son had finally earned the top prize, the overall AMA
Grand National No. 1 plate. Along the way he’d won
three Nationals (one of the Daytona Short Track Nationals, the Memorial Day Springfield Mile and the season
finale on the Yavapai Downs Mile).
Now a Grand National Champion, Johnson still finds
it hard to believe that he’s etched his name alongside
the greats of the sport. His plans for 2011 are more of
the same. He’s still going to be with Zanotti Racing and
will have pretty much the same crew behind him: team
owner Dave Zanotti, mechanic Ted McDermitt and Mike
Hacker pitching in at the track and with sponsorship
work.
Johnson grew up in South Jersey. His dad, a dump
truck driver and later heavy equipment operator, did local flat track racing, but gave it up when he became a
parent. Not long after little Jake began to walk and his
dad put him on a Honda 50 – a lifelong passion for motorcycle racing was born. During his childhood, Johnson’s dad had a lot of buddies who were into racing and
Jake found himself running countless informal races on
“I won my first race, but it’s not as good as
it sounds. I was the only 50cc rider in the
race, so they scored me separately from all
the 60cc riders and I won.”
a little rough a few times. We were
bumping and banging a little bit.
Jared got into the back of me go-
ing into turn one and laid rubber all over the side of my
bike. A couple of times I thought about letting those two
go and just following them around and staying safe, but
I didn’t know if the pack was right behind us and didn’t
want to get shuffled back so I just went for it. I had a fast
bike and felt like I could control the race. When I got
in front it seemed like those guys had trouble drafting
me. On the last lap I think I was second going down the
back straightaway. I passed Jared going into three, took
the lead and made those guys try to pass me. I think
Jared came up about two inches short at the line. It was
a great way to close out the championship.”
With his victory in Arizona the title was Johnson’s. In
his ninth season of AMA Grand National racing, John-
- Jake Johnson
dusty fields adjacent to his neighborhood against older
competition.
“Having to race older riders when I was a kid really
toughened me up,” Johnson said. “We were all friends,
but that didn’t keep them from banging and bumping me
around on the track. I had to learn to give it right back to
them just to survive.”
Around the time he was five Johnson was entered in
his first real race - the 50cc class at Harrington, Dela-
ware.
“I won my first race,” Johnson said. “But it’s not as
good as it sounds. I was the only 50cc rider in the race,
so they scored me separately from all the 60cc riders
and I won.”
