At an early age, Jack Johnson felt the tug of motorcycle racing, not realizing it would become a lifelong passion that would one day land him in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
“My dad was a racer. I watched him and started riding at age 8,” Johnson says. “My first championship was at 10. I wanted to be like Dad, I guess.”
That first championship was a Nevada state title in desert racing. Johnson’s formal career started later and, by his early 20s, he was winning major events.
His accomplishments included first overall in the 1975 and 1976 Mint 400 and a second overall and first in the 250 class in the 1973 Mint 400.
Johnson also finished first overall in the 1978 Cherry Creek Hare and Hound and in the 1979 Baja 500, where he was also first in the solo rider class.
Johnson won first overall at the Baja 1000 with Larry Roeseler in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and in 1982 with Al Baker. He won the 1994 Baja 1000 with fellow AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Class of 2016 inductee Chris Haines and Scott Forward.
Johnson consistently won his class in the Baja 1000 from 2001 through 2007, teaming with Haines and other riders.
He also won a silver medal in the 1980 International Six Days Trial and a gold in 1981 when the event was renamed the International Six Days Enduro.
Johnson attributes his success to a strong work ethic, exceptional vision and a willingness to forge into the unknown.
“Being a little on the fearless side helps,” he says.
Teaming with Haines and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Legend Malcolm Smith in 2004 for the Vet class win in the Baja 1000 was one of Johnson’s career highlights.
But he says his most memorable ride was that 1979 Baja 500 on his Husqvarna.
“I was told I shouldn’t do it and I couldn’t do it,” Johnson recalls. “I took that as a challenge.”
Five hundred miles across the desert alone on a motorcycle is tough enough. But defeating other competitors who had teammates to share the burden represents a monumental achievement.
“Afterward, I knew I had accomplished something no one else had done,” Johnson says. “And no one else has even attempted it since.”