Bob Johnson (racing driver)

The Shelby Daytona , with Jo Schlesser , Bob Johnson and Harold Keck second place at the 2000 km race at Daytona in 1965 reached

Robert Lyle "Columbus Bob" Johnson (born February 19, 1927 in Columbus ; † October 16, 2008 there ) was an American racing car driver .

Career

Bob Johnson was an active driver for more than three decades and was considered an independent driver in the United States , who contested most of the races with self-reported racing cars. After initial successes in Corvettes , he became an AC Cobra driver in the early 1960s . Legendary the "Shootout" was between the Shelby-American -Cobras and plant - Corvettes in SCCA race on Lake Garnett Raceway 1963. Johnson won in front of 60,000 spectators in its private AC Cobra in front of the Shelby cars from Dave MacDonald and Ken Miles . The best Corvette driver was Dick Thompson in fourth.

1967 he started for the team Chaparral of Jim Hall in the World Sportscar Championship race in Daytona , Sebring and Le Mans . All three missions ended in failure.

After the end of his driving career, he opened a catering company and was a welcome guest at AC Cobra events.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1965	Shelby-American Inc.	Shelby Cobra Daytona	Tom Payne	failure	Cylinder head gasket
1967	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral 2F	Bruce Jennings	failure	battery

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1962	Ronnie Kaplan	Chevrolet Corvette	Rodger Ward		failure	suspension
1964	Shelby American Inc.	Shelby Cobra Roadster	Dan Gurney		failure	accident
1965	Shelby-American Inc.	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	Tom Payne		Rank 7
1967	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral 2D	Bruce Jennings		failure	Ignition damage
1968	Roger Penske Racing	Chevrolet Camaro	Craig Fisher	Joe Welch	Rank 4
1970	Doug Bergen Racing	Chevrolet Corvette	Robert Johnson	Jim Greendyke	Rank 11

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1962	Ronnie Kaplan	Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
			DNF		DNF
1963	Nickey Chevrolet Bob Johnson	Chevrolet Corvette Shelby Cobra	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
			DNF																					DNF
1964	Shelby American Inc.	Shelby Cobra	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
			4th	DNF																	7th
1965	Shelby American Inc.	Shelby Daytona AC Cobra	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
			2	7th										DNF									5
1966	Dan Gerber	Shelby Cobra	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			DNF
1967	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral 2D Chaparral 2F	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			DNF	DNF					DNF
1968	Team Penske Robert Johnson	Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
			12	4th						11
1970	Forma Scientific Berger Racing	Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			DNF	11

Web links

Commons : Bob Johnson  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• About Bob Johnson
• Bob Johnson at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ^ SCCA races at Lake Garnett Raceway 1963