around,” Johnson said. It was the second time Gay had finished runner-up in final standings.

Now Johnson has his sights set on NASCAR’s SuperTruck series and, beyond that, Winston Cup stock cars.

“I’ll be in Martinsville [Va.] on Saturday for the SuperTruck race and hope to talk with Scoop Vessels about driving one of his trucks when the series comes to Bakersfield next month,” he said. “I’d like to run that series next year and maybe some Busch Grand Nationals, then see what’s up ahead.”

The trucks will be at Mesa Marin Raceway on Oct. 15.

Motor Racing Notes

STOCK CARS--Kern County Raceway in Willow Springs will hold its final championship points races for daredevil stocks, Grand American modifieds, sportsmen and late model stocks Saturday night. . . . Cajon Speedway will feature street and pony stocks, Grand Americans and a destruction derby Saturday night. . . . Blythe Speedway will hold its final points race for pony stocks Saturday night.

MIDGETS--U.S. Auto Club three-quarter midgets will headline the Saturday night program at Ventura Raceway. Also on the program will be IMCA sprint cars, vintage street and mini stocks and karts.

SPORTS CARS--The Cal Club and Southern Pacific Division GT-4 Driver’s Assn. will hold a GT-4 Fun Festival this weekend during a Sports Car Club of America regional championship at Willow Springs Raceway. Favorites include John Olsen, lap record holder at Willow Springs, and former regional champions Greg Clark, Tom Hennig, Ray Siddons, Michael Parks and Derek McKesson.

MOTORCYCLES--Greg Hancock, a British Speedway League rider from Costa Mesa, defeated former champion Bobby Schwartz in a runoff for the U.S. speedway championship Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. . . . The American Motorcyclist Assn. superbike series will be at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., on Sunday with Miguel Duhamel seeking a record seventh consecutive win . . . Lake Elsinore-based Team Suzuki Endurance clinched the WERA national endurance championship after winning the eighth race of a 10-race series Saturday at Memphis, Tenn. Michael Martin and Dave Stanton were the winning riders in the four-hour race. . . . The Continental Motosports Club has canceled its flat track and motocross seasons at Sunrise Valley Raceway in Adelanto. . . . After winning the Motocross des Nations 14 years in a row, the U.S. team of Jeff Emig, Ryan Hughes and Steve Lamson finished second for the second consecutive year. Belgium was the winner.

MISCELLANY--La Rana Desert Racing will conduct the California 250 off-road race Saturday at Ridgecrest. . . . Mike Lewis, former circulation manager for area newspapers, is the new general manager of Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino.

NECROLOGY--Lyle Dickey, a longtime roadster, midget and sprint car driver at Gilmore Stadium, Carrell Speedway and early California Racing Assn. tracks, died last Monday of a stroke at his home in Rancho Bernardo. Services are today at the Rancho Bernardo Community Church at 4 p.m. Dickey was 85.