1994 -
Season of Change
By: Barb Benson
Johnny moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Charlotte,
North Carolina to drive in his first full season for
Bill Baumgardner and BACE Motorsports.
Johnny drove the #74 Chevrolet Monte
Carlo.
Johnny's crew chief was
Steve Bird was his crew chief and
Staff America was the sponsor. He won the NASCAR Busch
Series Grand National Division Rookie of the Year and
finished sixth in Busch Series Championship points.
David Green was the 1994 Busch Series Champion.
The
season stats included 6 - Top 5's,
9 Top 10's. The average start was 18.2 and the average
finish was 16. Season earnings was $190,011.
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Johnny, crew member and
Steve Bird |
Lance McGrew was on the
#74 team. He went on to
work at Hendrick Motorsports |
Johnny won his first BGN race at
Dover Downs International Speedway in the Split Fire Spark
Plug 200 on September 17, 1994. It was Johnny's 29th
career start in the BGN Series and the first time a rookie
in the series won his first race on a Superspeedway.
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Johnny enjoying his time
at the track |
Johnny and Phil Holmer,
Goodyear executive discussing tires. |
Did Johnny celebrate with his crew
after the win? No, Debbie and Johnny boarded a plane
and headed for Grand Rapids, Michigan so Johnny could
race the ASA race at Berlin Raceway. They
landed in Muskegon, Michigan, jumped into a rental car and
let's just say they made good time. He was
greeted with thunderous applause as he entered the track.
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Dale
Earnhardt was always willing to let me take his
photo whether he was at the NASCAR tracks, racing at
Cayuga Speedway or signing autographs at Berger
Chevrolet. Do you remember when his team
did pit stops in the parking lot at Berger
Chevrolet? |
Did you know that Dale Earnhardt called Johnny in 2003?
He wanted him to drive his Goodwrench car at the Dover Busch
race. The sponsor was not as willing to give Johnny a
shot as Dale wanted. It turned into a deal with
Ernie Irvan and Johnny and the rest is history .....
