← The Dale Jr. Download
The Dale Jr. Download
Johnny Benson on his time at Roush, Mentoring Carson Hocevar, & Concussions
01:41:06
It’s not often that racers go on to have competitive second acts to their careers after retiring from the limelight. This week on the Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with a driver who retired a NASCAR Truck champion and retraced his family roots back to the short tracks: Johnny Benson Jr. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Johnny grew up in the shadows of his father John Benson Sr., one of the finest chauffeurs the Midwest had to offer in the 1960s and 70s. John made a name for himself in the supermodified ranks and served as part of the Michigan invasion of the mid-60s to the legendary Oswego Speedway, where he captured the crown jewel Oswego Classic in 1966. At home, he was an accomplished parts builder and fabricator, which is where young Johnny got his first hands on experience.
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- [00:01]
Johnny Benson Jr.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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- [00:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. You're Dale Jr. Should I say it?
- [01:08]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It's Dale Jr. Podcast.
- [01:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I gotta say it. Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. Our guest segment today presented to you by Arby's and their new meat and three box. Get more meal for your money. At Arby's we had the meats. We also have a great guest for you today. Johnny Benson's coming on the show. Johnny is raced in, you know, NASCAR at the truck level, the rally or the Busch level at the cup level. He's raised short tracks his entire life. I learned a lot in preparing for this and reading through our notes. Bobby Marcos and the team put together a great sort of scope of his, of his life and career. One thing that's interesting for me is that his dad was a very successful racer. I want to talk about that because I learned a lot about his dad reading books and and then Johnny, his career path was, you know, kind of accelerated, clunky start, stop how he got into the O'Reilly or the bush series and was really successful and yanked out of there in the cup series. And that struggled for a while and he never really landed into a great situation until his opportunity at Bill Devis Racing in the Truck series. So we won't talk about all that. But also a short track racer through and through. Started at the short tracks, still races at the short tracks. He's recently announced that he is completely retired. I don't believe it. We're going to talk about that and more. Let's bring Johnny in the room. All right. Johnny Benson Jr. On the Dale Jr. Download. Man, it's awesome to have you here.
- [02:52]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, no, it's great to be here. Yeah, great to be here. I show all the time, so. Yeah.
- [02:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, awesome, man. You looking at your story, I mean, I, I live. I was, you know, a witness to a lot of it. But looking back at, at. At your. Your past with more detail, it's really remarkable all the different avenues that you got to go down and got to experience. First off, though, I wanted to talk briefly about your dad. I knew that your father raced, but I never knew much about his career. And somebody handed me a book of the classic at Oswego. And I'm sure you've seen this book, but it's got a nice. It's a history of the classic, which is a super modified race, the biggest maybe super modified race in the country at Oswego. And it does a really good job of sort of going race by race, giving you kind of a couple paragraphs on how the race played out and who finished where. And you learn about all these incredible names that raced in that race and raced in super modifieds and your dad was one of them. So, you know, what do you recall, I guess, growing up around race cars? What's your first memory of being in the shop or seeing a car? What car was it?
- [04:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
The. Well, when I first started in the shop, I was probably 7 years old, but I remember being 4 or 5 when my dad did have soup modified and it was down there. And of course every kid wants to sit in it, so obviously I did that. But that. So when he won the classic, which was a 66, I was only three years old and so obviously I wasn't there. But I did get a chance to see him run them. But I was so young. There's a lot of it I don't remember. And, and then as he got into the. The late model aspect of things, that's. That's when, you know, I worked in a shop. I mean, I started at 7 years old in the shop and, and just worked on his cars all that time. You know, he won multiple races, multiple championships at Berlin. I mean, he. There's nobody better around Berlin than him. But then he did start to run a super modified again back when Sammy Sessions race for Dawker Motorsports area and he got. He got killed, I think snowmobile racing or something. They asked my dad to drive it. That was probably the time that I remember him running a super modified and going to the races. And I. And I was probably 12, 13 at that point in time, and that was probably my first introduction to the supers, was at age that I can remember, and a pretty cool race car.
- [05:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They are. They're crazy. You know, just looking, learning through that book about the classic itself, the evolution of those cars is fascinating.
- [05:52]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I think, you know, when he went there, he always talked about that they. They were starting to bring in the roadsters from the Indy cars, and then he built what we would call a wedge car back in that day. And I just remember hearing the story. So they. He went out, qualified, and he was fast. Well, I don't remember what the bracket was, whether it was 20 seconds or 19. Whatever that bracket was, he's the first one into that bracket. And they said, nobody can go that fast. Made him qualify. Re. Qualify three times. So he kept working, the car kept going faster, and I thought that was kind of funny. And then he won the race.
- [06:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And
- [06:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I can't tell you how many times that when we used to race Watkins Glenn, people would always ask me, is that your dad? And I says, yep, it is. It doesn't matter where you go up in that end of the country. I get asked every time and still do today.
