Johnson Boyz Motorsports
A drag and dirt racing team based out of Beaumont, Texas
JKJ Motorsports History
Johnson Motorsports has been around since the late 1970’s, when Jonathan Johnson’s father, Glen, raced on an oval dirt track. By the mid 1980’s, Glen’s hard work and attention to detail had produced a fleet of racecars and track championships in various categories. In early 1989, Glen elected to trade in left turns for straight line drag racing. Glen Johnson continued to dabble in drag racing until 1992 when the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) introduced the Jr. Drag Racing League in which sons Chris and Jonathan became heavily involved.
With the purchase of the seventh car built by the late Vinny Napp’s Half Scale Dragsters shop, ten year-old Jonathan and twelve year-old Chris were ready to hit the track. In the inaugural race, Jonathan recorded a Runner-up finish to now Pro-Stock standout Richie Stevens, Jr. at the Winston Drag Racing Series event at Houston Raceway Park. Chris, who drove one week later at the Chief Nationals in Dallas, Texas also received Runner-up honors in his first event. The initial results proved that a second car was a must and the start to successful driving careers were in motion for both of the Johnson brothers.
Over the next 6 years, Chris and Jonathan collected nearly fifty combined victories in Jr. Dragster competition and a desire that would carry them into full-size racecars. Chris would go on to compete in the Footbrake, Super Street, and Super Gas categories garnering many event wins. With a desire to become an engineer, Chris had a great fascination with and an ability to tune the electronic throttle stop systems and race car chassis. Unfortunately, towards the end of the 2004 season, Chris’ scholastic requirements drew him away from the racetrack and into the classroom. He became a valuable part of a NASA-sponsored project for the Mechanical Engineering team at Lamar University. Their project is one of only a few that are actually still being used as a result of the competition. The LU team took a real-life approach to the project problem, thus requiring a great deal of attention and respect from both the competition chair people and NASA. Furthermore, Chris finds himself a very successful engineer and has been able to remain a part of the race team as a consultant to his brother Jonathan since his ‘retirement’ in late 2004.
Even with Chris' absence, Jonathan continued to follow his passion within racing; he continues to maintain a license in every Sportsman category in the NHRA. Jonathan raced Jr's through the end of the 1998 saeason. He started the 1999 season in Stock Eliminator with the help of the famed Emmons family of Pasadena, Texas. While winning many bracket racing events, Jonathan also managed late round finishes at the handful of divisional and national event he attended while finishing high school. After three seasons with the Stocker, Jonathan moved to the family's Super Street 1969 Camaro in 2001. In his first outing, he won the IHRA Holley Pro-Am at Lone Star Raceway Park. This was the predecessor of many victories in the "old faithful" Camaro. While Jonathan had taken over the driving of the Camaro, Chris had taken delivery of a 2001 Pontiac Firebird Super Gas car. However, towards the end of 2004, as a result of Chris' aforementioned scholastic requirements, Jonathan began driving the Firebird full time.
Due a great deal to Chris' hard work, Johnson Boyz Motorsports would go on to have great success with ‘The Dirty Bird’. The team would score a victory at the NHRA Division 4 State Capitol Dragway Lucas Oil Event in 2004. Jonathan followed that with a top 15 finish in Division Points, as well as a top 85 finish nationally out of more than 600 cars. After a Runner-Up finish at the 2005 O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, the younger Johnson elected to attend Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School to fulfill a lifelong dream of driving a Top Alcohol Funny Car. With the nod of approval from Frank, Jonathan teamed with Tulsa, Oklahoma's Brad McWilliams to race Top Alcohol Funny Car. This proved to be a success from the beginning having a semi-final finish at the first event. However, at the end of 2005, a phone call from legendary Alcohol Funny Car owners George and Jane Etterman would team Jonathan with their Bar's Leaks entry based out of Newaygo, Michigan for 2006. Jonathan would go on to a runner-up finish at the first event, directly followed by a Number 1 Qualifying position at the second event. By the years-end, Jonathan had one event win, two runner-ups, three number 1 qualifiers, a fourth place division finish, and an 18th place national finish. He recorded career best numbers of 5.640 seconds at 256.40 mph. Unfortunately, with the rising costs of fuel, parts, and a greater time commitment required in his architectural degree, both the Etterman's and Jonathan opted to step away from Alcohol Funny Car racing. At the conclusion of the 2006 season, The Etterman’s chose retirement, while Jonathan chose to concentrate on his graduation from Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture. Not surprisingly, new things were in store for Johnson Boyz Motorsports, as Jonathan did not walk away from racing completely.
In 2007, Jonathan elected to join some friends in the dirt modified scene. He brought the marketing experience he and his fiancée, Katie Ward, garnered from drag racing with them. The team finished 6th in Motorama Speedway's points in its rookie year.
For 2008, Jonathan and Katie formed JKJ Motorsports, Inc. in order to maintain a strong business structure in their racing operation. That, coupled with the re-alignment of Bar’s Products of Holly, Michigan has the team excited for what the future holds. Additionally, the couple will be married in July. Please check back often for up-to-date results.
