In his day, few race drivers stood on the throttle any harder than Gordon Johncock of Hastings, Michigan. That fearless ability and bravery served him well as he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1973 and 1982.
The legendary racer passed away on September 28 at his home in South Branch, Michigan of natural causes, the family has announced.
He is survived by his wife Sue (married in 1990), five children (previous marriage, first wife Jane): three daughters – Peggy, Patsy, Pamilee and two sons – Wally and Gordon Jr. and stepdaughter Valerie Heffelbower, 12 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild.
Johncock started driving when he was just five years old, but unlike today, it was not in karting because that form of racing didn’t exist back then. Instead, Johncock learned how to drive on a John Deer tractor on the family farm in Hastings, Michigan.
“When I was 5, I started to work on the family farm, I drove a John Deere tractor and my dad had me follow a string that was attached to sticks at the end of each row of corn,” Johncock said of April 23, 2023, when he was given a “Baby Borg” for the 50th Anniversary of his 1973 Indy 500 win. “He rode behind me on his tractor, that’s how it all started – farming and driving – all at five years old in Hastings. Michigan. I’ve been on a farm pretty much all my life and enjoy it.”
Johncock started the Indianapolis 500 24 times and led 7 races for 339 laps. He completed 7,895 miles.
He started on the front row three times including third in 1967, second in 1975 again in 1976. He started on the second row nine times.
Johncock won 25 IndyCar races from 1965 to 1983 and finished second or third a combined 51 times. He had 20 career Indy car poles and won from the pole five times.
In his 261-career IndyCar starts, he led a whopping 3,360 laps.
His two Indianapolis 500 wins were a contrast in tragedy and triumph.
His first Indy 500 win in 1973 came in the Indianapolis 500 nobody wanted to remember. Two drivers and one pit crew member were killed as a result of crashes during the month of May including Art Pollard from the morning practice on Pole Day. Johncock’s teammate at Pat Patrick Racing, the talented Swede Savage, was badly injured in a horrific crash coming out of Turn 4 and although he survived for more than a month, he died on July 2 from complications from his injuries while still hospitalized at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
A crewmember on Graham McRae’s car at Patrick Racing, Armando Teran, was killed instantly when struck on pit lane by a safety vehicle heading in the wrong director toward the area of Savage’s crash.
That 1973 race had been delayed by two days because of rain and was finally halted on the third day — Wednesday, May 30, 1973, by rain and darkness with Johncock the winner after 133 laps. Bill Vukovich II finished second and was the only other driver on the lead lap.
Johncock never got to celebrate that victory, however, because he left Victory Lane and headed to Methodist Hospital to see Savage, who was badly burned from his crash. His Victory Dinner that night was at a Burger Chef Restaurant on 16th Street in Indianapolis.
Nine years later, Johncock finally had a chance to celebrate an Indianapolis 500 victory in all its glory. He defeated Rick Mears in what was at that time, the most thrilling and closest Indy 500 in history.
He started fifth and led 57 of 200 laps. Mears finished second, just .16 seconds behind Johncock. From avoiding an accident caused by Kevin Cogan before the green flag waved until he held off a charging Mears in the final laps to win it was a rewarding day for Johncock and his team who perfectly executed a “timed” final pit stop for fuel and a front wing adjustment to keep him in the lead.
At the time, in 1982, it was the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history and the duel with Mears chasing Johncock over the final laps is still talked about as one the most incredible finishes in Indy 500 history and a benchmark for fantastic finishes in all of motorsports.
“By far the biggest thrill of my racing career was winning Indianapolis in 1982,” Johncock said in 2023. “The way it happened, the competition, so many near wins after 1973 and it all came together and the car lasted in 1982. Plus, I’ve got amazing respect for Rick Mears – one of the very best. He was never my teammate, but I think we could have been good ones. I think the more pressure that was on me during a race the better I did and with the car pushing so bad and Rick on my tail it was great.
“I’ll never forget it. There are so many memories from that day – the crazy start, my final pit stop and winning by such a narrow margin – lastly pushing so hard the final laps with Rick in my mirrors.”
Johncock won both Indy 500’s driving for owner U.E. “Pat” Patrick and Patrick Racing. George Bignotti was his Chief Mechanic in 1973, and George Huening was his Chief Mechanic in 1982.
Arguably drove in one of the most competitive eras in Indy car racing, racing against the likes of A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva and Emerson Fittipaldi.
“When I looked at the start list before a race Bobby Unser was the competitor, I was the most concerned about – race in and race out,” Johncock recalled. “If Bobby was in the field I knew he’d be driving 100 percent the whole race – start to finish.
“He raced hard, he raced clean and he liked to talk but be could back it up. I had a lot of fun with Bobby over the years. He did such a great job developing the Gurney Eagle. He developed the car and Dan sold them to all the teams. That was kinda a disadvantage for Bobby because he did lots of work for Gurney and then it helped other teams. When we had a Wildcat or Penske had his own cars, they were for our teams – not for others to use.”
In 1976 Johncock was the USAC National Champion in Indy cars. In 1966, ’67 and ’73 Johncock ran the Daytona 500. His best finish was 29thin 1966 and his best start was 5th in 1973.
In 1965 Johncock was a rookie at Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he started 14th and finished fifth – Scotsman Jim Clark won the race, Parnelli Jones was second, Mario Andretti finished third to earn Rookie of the Year honors, Al Miller was fourth and Johncock took fifth in a roadster – one of only six front engine cars in the field that day. It marked the last time a front engine car finished in the top five at IMS in the 500.
Part of one of the all-time great “Rookie Classes” at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – 1965 (11) Mario Andretti, Billy Foster, Jerry Grant, Masten Gregory, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Johns, Arnie Knepper, Joe Leonard, Mickey Rupp, George Snider and Al Unser.
