BE FIRST: The First To Do Anything Gives You An Enormous Advantage, And You Never Forget Your First

Amos_N._Johnson_Clean_FileNeroFarman ali812025-03-21T18:56:00Z2025-03-21T07:18:00Z2025-03-25T21:43:00Z16730798175552Aspose146241120593916.00007ef524aa-761f-4361-bcc7-7281ddd603cc

Dedication

To Bunny: 47 years and counting.

Amos_N._Johnson_Clean_FileNeroFarman ali812025-03-21T18:56:00Z2025-03-21T07:18:00Z2025-03-25T21:43:00Z16730798175552Aspose146241120593916.00007ef524aa-761f-4361-bcc7-7281ddd603cc

Foreword

By Theresa Bunny Johnson

In 1966 I watched a red MGB come tearing through my flag station at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), scattering the corner workers; who was that guy? Later that day I met Amos Johnson who apologized profusely for scaring us so badly. I watched Amos race in SCCA Regional Races and go to the National Runoffs in 1967, honing his skill, building his engines, loving racing.

In 1967 I watched Amos scratch and fight his way into NASCAR and run a few races, impossible to race on your own dime even in those days.

In 1968 I watched him incorporate a business called Team Highball, Inc. and hire his first employee Dennis Shaw. He was building a team and racing cars and engines for customers. Then in 1969 everything changed in sports car racing when John and Peg Bishop started an organization called IMSA, International Motor Sports Association. This permitted the amateur racers to go professional, seek sponsorships and get paid. What an impact this had on sports car racing.

I watched Amos build his first cars for IMSA, ever improving his driving techniques, attracting sponsorships, racing and winning a lot. First backed by AMC, McCreary Tires, Champion Spark Plugs and many other sponsors. There were lots of ups and downs, unsponsored years, but he kept chasing the next win, the next first.

In 1977 Amos and I walked down the aisle, and he became a husband and stepdad to three sons. He is and was a great stepdad, grandad, great-grandfather and uncle to my huge family. He was simply known as A, Grandpa A or Uncle A by dozens of kids.

Around 1982, Amos got a contract with Mazda to build a GLC piston engine racer. This started a successful run with them for ten years, racing in two series simultaneously and with so much help from B. F. Goodrich in the RS series and Yokohama in the GTU series. Mazda did more with less than any other manufacturer and they were outstanding in every respect. It was heartbreaking when that program ended.

In 1992 Oldsmobile wanted a new car developed; so, they called Amos and the team to build the Achieva. It was the first GT car built with an aluminum tub chassis.

After racing, I watched him, as Technical Director of two racing series, writing rule books and helping young racers along the way. He still coaches and advises. I watched him learn scuba, get his Master Captain’s license, appraise boats, coach young drivers, volunteer 22 years to US Coast Guard Auxiliary, 5 years to FEMA, and 5 years to Lee County Sheriff’s VOICE Program.

I’ve watched Amos for over half a century.

I’m watching him now, writing this book for you, embracing the memories, recalling old friendships and loving every minute. Hope you will enjoy the read……

Bunny

Table Of Contents

1 Mazda 71

2 Me

3 TEAM HIGHBALL

4 NASCAR:

5 IMSA:

6 AMC: Gremlin

7 AMC Pacer

8 AMC Spirit

9 Mazda Sedans

10 AAGT Vegrant

11 Mazda RX7

12 Mazda MX6

13 Oldsmobile

14 IMSA:Technical Director

15 NATCC

16 Rest of Story

17 My Career

Amos_N._Johnson_Clean_FileNeroFarman ali812025-03-21T18:56:00Z2025-03-21T07:18:00Z2025-03-25T21:43:00Z16730798175552Aspose146241120593916.00007ef524aa-761f-4361-bcc7-7281ddd603cc

1

Mazda 71

I woke up when someone kicked my leg, and then I heard someone saying sorry, I didn’t see you down there. Rolling out from under the car on a creeper I realized that I had fallen asleep while trying to figure out how we could route the exhaust from the engine out the right side of the car without setting the car on fire. Before this one, all Mazda racecars had run the tailpipes at least 120 inches, all the way to the rear of the car. It was way late at night in the middle of January 1985, and this new GTU Mazda RX-7 racecar had to be on the track at Daytona in about two weeks for the IMSA 24-hour race, or my goose was cooked.

The 1984 racing season had been a good one. I finished third in points while co-driving with my good friend Roger Mandeville in his IMSA GTO Mazda RX-7; he won the championship. I also gained fifth place for the season with my Mazda GLC in the B F Goodrich Radial Challenge Championship. That was a total of 29 races for the year. Damon Barnett, American Competition Director for Mazda, was pleased, and with Roger’s recommendation, he offered me a second contract for 1985 to race an RX-7 in the GTU class in addition to the two-car team of GLCs that I had been running with my teammate Dennis Shaw. I would have two months to come up with a car, and Roger convinced me that it would be better to build my own car rather than buy an existing one. He would be able to help me since he would be racing the same car in 1985. It also happened that the new IMSA rulebook had come out with a few changes. After pouring over the new regulations, I discovered that it was no longer necessary to start with a complete street-car when building a racecar; we could buy what parts we needed and fabricate the chassis from scratch, i.e. build a tube-frame car. Game on, let’s buy some parts and get to work.