- [06:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. When did you decide that you, you know, wanted to become a driver?
- [06:48]
Johnny Benson Jr.
That actually happened. Kind of weird, because there, you know, I was working in a shop and, you know, just welding parts, things of that nature. And I started building chassis. I think I built my first chassis from the ground up when I was 13. Well, I was about. Must have been 18. My dad quit racing, and, you know, he had a couple of wrecks, and he was like, I'm just. I'm done with this. And at that point in time, I'm like, who's going to race for the company? And so that's when I actually decided. But I. But I build a dirt car. We were selling both dirt and asphalt cars. So I ran. I went and ran dirt for three years, and that's. But I started just because he had quit. And I'm in my head, it's like, well, who's going to race for the business? So that's when I said, all right, I'll build a car.
- [07:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So what kind of dirt car was it?
- [07:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
The, like, what they would call the world. All eight models.
- [07:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really?
- [07:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Back in that wedge car. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [07:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Where did you race?
- [07:39]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Started off, like, at Ionia Speedway. Then it was Thunderbird Speedway and over in Muskegon and then ionia Speedway. Or i96. I'm sorry. And I ran there, and then I. We Toured around a little bit. Not. Not too far. I don't think my dad really cared for the travel much, but there's a lot of times I would just go and. And do it, but pretty much stayed there. I did go down to run to world 100 once. I think on my second year racing, I fell one car short of making a race, and it was my own stupidity. I was good in the heat race, but in Michigan, it's like you. When they throw the green on a restart, we usually do it in three and four down there. They start in turn two while I was sleeping, and I went from like. I think I'd finished in top five. I was running fourth. Well, then I'm like eighth. I made it back up to like fifth, and I was one car short. Yeah. I just didn't know they were going to start the middle of backstory or coming off too, so I got. I got caught sleeping.
- [08:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So, you know, you're. You're. One of the things that I love about you is that you. You're proficient in building cars. You're like, you know, cars probably as good as you can drive them.
- [08:54]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You talked about building a chassis at 13 years old. You know, how. I guess, how valuable was all of that knowledge for you as a driver early on? Right. You're trying to. I can't imagine. Right. When I started driving race cars, I didn't know anything about setting them up. I knew what I was looking at when I looked at parts and pieces, but I really didn't know, like, how to make. I didn't know how to, you know, change the geometry on my street stock car to make it turn better or little things like that. But how valuable was that information for you?
- [09:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, it's huge. You know, I meant, obviously I had a great teacher, you know, so there's. I felt like every time that I build a car, it was pretty close to start with because I. Because of my dad. He knew where things needed to go. So I think in the beginning, I really didn't understand it, but because with his direction, everything was good. I mean, there. Most of the cars I've raced until I moved down here, I built. And. And that was. I think that's the most satisfying thing to build a car and make it go fast. Okay. That there's. I don't think there's anything much better than that, you know, coming down here. Of course you want to. That's a whole different story. But. But. So I don't know if you said when that time when I finally Actually understood it, but it was. It was early on.
- [10:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [10:13]
Johnny Benson Jr.
That I understood the adjustment that we're making and what they were going to do. Now, some of it, like if I started off blank and trying to figure out exactly those measurements are. That's obviously the hardest part. But we had a good starting point, I think, when I raced.
- [10:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
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Johnny Benson Jr.
And so we are never that far off. But. But still, that extra, you know, that. That extra to get to go in the race, it's very complicated.
- [10:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, for sure. When did you. When did you decide, you know, that you wanted to move to asphalt? What was that option? What was that opportunity like?
- [10:47]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It was. I think my dad wasn't happy because I wanted to run dirt. You know, he wanted me to run asphalt, so he gave me a little leeway on that, but he was like, I don't want you running it more than three years. And we got super busy then because we were, like I say, we were building a lot of spindles. We got. We have our own quick change, rear ends, dump can. I mean, we were doing everything. And so after I ran dirt three years, I actually took a year off just to build cars, go help people, because I was burned out. I was working. I was doing that and also working full time at a tool and die job. So I was just. I wasn't getting any sleep. And so I finally says, I'm not running this year, and just went and helped customers. And at that point in time, we decided to build an asphalt car and then, you know, go race at Berlin and give that a shot. And I had driven my dad's car around there, but I was like 13 and. But that's about the only time I ever been on a racetrack. And it is by far the hardest place that you can. I say, I. I still say to win there on a consistent basis. My top five hardest racetracks to do good at.
- [11:50]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Explain to me what's so difficult.
- [11:53]
Johnny Benson Jr.
