Racing Great Johnson Sells Out

Junior Johnson, one of the last of the pioneers of big-time stock car racing, has sold his teams, according to published reports.

Lawyer David Blair of Batesville, Ark., bought one of the teams. Brett Bodine, who drove for the 64-year-old Johnson last year, bought the other, The Charlotte Observer, citing an unidentified source, reported Thursday.

Blair declined to say how much he paid for the team but said it was a significant investment.

The newspaper said Bodine bought the No. 11--a car in which Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip combined to win six NASCAR Winston Cup championships--for a price estimated at more than $3 million.

Johnson, the subject of Tom Wolfe’s essay “The Last American Hero,” won 50 races as a driver and 139 as an owner.

Boxing

The long-rumored rematch between heavyweights George Foreman and Michael Moorer is virtually set for Feb. 29 at Madison Square Garden, the New York Daily News reported. Foreman, 46, knocked out Moorer last November to win the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Assn. titles and become the oldest heavyweight champion in history. But he since has been stripped of both.

Miscellany

Jerry Colangelo, president of the Phoenix Suns and managing partner in baseball’s expansion Arizona Diamondbacks, said he is in “serious discussions” about moving an NHL team to the city, The Arizona Republic reported. The Winnipeg Jets are considered most likely to move.

Top-seeded Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia beat Cyril Suk and Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4, at the World Doubles Championship in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Montreal Expo catcher Tim Laker, 25, had ligament transfer surgery on his right elbow and will sit out the 1996 season.

Viacheslav Zagorodniuk of Russia placed first in the short program of men’s singles figure skating at the Nations Cup in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, while Americans Scott Davis and Todd Eldredge were second and third.

The Russian ice dance team of Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov led after compulsories.

Paul Hulme, 27, ran 8 kilometers in 24:16 and beat Joe Dunlop by eight seconds in Buffalo, N.Y., to win the 100th Turkey Trot, which claims to be the oldest road race in the United States. Jennifer Martin, 34, won the women’s race in 28:16.

Tom Gough, a U.S. Marine from Fairfax, Calif., lifted 352 1/2 pounds to break American records in the snatch and total lift in the 91-kilogram (200 1/2-pound) division at the World Weightlifting championships in Canton, China. Paul Fleschler held the old mark of 347 pounds.