The Shelby American (Winter 2021)

could see the handwriting on the wall and Johnson was no exception; he ap- proached Carroll Shelby just after the 1963 12-Hours of Sebring to purchase CSX2026 on the spot. The car was re- built and repainted by April 1963 and the next month Johnson scored his first A/P win at the SCCA National at Cumberland. His big break came at the June 1963 USRRC Watkins Glen race where the Cobra team of Dave MacDonald, Ken Miles and Bob Hol- bert rolled into town on the Shelby American transporter. Bob Johnson beat them all and then he did it again the next weekend in Lake Garnett, Kansas at the big showdown with the Corvette racers. The latter fished 4th, 5th and 6th behind Johnson, MacDon- ald and Miles. On top of everything else, Johnson was in last year’s race car! He would go on to win the 1963 SCCA “A” Production title with CSX2026, and he would get a spot on the Shelby American team for 1964. He bought CSX2189 late in 1963, prepped it over the winter and pro- ceeded to win the SCCA “A” Produc- tion title for the second year in a row. As a member of the Shelby USRRC team he was paired with Dan Gurney in CSX2259, an FIA roadster, at the Daytona 2000 KM (4th OA) in Febru- ary 1964 and again at Sebring in March where the car was wrecked badly with Johnson at the wheel. Al- though mostly running his independ- ent comp car, Johnson ran off an impressive string of races in 1964 through the year-end clam bake in Nassau. Shelby American was focused on the big races in 1965 and Bob John- son found himself paired with his buddy (and fellow independent racer) Tom Payne in a Daytona Coupe at Daytona (CSX2601, DNF-engine), Se- bring (CSX2601, 7th OA-2nd GT) and then the pair were handed the old work horse CSX2287 for LeMans where the boys were running as high as fourth, but after 12 hours the en- gine gave way and the race was over for the Johnson/Payne car. In May 1965 Carroll Shelby loaned Bob Johnson one of his R-Model Mus- tangs (5R102) to run “B” Production in the mid-west. Columbus Bob re- painted the car in Ohio State colors, which was quickly rectified after Car- roll Shelby called him out. Johnson went on to finish 2nd to Jerry Titus at the ARRC “B” production race at Day- tona in November 1965. Johnson moved on to the Trans-Am series in a notchback Mustang and then did a stint with Jim Hall and his Chapar- rals before he finished out his racing career back in Corvettes. The late highlight occurred when the two Ohio Johnsons teamed up in a 1969 L88 Corvette for Daytona (DNF) and Se- bring, where they brought the Johnson & Johnson “Band Aid” car home 11th OA, 2nd GT. Johnson scaled back his racing in 1970 and retired altogether in 1975, after which he enjoyed growing his business and golf. With the advent of vintage racing and the resultant inter- est in the Shelby American story, Bob Johnson became a regular at Shelby events and reunions. As an aside, in 2002 a group of us from NorCal made the easy trek down to Fontana for SAAC-27. Kevork Hagopian, Drew Serb and I had gone through the chow line and were sitting at an 8-top when two couples ambled up to our table to ask if we’d mind if they’d join us for dinner. Down sat Bob Johnson and Tom Payne and their wives and the stories started to fly. These two old friends were pretty deaf, so they were busy yelling at each other or having their wives pass along the comment. Tom Payne told about the Shelby transporter showing up in front of his house well after dark one night and of- floading a race car, a couple of spare differentials, a spare transmission, some wheels and a few spare parts. From there he was on his own. While we didn’t get into details, it’s likely the car was CSX3020, the dry sump Com- petition 427 which was delivered to him in June 1966. Later that night at SAAC-27, after all the festivities were over, these two gentlemen were still sitting in the lobby, smiling and laugh- ing at their distant memories. Bob Johnson took the checkered flag in October 2008, aged 81. Tom Payne was born in Fort Smith Arkansas in 1924 and studied law at the University of Arkansas. Payne did well, presumably at law and in Michi- gan, and by 1954 he appears in the race record driving an Arnolt-Bristol. He was on the national circuit as early as October 1955 with an appearance The SHELBY AMERICAN Bob Johnson Tom Payne Winter 2021 49