Highlights
Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.
Residence: Phelps, N.Y.
Born: March 3, 1960
Team: MPR Racing
Entry: No. 27j Honeoye Auto Parts-Currier Plastics-Waste Management/Bicknell/Mastin
Owner: Mike Payne
2009 Season Review: Following a piecemeal schedule in recent years on the Northeast DIRTcar circuit, the ‘Doctor’ continued to operate on a week-to-week basis last season with limited success in handful of rides. The five-time DIRTcar Northeast Driver of the Year settled for eighth in the standings with a runner-up finish at Orange County and 3rd-place tally at Cornwall his best on his list of 10 Top-10s logged in ‘09. The Rochester, N.Y. native began the season buckled into Mike Petruska’s no. 66 Atlas Paving-Behrent's Performance Warehouse/TEO hotrod, entering his own no. 27J Troyer machine midway through before reuniting with owner Dave Thompson down the stretch. A trio of heat race victories and a Sunday night feature win at Cayuga County marked the only checkered flags of the season for the ‘Doctor,’ who ranks second all-time with 66 tour triumphs. Johnson also added another DIRTcar victory in small-block competition, claiming the 358-Modified Series stop out west at Ransomville (NY) Speedway.
2009 Super DIRTcar Series Stats
Points Diff Money Wins Top-5 Top-10 Starts
1,559 -485 $19,075 -- 2 10 20
Series History: A life-time traveler on the Big-Block bandwagon, four-time overall Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Modified Champion Johnson sits second on the all-time Series win chart (66) behind only rival Brett Hearn, yet with just one Integra Shocks Fast Time award garnered at Lebanon Valley Speedway at the start of the new millennium. The second-generation chauffeur co-owns tour standards of consecutive seasons with at least one tour win (15) and extra-distance victories at 29 different speedways up and down the Atlantic Coast, including a record three straight in 1989. The ‘Doctor’ has been a favorite in every one of DIRTcar Northeast’s crown jewel events held over the past quarter-century, scoring a pair of Super DIRT Week Rite Aid 200 wins (1997 & 2006), doubling the win count to four in the Eastern States 200 at Orange County, adding thee more triumphs in the Lebanon Valley Speedway 200, and capturing his lone National 200 at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in 2000.
DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Diary
DIRTcar Super DIRTcar Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels
Year Circuit Wins Series Wins Mr. DIRTcar Points
2009 1 -- 8th
2008 1 1 13th
2007 11 4 8th
2006 5 2 9th
2005 1 1 22nd
2004 -- -- 17th
2003 7 1 7th
2002 3 1 7th
2001 7 2 4th
2000 13 6 2nd
1999 11 2 1st
1998 7 3 6th
1997 11 7 1st
1996 6 5 4th
1995 7 1 6th
1994 3 1 4th
1993 9 4 9th
1992 14 6 1st
1991 13 4 17th
1990 24 4 4th
1989 34 7 1st
1988 25 -- 3rd
1987 27 1 3rd
1986 16 2 2nd
1985 11 -- 10th
1984 12 -- 16th
1983 10 -- 18th
1982 2 1 19th
1981 5 -- 13th
1980 -- -- --
1979 1 -- 5th
1978 -- -- 15th
Totals: 297 66 4 Titles
DIRTcar Racing Record: Touted as one of the most talented drivers contending under the DIRTcar Racing umbrella in any division, Johnson has amassed 297 Big-Block (4th) and 144 Small-Block (4th) feature race victories to rank among the top-five all-time in both categories. Collecting a total of 22 open-wheel (14 Big-Block) track point titles during a career that has spanned four decades, D.J. is the only five-time DIRTcar Northeast Driver of the Year, adding three Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified titles and 53 small-block (2nd all-time) tour wins ---record eight straight posted in 2000--- along the way.
Fun Facts: On his way up to the Big-Block ranks, Johnson joined older brother Alan racing motorcycles in the summer at Paradise Speedway on the outskirts of Geneva, New York, and sliding around Weedsport Speedway (today’s Cayuga County Fair Speedway) aboard high-powered snowmobiles in the winter. His father Milt Johnson was a noted engine-builder for legendary asphalt drivers Maynard Troyer, Richie Evans and Jerry Cook, along with Merv Treichler, a standout on both surfaces.
