Member Inducted 2008
Brian Johnson
History
Brian Johnson started competing in 1976 when he and wife Ann
bought a 750 cc single cam Honda. They painted it, tuned it, fitted
40DCOE Weber Carbs, and chromed this and that. Then a friend, Jon
Morton, said "Why don't you try it at Blackbushe to see how fast it
really is?". Brian came third in Street Bike and was hooked.
From there Brian moved on to riding a Pro Stock bike. He ran a MTC
Kawasaki in Pro Street in the late 1970s with wins at the Whitsun
Big Go in 1979 and also at the 1980 August Bank Holiday
Supernationals with a series of 9.2s, the quickest ET for a Pro
Stock motorcycle in Europe at that stage. With that bike (the first
Imperial Wizard) Brian made the first eight-second Pro
Stock Bike pass in Europe - 8.98/150.3 - at Easter 1981. Brian went
on to win three Championships in Pro Stock before moving on to Top
Fuel.
With his first Top Fuel machine Brian set records and won races all
over Europe. He then took that bike to the USA. Working with
Motorcycles Unlimited he won his first US race. He then went to
work with constructors Race Visions based in Buffalo NY and with
their support he won the 1984 number one plate. After coming back
to the UK he modified the bike by turning the head around and
making things to suit the Yamaha 16v head. The chassis, by then,
was in need of replacement, and Race Visions built a replacement in
1989/90.
The début of Brian's new Imperial Wizard Yamaha in 1990
saw the tuning of the nitro burner being aided by Chris McGhee who
helped Brian develop the fuel system on the bike with huge gains in
performance over a short period. He ran his first seven at the 1990
Cannonball and later in July ran a 7.18 at Avon Park. A month later
he took the Imperial Wizard Puma Yamaha to his best ever,
and a new European best of 6.67/212. This was the best performance
ever outside the USA, and only American Elmer Trett had ever run
quicker or faster. In 1991 Brian took the world mark at a 6.61
backed up with a 6.67. In the 1990s, after constant modifications
and tuning, the bike evolved into one of the world's fastest Top
Fuel bikes. Brian returned to Gainesville in 1999 and won Top Fuel
Bike at the AMA/Prostar World Finals, running a 6.292/227 against
America's Tony Lang.
Brian retired from racing at the end of 2001 but is still an
enthusiastic follower of the sport. With personal bests of 6.101
seconds and 234.11 mph he still stands as the eighth quickest and
fastest Top Fuel Bike racer on the planet.