There's no straightaway, it's just round. It's. I don't know if I could pick a track that would be similar that I've ever ran down here. I don't know if there's one that I haven't been on, one that I thought it was as difficult as that. Now it's easy to get around there. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's hard to go fast around there and. And to, you know, get to that point where you could win races. I think I ran there two years before I won a feature and. But once I got that figured out, we Won all the time. It was just that. It just those little small things and it was tough.
- [12:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yep. You were racing in pavement ranks in southwest Michigan. Art Go Late Models at Berlin, Kalamazoo, Iceman, Super Lates at Toledo, Championships at Berlin. Started racing in the ASA series in 1990. That's a change. ASA series is a touring series.
- [12:47]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yes, Right.
- [12:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That, that. I'm. I'm assuming that your success presented you with an opportunity. How did you get into the ASA ranks?
- [12:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
The ASA part started at Butch Miller, big, big name in asa. He was not that far from us. And so we built their spindles, we built their rear ends. We did all that well when Butch moved down here, I think, because I was doing all that parts. And then we ran good at Berlin. We were pretty fast. And so Leroy Troupe from Troup Motorsports called me and asked me if I wanted to try sa. And at first I, I think I said yes. And I thought, what am I doing? I love 50 lap races. I don't really want to run 200 lap races. This seems insane.
- [13:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [13:32]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. But I did take the opportunity and. But he also brought in Bobby Seneca. So Bobby Seneca is my teammate and. Or vice versa, where we ran together. And so the two years we did that, I think we finished eighth in a points my rookie year, and then we finished fourth the. My second year. And then Leroy was wanting to go down to a. Just a one car again because it's like race, it's expensive. And he had a hard time telling me this. And I go, I. I kind of figured out what's going on. I go, well, I go, if I was sitting in your shoes, I'd put Bobby Senecur in my car too.
- [14:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [14:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know how many. He's. He's very good. He raced with my dad for many, many years. And. And so at that point in time, I was. I didn't know what I was going to do. I think I was just going to go back around Berlin. That was right at the time that they came out with a new car. And I was like, time this happened, I go, I do not have enough time to. To try to design a car because it was drastically different really what we were running. And so I thought, wow, I'll just build a car, run at Berlin. I'm okay with that. And then Harley from Port City called me. He goes, you have to run this by your dad. Because they built race cars, but we built rear ends for them. We kind of did stuff back and forth. And he goes, I'll give you a car. Because he says, you got to run. I'll give you a car. He got a car and an engine. And then. Then I got two engines. And then I ran it ourselves through our own. Own place. And that. That was a task that I didn't think I was going to be. That was going to be tough. Great sponsors, you know, Burger Chevrolet, they had sponsored my dad's for forever. And then that year we went out and pretty much tied it. I think we finished second. I think it was by one point. I think it was a tiebreaker with. I think Mike won one more race than I did. And then the following year, we'd won a championship on that.
- [15:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So you won races at Columbus, Milwaukee, Berlin. You won races at Columbus again the following year during the championship season in 93. You won at Nashville Fairgrounds. We're getting ready to go run there this weekend in the cars tour. You know. What was winning the ASA championship like for you? I asked that question because my. My memory of the ASA at that time was it was like what the truck series is today. You know, the truck series didn't exist. Truck series would come in a couple years after you won that championship, actually. But Mark Martin, Bob Senaker, Butch Miller, all these guys, Dick Trickle had risen the profile of the ASA up to, you know, basically like a bush north or a very reputable, challenging, difficult series.
- [16:25]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [16:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so winning that must have put some eyeballs on you and gave you some opportunity.
- [16:32]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It did. I think that was a Group. Group 5 sales, I think it is. That brought that and got to TVN on that. That was the biggest help.
- [16:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, for sure.
- [16:42]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And TNT or tnn, whatever. Yeah, that was probably the biggest help on that. And then so, I mean, my goal. It's kind of weird to say this, but my goal wasn't to get down here. I just loved racing. I loved racing. I was okay with doing it around home and things of that nature. And it was actually, your dad was the one. I did a autograph session with him at Bridger Chevrolet, and we had the ASA car there. And of course, he brought the crew up there. They used my car to do a pit stop for all the fans and stuff like that and enchanted with your dad, but that was about it, just from the autograph thing. And I can't. I don't remember what time of year it was. It was still when I was running asa, though. He had called and we had three different shops. I'd have a phone in one shop. My ma comes out there and says, guy on the phone for You. I said, who is it? He says, it's Earnhardt. And I thought, okay, you know, just say, I'm sure you heard these stories a hundred times, right?
- [17:39]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It blows my mind.
- [17:40]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I'm like, yeah, whatever, you know, somebody's just screwing around. And about an hour and a half later, he called back again. I thought, well, maybe I better take it. I don't know. And then he was like, benson Earnhardt. And I kind of. I started laughing. He goes. He goes, I want you to drive my car at Dover. And I'm like, what? You know. And I says, okay. And then, you know, he was pretty sure because he's, all right. I'll have my people get a hold of your people. I go, I don't have people.
