This Guy’s Garage – Tommy Johnson Sr.

If you follow NHRA drag racing, then you probably know Tommy Johnson Jr. drives the Make-A-Wish AA/Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing. In fact, Tommy Jr. recently won the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN. But this isn’t Tommy Jr.’s garage. This is Tommy “9 Lives” Johnson Sr.’s shop. He has lived what many might consider a pretty full life. When this writer was just a kid in Iowa, I helped my friends race a 1957 Chevy, and we sometimes pitted near Tommy Sr. He crashed very badly driving a Vega race car in 1973, which almost took his life and earned him his nickname. He reinforced it again roughly 15 years ago after his doctor told him he had terminal cancer. He beat the disease with treatment not approved in the U.S. and feels so strongly about what he learned that he wrote a book (CancerBook-TJ.com).

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Photo Gallery: This Guy’s Garage – Tommy Johnson Sr.