Just over a year ago, Sam Johnson found himself embarking on his first full season in national midgets, driving for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
ST. PETERS, Mo. — Just over a year ago, Missouri teenager Sam Johnson found himself embarking on his first full season in national midgets, driving for the biggest team in the sport in Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports and just trying to learn the machinery.
Now, he‘s still trying to learn as much as he can, but Johnson is back in family-owned equipment and finding his groove midway through his second year in midget-car racing.
Johnson‘s rise toward the sharp end of the grid this summer began gradually, with a surprise heat race victory at his home track — Sweet Springs (Mo.) Motorsports Complex — during USAC‘s Mid-America Midget Week.
That performance came over one of the veterans of the sport in USAC Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr., a major confidence builder, according to Johnson.
“That was what set off this run we‘ve started on,” Johnson said. “I feel like before that, we believed we were capable of going toe to toe with some of these guys, but that was the moment where we all finally saw it and it was like, ‘OK, yeah, we‘ve got this a little bit now.‘”
What followed was a brilliant duel of slide jobs between Johnson and Jesse Colwell in the POWRi National Midget League event at Belle-Clair Speedway on July 26, where Johnson nearly landed on the podium for the first time in a national-tour event before ending up fourth at the checkered flag.
Racing one of the cars he was driving last year, and nearly beating it, was a moment of pride for Johnson and his family. It was then that they knew they had the tools to go out and win in their own right.
“Man, we had to completely disassemble a car after Sweet Springs, because we junked it in the feature … but once we put it back together, we just really took off,” noted Johnson. “Battling with Jesse for that podium spot definitely boosted my confidence there. I feel like that helped me more than anything.
“When you‘re able to run with any of Keith‘s guys … they‘re some of the best cars in the country, so running head-to-head with Jesse, I think said a lot about where we‘ve slowly gotten to with our team.”
Johnson‘s surge then culminated with his first-career midget victory on Aug. 10 at Wayne County Speedway, during the sixth of seven scheduled USAC Midwest Midget special events this season.
In that race, Johnson started from the pole and led all 20 laps, taking the victory by a straightaway over Chris Baue at the eighth-mile dirt oval that traditionally hosts the Jason Leffler Memorial event.
Hoisting the trophy from a full midget event for the first time, even if it wasn‘t in a nationally-sanctioned points event, was a moment Johnson relished and has taken time to soak in and reflect on.
“I definitely feel a lot better at this point than I did last year,” Johnson noted. “As a driver, you always want to win and it felt great to finally get that checked off at Wayne County. It was exciting to feel that rush for the first time and it‘s a push for us now to keep moving forward and getting even stronger.
“We want that national victory next; that‘s our new mission as a family and a team.”
Going from a team with the resources of Kunz‘s mega-operation back to his family‘s smaller squad was a big change, Johnson admitted, but he added that it‘s actually taken some of the pressure that was on him as a rookie last year and alleviated it in some ways.
“When you‘re in one of Keith‘s cars, everyone expects you to be up front, but when you’re doing it by yourself … no one really says, ‘oh, he‘s in contention to make something happen,‘” Johnson explained. “If anything, I actually think that‘s helped us, because there aren‘t those expectations on us this year and we can just go out, do our thing and keep getting better.
“It‘s been pretty relaxed and overall, we‘ve been having a lot of fun so far this season.”
Johnson doesn‘t have a defined schedule for the remainder of the year, but he said that for the races he does run, it‘s easier on him since he already knows a lot of things to look for that he didn‘t know last year.
That experience, according to Johnson, is slowly becoming a difference-maker for him.
“What‘s been good is that I‘ve already raced against a lot of the drivers and I know what to expect whenever I‘m around them,” Johnson noted. “Just knowing which way they’re going to go and being able to make decisions about whether to run the top or bottom and who likes to run where … all of that last year has helped me for this year.
“I feel as comfortable as I ever have in these midgets and I think we can keep surprising some people.”