- [18:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [18:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
But then somebody did call me back, and they said, I don't remember if it was good rancher acdelco or what was on the car at that point in time. They said they wouldn't let Dale not run the race, you know, because back then, I don't. You ever run it when it was 500 miles? No, that was.
- [18:30]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [18:30]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Grueling.
- [18:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [18:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And it was at that time, because I think when I ran my first year was 500, and they switched it to 400, which best thing ever did, but so they wouldn't let him not run it. And he says. And then he just says, I'll have. I'll work something out. Well, that's when he got a hold of Ernie Irvin. And I ran Ernie's car for the first time. So that. That. I think that was prompted through your dad, through. Through Berger when I did the autograph thing. And I think because of the tv, the. The TV is the. If they didn't have tv, say when. Be known when it is today, probably. But I wish it would have carried on. It's great. Yeah.
- [19:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So you get the opportunity to race in Ernie's car at Michigan.
- [19:13]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yep.
- [19:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And that didn't go as well as you'd hoped. Ended up flipping the car, which is.
- [19:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And the second lap.
- [19:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [19:21]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [19:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So, you know, I can imagine that that was pretty disheartening to. To be given, you know, to. Here's. Here's. My. Here's my chance.
- [19:33]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [19:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Got a good car. Then it goes that way, and you're like, you know, what was the emotions.
- [19:41]
Johnny Benson Jr.
The whole week was kind of funny or not, not funny. But of course, I get down there, and there's. There's no race car, and I go, okay, this ain't good. I'm looking for Ernie, his Car's there. Well, Ernie was at the hospital because Kim was. They were having her first baby. And I'm standing down. There's no car. Well, I don't know. The guy got. I wouldn't say got lost, but got in a spot where he couldn't get underneath the bridge. So he was like an hour and a half. And so I really only got maybe. Maybe 10, 15 laps of practice before going into qualifying. And the qualifying wasn't horrible, but in. I thought, okay, be patient. Which I was. I just got. I just got bumped coming off turn two. And. And I remember your dad and Ernie are going. I get. Why would they put me at Michigan for what?
- [20:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Right.
- [20:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And they're like, well, you're not going to get upside down. Everything will be fine. And of course, that happened coming off too. And. And it was quite the ride.
- [20:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [20:37]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And of course I get out and I go, really? You said we never get upside down here. So I kind of proved that wrong. But. But. And then that. But that did open the door where Ernie is like, I'm gonna help you somehow. And. And it ended up. I think he went. Ran a couple race for BASE Motorsports and then he got me into that car.
- [20:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So that's interesting to have Ernie be that person for you. You and him stay in contact today
- [21:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
or not too much. I think he mainly lives down in Florida now. I did see him at Darlington. I did chat with him for a little bit there and. But yeah, I meant he. He always laughs because he. He took that frame and put it in his pond out in his. On his front yard. So he's using it, you know, for the fish. And. And I forget who bought their house. And they were laughing about it. The. The car was still there. They finally got rid of it.
- [21:29]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Stenhouse ended up buying it.
- [21:30]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, I think it was.
- [21:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [21:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. And so, no, that was a big help. I mean, Chevrolet was a big help. You know, with. Birds are sponsored. My dad. I think they started sponsoring my dad 1976, and they still sponsor us on anything we want to do with the super that I've run. And that was always a big help. Yeah, they big strong ties with Chevrolet.
- [21:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You ran full time for base in 1994, winning your first Bush series race at Dover that year. This is when, I mean, I remember you running in asa and I remember seeing the races on TV and hearing your name and when you started getting these opportunities to run in the. In the bush series. That's kind of where I started picking up on your career, you know, Base Motorsports was a great race team. Won a couple championships with Randy Lajoy. Right before I would get into the series. You feel like you had kind of a role in helping that team develop and evolve. I mean, Jack Spraggs was there for a while, but they were kind of still trying to get their legs, so to speak, to become that team that they would become.
- [22:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. There. I don't know how long they were around, but I went there. I remember Jack being in there because, you know, Jack's probably didn't grow up that far from me. And I built one of his. I wouldn't say his first race car. Built one of his early race cars. So I've known him. And that was kind of odd for. I was kind of uncomfortable because it was like, they're getting rid of Jack and putting me in there. I thought I'd rather have going to somebody that you didn't know then. It does. I don't know if that makes sense.
- [22:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah.
- [22:59]
Johnny Benson Jr.
But. And then I thought we ran pretty good. It. We had ran at Charlotte and I think I was. We ran pretty good. And then somebody. Somebody blew up and we got. We got tied up in a. In a crash there. But then we ran Rockingham and we were, I think, running second with I don't know how many laps catching leader. And then I don't. I think it was just the roll pin and the distributor come off and in. It quit running. And I thought, you kidding me? With only a couple laps ago on my. Was my second or third race. So that's when Bump Gardner hired me. So I wasn't hired yet. I just ran a couple races.