“When I was young and driving super modifieds, I wasn’t aggressive enough to find a ride at Indy,” Johncock said. “I didn’t know if I belonged or who would put me in their car – I wonder sometimes if I came to Indy a few years earlier what might have been.
“I was 28 my first year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – some drivers are now retiring at that age.”
Later that year, in August 1965 he won his first Indy car race at Milwaukee driving a rear engine car – that was the race where A.J. Foyt famously put his Champ Dirt Car (front engine) on the pole. Johncock started 5th and won topping A.J. who was second.
Johncock’s career started in the late 1950’s racing super-modifieds and had most of his success on paved tracks though he did get some memorable wins on the dirt. As a 19-year-old he began racing and winning Midwest Modified races at tracks like Louisville, Jackson, Lansing, Pinecrest, Ottawa, Kalamazoo and Eldora. Johncock’s first “500” win was a 500-lap race on a quarter-mile paved oval in Galesburg, MI in 1958. In 1964 driving a USAC Sprint car he set a half-mile World Record at high banked Winchester Speedway in Indiana turning a blazing lap of 104.773 mph.
Finished fourth at Indy in 1966 – Johncock had a shorter elapsed time than the winner Graham Hill but was caught up in a first lap accident and couldn’t work on his car during the red flag to make repairs.
In just his third year at the Speedway (1967) he started on the outside of the front row with Mario Andretti on the pole and Dan Gurney in the middle.
In 1969 he got two of his most rewarding wins, he’ll when he defeated Dan Gurney both times. First on a 2.66-mile road course in Castle Rock, CO where he came from fifth on the grid to win his first road race. Later that year he won on a 3-mile road course at Brainard, MN battling Gurney again, finally securing the lead on the final lap.
Not many think of Johncock as a road racer.
“Winning against Dan Gurney at Brainerd was special. I liked road racing, but we didn’t have many of them back in the 1960’s,” Johncock once said. “Winning against Dan was memorable. Dan was the guy back then on road courses – it seems like he won or was up front every time we raced. I liked Dan as a driver, engineer and owner.”
In March 1977 after Indianapolis Motor Speedway was repaved the previous fall, Johncock unofficially became the first driver to break the 200-mph barrier in a Goodyear tire test. Official records can only be set during qualifying and the race.
In May Tom Sneva became the first driver to officially break the 200-mph barrier with the first two of his four qualifying laps topping the mark – 200.401 and 200.535.
Johncock called the 1977 Indianapolis 500 the biggest disappointment of his life when he led 129 laps and while leading the race on lap 184 and victory in sight his car broke a crankshaft, handing the win to A.J. Foyt who went on become the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 just 16 laps later.
“The 1977 Indianapolis 500 was the biggest disappointment of my life – the biggest,” Johncock said. “With 16 laps to go I was leading A.J. – he was 13 or so seconds behind me. I was running so smooth and easy then coming out of four (Turn 4) the crankshaft breaks, I pulled over in the Turn 1 grass, got out of the car and jumped in the creek right there to cool off.
“We had it won. A.J. would have never caught me. He would have never caught me.
“Boy oh boy, I’m still disappointed.”
Johncock came out of retirement for the Indy 500 in 1991 to drive for car owner Ron Hemelgarn, famously saying they “got me out of the field” of his Michigan farm. He started 33rd and finished sixth at the age of 54.
Johncock embraced the era when there was no pit road speed limit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hitting the entrance to pit road at nearly 180 mph coming off Turn 4.
“I really benefitted from no pit speed limit at Indianapolis,” Johncock said. “I could come into the pits off of Turn 4 wide open and never let off until I was actually on pit road. I was probably going 180 mph.
“But that was racing back then, and you had to go 100 percent wherever you could. You never really thought about it – you just kept your foot down as long as you could and slowed to hit your marks.”
His final Indy 500 start was in 1992 when there were a record ten past Indy 500 winners in the starting field – Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, A.J. Foyt, Gordon Johncock, Arie Luyendyk, Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, Tom Sneva, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser.
And when the checkered flag fell Al Unser Jr. had added his name to that iconic list.
He was the second oldest driver to start the Indianapolis 500 – in 1992 Johncock was 55 years, 272 days old. The oldest was A.J. Foyt, also in 1992 – 57 years, 129 days.
Johncock is enshrined in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame (1992), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame (1997), the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1999) the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2002) and the USAC Hall of Fame (2025).
He loved farming and forestry business even while driving at a world class level. Johncock has been in and out of the mill and logging business as well as farming since the mid 1960’s. He’d owned Johncock Forestry Products in South Branch, MI (population 841) since 2010. Johncock Forestry Products mainly saws logs into pallet material and uses the bark from logs to make landscaping mulch.
On April 23, 2023, Johncock received a “retro Baby Borg” from BorgWarner to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his 1973 Indianapolis 500 win. The day started with a breakfast for family and close friends followed by a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and Gordon driving the IMS Museum tour bus around the track. Later at Binkley’s Kitchen and Bar in Indianapolis he was presented the retro Baby Borg wearing a red flannel shirt as did those the 75 folks in attendance per guidance on the invitation – “Dress Attire – Johncock casual – flannel shirt and jeans.”
From an unassuming, often quiet man, he was a legend among the greats. He let his heavy right foot on the throttle do his talking for him.
“I’ve always wondered how many 500 wins I’d have if I’d driven for (Roger) Penske,” Johncock said. “I really can’t remember if we ever talked or not. I did drive for him once at Milwaukee replacing Gary Bettenhausen after he crashed a sprint car the night before. But if you drove for Penske, you knew you had to do PR work constantly and wear black pants – I didn’t want to do that part. I liked the racing part. When I was done racing for the weekend it was time to go home to the farm and work.”