My new car would be the first IMSA GT car to be built to these new IMSA regulations, not that I had been afraid of venturing out when it came to the rules. Just be careful not to step too far. I had quite a bit of racing under my belt and had, for the most part, built and maintained the cars myself, or at least my team had. Team Highball, Inc. had been an assembly of friends, originally, but over the years, it had become a real business with real employes. At this point, with me as president, we had a front office and a shop of fabricators, mechanics, and crew, a total of about fifteen, plus any number of people who loved to stop by with a helping hand when needed. Those we called the elves. My wife, Bunny, and I had just built a new shop building with two 5,000 sq.ft. sections to be rented out, and Team Highball would occupy the other 7,500. We would be moving in while building the new racecar.

The first order of business had been to order parts. Since I had done some racing with NASCAR, I felt that components for a 3500-pound stockcar would work well for an endurance racing sportscar. A Southern California company offered a superspeedway snout, front frame, with all front suspension and steering connected. To me, that meant the geometry was all worked out for us. The engine bay for a V-8 should be more than adequate for our 12A, 2-rotor Mazda engine. We would be using a special Mazda 5-speed transmission, and I would go with a rear-end from Franklin Engineering in South Carolina. They are best known in round-track racing for their quick change rear-end, but for us, it would be a non-quick-change that would use a ring and pinion gear that they had developed. The gear set was a spiral-cut bevel gear instead of a hypoid gear, meaning less friction and heat, and, more importantly, no cooler required. But the pinion comes out from the center of the ring gear instead of lower, off-center. Since the eccentric (crank) shaft of a rotary engine is in the center of the engine, as opposed to a piston engine, there would be no alignment problem, just that the driveshaft tunnel would have to be taller. For a limited-slip differential, I would go with a Gleason Torsen available from Franklin, again, for less friction.

Body panels for our RX-7 would be coming from Mazda’s Competition Department. The few required stock parts we could get from a local dealer or Raleigh Auto Parts junkyard, where we were regular customers. Of course, all these parts ordered would require money. The way our contracts worked with the Mazda factory was Damon Barnett would tell you what was expected of you and how much money Mazda of America would provide. If you agreed, he would send a check for the whole amount and a written contract would follow shortly. It was a simple process. Then we would have an account with Mazda America Competition where we could order, and pay for, whatever parts we needed. If we obtained outside sponsors, that would be our own business. There were times when we invested some of our contract dollars in six-month CDs, as the interest rate back then was upward of fifteen percent. That would increase the value of our sponsorship.

With parts and components ordered, it was time to start building. My fabricators, Bob Hubbard and Norm Samuelson, said we needed to build on a sturdy surface plate; so, we welded large I beams to make a heavy working platform about two feet off the ground. We could attach locating jigs where we needed as we welded the chassis pieces together, starting with that front snout when it arrived from California. We borrowed an RX-7 streetcar and made cardboard templates for locating the bodywork and the few stock panels. A stock windshield and roof were mandatory; most other pieces were fabricated. The racing bodywork was fiberglass and was on the way from Mazda. The car was assembled on our surface plate and then disassembled for painting before finally being finished. The team, with helpers, had just over a month for the whole process.

For the engine, I would go to Mandeville Auto Tec, Roger’s shop in Spartanburg, SC, where he had promised to teach me everything that I needed to know to build my own rotary engines. To help with my new car construction he sent his crew chief, Bob Snow, up to work with my crew. Roger and I go way back in racing. He came from Canada in the ‘60s to finish college at N. C. State, bringing a Triumph racecar with him. We were in the same sports car club for several years before he married and moved to Spartanburg, SC, where he built his shop and began racing in IMSA with a Mazda RX-2 and the rotary engine. When first built the engine required three hours of break-in running, and I had an engine dynamometer where he could do that. So, he and his wife, Nancy, would come to Raleigh for a weekend visit; the girls could shop, and the guys could work with the engine in my shop. Even though we raced against each other I helped him with his engines back then. In a week he built his engine for the upcoming Daytona race, and he helped me build two engines for my new car. These were 12A peripheral port rotary engines with a two-barrel IDA Weber carburetor. The horsepower was about 275 with a rev limit of 9,000 rpm.

By the time I got back to Raleigh Dan Robson and the crew were ready for the engine and transmission to be installed. Ashley Bass, who was a telephone employee by day, had the car’s wiring coming along well with special supplies from Bob Akin’s Hudson Wire Corporation. Bob had been a friend of mine for quite a while. His wife, Ellen, had been a student at Duke University, and once, when they were dating, Bob had a dental problem, found a local dentist he liked and always came back when he needed a dentist. Because our shop was near the RDU airport Bob would pop in whenever he came to our area. He had also co-driven with us in a couple of FIA races, winning one of them in our AMC Spirit. With our regular employees Evan Whittles, Marshall McLeod, Dan Upchurch, and Rick Thompson working full speed, and with help from the