- [23:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really? Yeah.
- [23:37]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And of course, when I get down there, we'd run. We started running good. And then he kind of. Kind of laughed, pulled me over. Sitting there talking. He goes, how old are you? And I told him I was 30. And he's like, 30. He's crap. I know that I never hired you. You know, I says, well, I said, what are you going to do now? Then I don't know. I don't know if he just thought I was younger or he wanted somebody younger. And it wasn't that way. But I'm glad he didn't throw me out of the door right then, so. Because we obviously had a good. A good run with that. But it did take a little bit of time to get going. Steve Bird was tremendous work with.
- [24:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Legendary with him.
- [24:14]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [24:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And a lot of races.
- [24:16]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And I. And I think that. I don't think people understand really the relationship of the crew Chief, how important that is. But we just clicked and, you know, he's a racer, I'm a racer. There's just no bull crap. Just, this is what I want, this is what I like, and this is. And then we had to figure it out. And Charlotte was where that happened because I was. I wasn't that good there at. To start with. And I. And I go, dude, I looked at your history stuff. You. You always hauled ass here. And I think with Robbie Moroso. And I said, why? Don't make any sense. He goes, well, I don't have that set up in a car. And I says, well, I go, that you guys are really fast. Just put it in. Let me figure it out. When he switched that over, man, that thing just hauled. But. And I said, look, I'll figure it out. And we ran good. Ever since then, he was like. I think he was just being. I think he was being cautious to not get you a fast race car. But sometimes a slower race car is harder and more dangerous than a fast one. So we bridge that gap pretty quick. And then we were pretty good.
- [25:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you had a lot of success. 19 top tens. Won the Bush Series championship in 1995. Won at Atlanta, which is a tough racetrack.
- [25:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yes, it is.
- [25:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yep. Hickory, another tough one. Two completely different ends of the spectrum. You also competed in the inaugural truck series race in 1995. You had a best finish of second at IRP. The success with Bumgardner in the. In the base motorsports, you know, quickly got you. You snatched up into the Cup Series for Bahari. I used to go over to that shop when Michael was driving there, and I knew a couple of guys on the team and would go over there and hang out with them when I was 15, 16 years old. And, you know, when they had. They were kind of a unique team, and they were probably much different when you got there, but I would go over there and they would have some really, really good race cars, you know, and then they would have a couple cars with an inch and a half Bondo on the quarter panels and stuff that they just been, you know, they were just getting by with. They take to the short tracks, but, you know, they. They started really, you know, they started that team with Michael many, many years ago, and they were developing themselves into a contender even when Michael was driving the car. So you got an opportunity to get in that car when it was sort of cresting up and you were able to take it even further and, you know, have some. Even have some really solid runs with that team. Yeah, they Weren't an A team that was, you know, they were a. They were a B team. And you obviously knew that what was getting that opportunity. Like, were you hesitant, even with the success you were having with base, to go to that team or take that next step?
- [27:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, there. I don't know if I was ready to do that. I didn't really think I was ready to do Bush, to tell you the truth. And I think sometimes you have that success so early. I think sometimes it's one of those deals that I think you should just wait, Wait a minute and continue that. But then you had so many people down there saying, dude, if you got the opportunity, take it. And I. I honestly thought it was too early. Even though my age. I mean, I think my age helped me in that probably. But that. That was tough. I meant there's. That's tough. That's a tough move. And we did have some good runs. Emma. Indy was our. Right there at the beginning, I thought, okay, we're. We're running good. We. We just kind of messed up at the end with a pit stop, and that didn't go well. They stalled the car, and then all of a sudden we're way back. But we had a shot at winning at that. That first year with many lapses that we ran. But another place we did run good, we had a lot of glimpse of really being a pretty good situation. But, you know, they're building their own engines there. Of course you're buying cars, but we're doing our own bodies, stuff like that. I don't think they had the funding to do it. And Doug Hewitt was amazing. Probably one of the great crew chiefs that I worked with. Doug Hewitt, he's awesome. And I really wish I would have stayed there longer, really. And. Because I think there was that opportunity. But at that time, I think both me and Doug were. Kept going to. Chuck Ryder owned it at that time, saying that we need these tools to win. And his was like, well, if we win a race, we'll get those jewels. And so there was that little bit of conflict there. And I think that's. I think they could have been really, really good. I think they were great. They could have been really great.
- [28:54]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They were. They were like, right there on the cusp of, like, triggering something pretty remarkable with a team and with a sponsor like Pennzoil, you know, it seemed like it was just right around the corner, hey, this is Dale Hart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. Download gear, including the I'm ol, drink some beer T shirt, we've been talking about here around the office. Head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch.
