Third generation Johnson makes car racing debut

Jett Johnson, grandson of Dick and son of Steve, did not want his car racing debut in Series X3 Queensland over the weekend to end.

Johnson had his first competitive outing in the Hyundai Excel which Team Johnson bought late last year at Morgan Park as part of the CAMS QLD Circuit Racing State Championships.

Racing with the #17 which is synonymous with the Johnson name, Jett qualified 20th in the 23-car field with a lap time of 1:38.332s.

He went on to record finishes of 17th, 17th, 15th, and 13th, with a fastest lap of 1:36.286s in Race 3.

“Wow, what an unbelievable weekend for my first ever race meeting, I’m certainly never going to forget it, I wish it had never ended,” wrote Johnson on social media.

“I had 2 more really fun races today (Sunday) where I learnt so much.

“I made some big improvements today in my driving (and dad made some demon tweaks to the car) and I improved my times by over a second again today. That makes a total improvement from Friday’s practice of around 4 seconds, putting me only 2 seconds off the top 3 pace.

“I qualified 20th and came 13th by the last race which well exceeded my expectations. Going into this weekend my goal was to stay on the lead lap, so to be as competitive as I was just blew me away.”

While not quite a full retro livery, Johnson’s Excel did mimic old Tru-Blu Falcon looks, complete with the traditional number typeface and gold wheels.

He also wore an old Touring Car Masters racesuit of former Dick Johnson Racing driver and family friend John Bowe.

Jett is not the only next generation driver who has stepped into motorsport via Excels, with Nash Morris, son of Paul, contesting a round of the Queensland Excel Cup last month.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship driver Tim Slade was also in action in a Hyundai normally raced by his father Gil in the Wynn’s Circuit Excel State Championships at The Bend on the weekend.

Slade qualified on pole and finished the five races in third, second, fourth, fourth, and third positions.