It was the kind of result that made it clear that he could race and win with anyone. As proof, Johnson would make the starting grid for the Knoxville Nationals every year from 2003 through 2008. There have also been a slew of important wins. He picked up the Canadian Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway in 2008. In addition, he has twice scored at the Ronald Laney King of the 360‘s race at Florida‘s East Bay Raceway, and picked up a $50,000 bonus when he swept the Fall Brawl at Nebraska‘s I-80 Speedway in 2014.
As he looks forward to his 35th year wheeling open-wheel cars, the truth of the matter is that every lap he has turned since mid-July 2010 is a bonus. More than his racing career hung in the balance following a vicious crash suffered at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington. He was battling for position when contact sent his car violently into the fence and, when all the mayhem had stopped, everyone knew that a serious situation was at hand. “The only thing holding my foot,” Wayne says, “was my Achilles tendon and one inch of skin. They had to put it back on at Harborview Medical Center. I will never forget what the Doctor told me after I had been there a week, He said, ‘If your accident would have happened somewhere else, they would have just amputated your foot because it would be easier to do.‘”
The fact is, Johnson was lucky to have received treatment at a hospital prepared to deal with major trauma. In fact, the television drama Grey‘s Anatomy is based, in part, on the care given at this facility.
Racers are notoriously quick healers, stubborn to the third power or, more often, both. Johnson is a textbook case of this phenomenon. In hindsight, he is now willing to admit that perhaps he pushed the envelope a bit too hard. “They told me at the hospital that I would not put weight on my foot for four months,” he says. “So, as soon as I left Washington and got to Iowa I transferred doctors. I wore him out. He told me I had to do something, and I would say no, I have to get going. I didn‘t feel bad so I would email the doctor in Washington and go back and forth and play the middle. That‘s what I was doing.
“I was wheelchair-bound for 30 or 40 days, and I would go out in the shop and wheel around then stand on it and try to walk around. They let me go to rehab way early and I got to be friends with the physical therapist. His office was right in the gym and I was doing things I wasn‘t supposed to do. I told the doctors this wasn‘t a workman‘s comp deal. I said, ‘Guys, I‘m not getting paid now.‘”
When Wayne was sneaking around his garage he hit on a couple of ideas. First, he was going to start his own team. Second, he was going to compete at the Winter Nationals at Devil‘s Bowl Speedway. Was it a smart idea? Probably not. “I had open wounds,” Johnson admits. “And my ankle didn‘t work that well. I was just moving my whole leg up and down.” In spite of his compromised condition, somehow, he managed to notch a fifth-place run on the second of the two nights of racing.
When Wayne decided to strike out on his own, it caught the interest of Liberal, Kansas asphalt and paving contractor Todd Carlile. Carlile has been in love with sprint car racing for years, remembering the days of his youth when he was enthralled by the action at the nearby Five State Fair. Todd had owned a car piloted by local racer Dennis Park, who actually works for him to this day. He had already befriended Mike Johnson but kept an eye on Wayne over the years as well. He had left the ownership ranks around 2005, but quickly learned that it was hard for him to just be a fan.
It seems he had a plan in his back pocket. “I knew Wayne had gone out on his own in 2011,” Todd says. “I had a meeting in Topeka (KS), so after that I went over to Wheatland, Missouri to watch him and just see what he had and what was going on. After that weekend I called him and said do you want some help? Well, you know what a racing guy is going to say to that. It has been a really good thing.”
Todd and Kelly Carlile were willing to support Johnson‘s team, and in 2012 he competed on the ASCS National tour and elsewhere. It was a great year. They won nine races and were barely edged in the final points by Jason Johnson. Carlile was ecstatic, noting, “He won a lot of races and a lot of money that first year. I thought, damn, this is pretty good.” It was the start of a great relationship that grew even deeper.
The reason this partnership has lasted, at least from Carlile‘s perspective, is simple. “Trust,” Todd says. “That‘s hard to come by. But every car owner he ever drove for is still friends with him.” Matters on the personal front ultimately shuffled the deck a bit. In 2015 Johnson went through a divorce and was forced to liquidate his team. Todd and Kelly Carlile weren‘t going to set their friend adrift, so the couple stepped up and took over ownership. It was here that Two-C racing was born.
For the next several seasons, Johnson, who had returned to Oklahoma, ran a mixed schedule of 360 and 410 races. While the ASCS was a regular stop, he really could be found nearly anywhere competing in sanctioned and unsanctioned events. He continued to have success at Knoxville in both brands of sprint cars, and certain tracks, like Devil‘s Bowl Speedway, always treated him well. Nonetheless, by the dawn of the 2020 season he was ready for a change. Luckily, it turns out that his owner was in total agreement.