- [29:19]
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- [29:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How did you get the opportunity to go to Jack? You know, what was that? Do you remember that phone call?
- [29:55]
Johnny Benson Jr.
No, it wasn't a phone call. Oh, it, this is muddy waters on this. But I was approached from actually somebody from nascar basically telling me I needed to go over there. I never talked to Jack.
- [30:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [30:09]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so I, I didn't, I didn't want to, but I felt like I was getting forced to go over there and then.
- [30:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So I remember, I know it's. I remember that whole deal feeling just a little off.
- [30:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It was, it was because there, when I was hired to do it from Jack, because I eventually obviously talked to Jack, I didn't end up at the car. I was supposed to, I was supposed to be here in Mooresville. Buddy Parrott was supposed to be the crew chief and that's, that's how that road was going. And it, and then within, within a month everything turned upside down.
- [30:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And you already decided to do it.
- [30:50]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, I was already committed to it.
- [30:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You already walked away from what you had?
- [30:54]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yep. And, and, but I didn't, you know, I only had that, a two year contract with the 30. And, and I think that that was actually the first contract ever had because I run for base. I don't have a contract. You know, just go race. That's what I did. So that was, that was a difficult part there because I, I felt like I was shoved to go over that way and that was not my wish. But I didn't know how to handle it. I mean, I'm new down there.
- [31:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [31:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know, I didn't, I didn't talk to as many people as I should have.
- [31:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But at the same time, but, but at the same time it looked like it was a step up.
- [31:29]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I think it would have been if it would have done what the original agreement was. Yeah, I think it really would have been.
- [31:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. But when you got there, it seemed like right out of the gate, it was a, it was a difficult, it
- [31:40]
Johnny Benson Jr.
was, we started well Daytona, I think it was that first year Miss race. Both me and David Green were running. We're both in race and for whatever reason, and he tried to go by me on the last lap and he got loose and hit us and we both spun. What knocked me out of the race and I was like, dude, we're both in a race, there's nobody around us, you know, so Jack was mad, I was mad and so was David. I mean, it's just one of those things, but. And we started out pretty good. We, we were really fast.
- [32:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I went to Rockingham. Yeah, you had a good run there, really good run.
- [32:14]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Until the engine broke and there was some stuff happened there. Then all of a sudden they were trying to take our car for us to bring it over to Mooresville. And then Steve Meal at the time was there and he was blown up because I think he wanted to go with Mark. And like I said, everything changed at that point in time. And then he was down there with a torch. He said, I'll cut this car up before they take it from us. And I knew at this point in time, I go, this is not going to be good. So I had a four year deal and after two years I walked away.
- [32:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So I remember it coming out of the gate pretty strong, looking good, looking positive. And then, then it was like a struggle every single week to get results. It was horrible. Yeah, I just have a hard time understanding like I have. I know that Jack and Ralph Roush as a history are different. There's, it's a different culture and a different place to work. We've talked with Biffle on the show and several other people and it was a functioning place that could be successful and you could actually go there and produce. But they did things a certain way and Jack operated with a certain outset and mindset or approach. And if that you didn't fit, you didn't fit. And then. Yeah, you know. And so what were the things? I guess, you know, what, what was irreparable? Why? What? You know, not many, no one that I know of. Even when things got, you know, when things got difficult have, you know, maybe McMurray, I don't know. But not many people have wanted to escape the situation. So what was irreparable for you was it was like a five car team
- [33:59]
Johnny Benson Jr.
at that point it was.
- [34:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But there just spread too thin.
- [34:03]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, very thin I think, I think they wanted their top two cars to win and that's all they cared. Now if I owned a five car team or four car team, I want them all to win. I want to run Them first, second, third, fourth and fifth. If there's five, that would be the goal. I don't think that was their goal. I think their goal is to make sure that these two ran really good. It's the only thing I can think of. We were. We were skeletons group. We had more people on a bush team than we had at at Rouse when I was at BASE Motorsports. Had more people. And if you're going to run a Cup series, that's. That's difficult, you know, that's. Yeah, I don't. You know, I think it could be efficient, but it just wasn't. Not with. Not with no people. And, you know, we did. Couple crash, couple cars. And that. That. That came to Turning Point because Jack, I mean, I. I do like Jack, but working for there was tough. And it got to the point I forget where we were at points. And he said, I'm going to start charging you if you wreck another car. And I took. And I did. I told him, I said, jack, I says, I've wrecked more race cars running for this team, and I have my entire career. I don't think it's all me. I saw. I'll take some blame, but it ain't all me. And I said. So I got a little offended, him saying I had to pay for the wrecked cars. I told him that if you don't, I says, you did not. Don't pay me the rest of the year. And if you don't get me In a top 12 in points, I said, find another driver.
- [35:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [35:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And that's where it ended. I mean, I made it through the year, but it was over at that
- [35:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
point in time, man.
- [35:37]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And that was at Charlotte because there we were testing there, Mark was there. And there's not. There's no worse feeling to have. Mark Martin jumped in your car and go run, right? He's gonna run two, three times faster no matter who it is. You know, it could be in Gordon's car or whoever. But he did. He went out run. You run about two times faster at Charlotte. And he come in there and said, man, this is one of the best cars I've ever driven. And I says, great. I says, I will trade you. You could have that car. I want your car. Because he was. He was three quarters of a second slower than he was in his car.
- [36:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [36:11]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And he just got done saying, that's the best car I've ever driven.
- [36:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [36:14]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And I says, well, we're trading right now, you know, And. And then he. He got a little confused with that until he looked at the times, and he just walked away. Didn't say a word. He's like, oh, that's not good. Because it drove good. Just went fast.
- [36:27]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [36:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And that was the start of the. You know, they fired the crew chief, and I don't think that was the right thing to do. And it. I mean, it just was a down. I see where it's going. So I just. At the end here, I said, find somebody else.
- [36:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
When you were looking for your way to. To exit where, what opportunities did you have on the table?
- [36:51]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I did.
- [36:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [36:52]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I didn't. I'd. There. There was an opportunity with. With Yates, and I talked to Doug Yates there for a little bit, and they had said that, you know, hey, if you got out of that, we'd hire you. Well, I didn't get out of that for that reason. I think I was already doing it when they talked about it. When I did get it done, they had already hired Ricky Rudd. So at that point in time, I was like, well, we'll just see what happens. And that's. That's pretty much how I got involved with getting in a Tyler Jett. Tyler jet.
- [37:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [37:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
10 car. I don't know if it started off
- [37:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
with a 10 car, but, yeah, that would become the 10 car. A lot of people remember you, mostly outside of your truck series success driving this 10 car, particularly in a race at Daytona in the 500 the first year, you go. You guys go up there, you've got no sponsorship. There was a lot of great conversation around your team. The speed y' all had, and y' all were able to, I think, get lycos on the car.
- [37:56]
Johnny Benson Jr.
We did. We had that. I don't know how real it was. Yeah, we did have it on, but
- [38:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
it was just still a white car with a little logo on the side. And I remember y' all made a gamble at the end of the race on tires to try to go out there and. And win the race and almost pulled it off. You know, that was a. What was unique about this team because this was the team. You know, you came into the 30 car with Pennzoil. The results were good. The team was improving. It didn't. It didn't tank. It didn't. You know, the performance didn't drop off when Michael got out and you got in it or whoever was in the car before. Always associate that car. Michael Walter. But you go to Roush and it flamed out really bad. It did, right? And everybody. No one would know really, why, and just assume, man, if it didn't work at Roush. Where is it going to work? But this was a team where you really found success. What was it about this group?
- [38:59]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I had, I knew one or two people over there, and when I went over there, the one thing I guess I did like about it, there were all short track guys working on this car and just people that I've seen around the garage area and some of the people I've known outside of that, that run like James Inc. Was there, you know, he was big into dirt cars and the outlaw dirt cars and with the, you know, Larry Phillips and Terry Phillips, stuff like that. And, and there was three or four other guys that I recognized from. Some of them from asa, some of them from here. I thought, man, this would be kind of cool. They're all short track guys and, and maybe that's not a good or bad thing in this particular sport, but. But I do like their ambition to, to make sure everything's right and get done and fast working at it and, and that was atmosphere that it had. And so that's when I says I, I would, I would love to run it.
- [39:56]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [39:56]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And just as long as it goes, it goes. It doesn't matter. And Daytona, you know, we were good at Daytona. We, we struggle a little bit in after, I think we, after we pull the qualifying engine out, we then all of a sudden we lost some speed. And then a. We had some conversation with Randy Dort and Rick and all that, and they gave us a different engine and we picked back up to where we felt that we were already going to be. And then we run was it 125s with it? And then I think Hendrik, they actually flew that engine back and redid it and brought it back for the 500. So a lot of that success was just over that conversation of just that one engine switch. We were like, how do we lose so much speed? And, and with them doing that, I think is one of the main reasons why we're good. We did do two tires at the end and actually car was still pretty good. It drove really good, but it. I, I got too far out on a restart and then I'm looking. I was in a Pontiac, had four Fords behind me. I knew I was a sitting duck and, and it was a matter I tried to come down, but once he got me loose and I remember your dad going over and says, man, I would have put him in that pond and, you know, cut them off. I go, yeah, but I would have been with him because I'm all, I'm Doing is trying not to wreck the car at this point in time. And I just slid up enough. He got underneath me, and I thought, well, that's over. But. But it's still a great run.
- [41:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [41:21]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I mean, it was fantastic. I mean, obviously, everybody wants that to turn out different, but I think we still finished 12th. And that for me, down there, that was great. Yeah, it was awesome.
- [41:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So you run second at Bristol and your best cup finish at that point? Um, the team was sold to MB2. MB2 is a unique team with a lot of unique history that had some success over the years. What was that transition like? Was it more stabilizing or was there some.
- [41:53]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, no, for sure. No. It was definitely more stable because it felt like we were going from. We tried to. We tried to mess the system up a little bit. We went to. Where was it? I think it was California to test. Well, we didn't have any cup tests left. So you went there as a Winston West? Well, we got caught. And, you know, Mike Kelton's, like, called, and he goes, yeah, you are running that race, right? And I think at that time, James goes, oh, we just got caught. He goes, oh, yeah, we're running that race. So we brought that car out there, we had to run towards the west race, and we won that race. And then they. Where do we get the engine? I think we got the engine from Hendrik through Sprague. I think it was one of Sprague's engines. And then they deemed it illegal. And then it was like, all of a sudden, taken win or $40,000 fine. Well, Tim Beverly didn't have the money. Well, you have to pay that before you can run the next race. So we were loading everything up for the cup race. Oh, everybody's like, what's going on? It's this. Can't pay the fine. We're going home. And then, of course, then they come back and says, oh, hold on. And he goes, no, that's your rule. That's what we're doing. And I don't know what they worked out. They either cut it way down. I still don't think it paid it at that point in time. But that. That's when. That's when we realized that financially we were a lot more troubled. And that's what MB2 kind of stepped in at that point. Yeah, so it didn't really change. Our team didn't change. We just changed corners.
- [43:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you got Valvoline as a sponsor, and they. You'd have a really strong run at Dover. Second at Dover finished 13th in points. Came back in 2001, won the Winston Open. Continued with them as well in 2002. I want to talk about. You had a crash at Richmond in the Bush Series and broke some ribs. Missed a couple races and then got in a car and broke them again.
- [44:00]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. There was the rich room one. I mean I broke some ribs in my back there, but they're a little bit more problem. I had a shadow on my aorta, my heart. That's what kind of kept me out of the. Really out of the thing. And they kind of watched that for a little bit, at least for the two days or whatever. And so that was either a go or no go. Either to have a surgery or not.
- [44:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And what were they thinking? They were going on.
- [44:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
They think I ripped it.
- [44:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [44:27]
Johnny Benson Jr.
From the rack because it was. It was pretty hard hit. But. But then ended up. They kept checking. I don't know how many CT scans and MRIs that I went through in. In that 24 hour period. It was a lot. Lot. And then they finally said okay, I think we're okay, but you probably ought to not run for a little bit. So I did. I stayed out and I can't remember which one I get back to first. I think I. I don't remember if it was. I think it was at Daytona is where I heard him again.
- [44:55]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [44:56]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Where me and Michael got hooked together and. But that was on a different side though. It was just. I don't know why my ribs. I don't know what the deal is. I had the joy seats. Everything was good. There is that some of the impacts are just hard. Hard. I mean we all know that. And, and they were just. I don't know if. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. And you know I got with a joy and. And Jonathan Paul that's down here and you know he was just taking X rays where all the broke have to be the same angle as the seat. So that's when we. Randy and I started doing a different things on there. That helped a bunch.
- [45:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [45:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So working with Randy on the seats and all that, that was pretty cool. And. And. But I think that's just my background of wanting to make things better and things of that nature. And there was an. Obviously a reason why we were breaking stuff.
- [45:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. At the end of that year you would go to Rockingham and get your first couple in which was remarkable. I think the opinion of the. The opinion of the fan base and. And even the garage was really. Y' all were still. That Little team that could, you know.
- [46:04]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I think so.
- [46:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Yeah. And doing a lot with little. James was the crew chief at the time, and I want to, you know, that win seemed like that was going to be the catalyst, Right, to send y' all forward. James would end up stepping away from the operation.
- [46:25]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, he did like that, like, all of a sudden.
- [46:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All of a sudden.
- [46:28]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And that. That. That kind of turned us upside down, but.
- [46:31]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Exactly.
- [46:32]
Johnny Benson Jr.
They. That was one of those deals, though, that we were trying to build cars in house. We were still running Hopkins or Laughlins or whatever it was. And the other side. I don't know who came in. I know Schrader was there for a good, good bit. I don't know if it was Skinner, somebody. Somebody else come in there or Nemechak, and. And they're trying to build their own cars. Well, this. One of those things. Felt like I always got stuck in these, but they weren't as financial strong there as it kind of appeared to be.
- [47:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [47:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Although great, I mean, it was still good, but all of a sudden, they were pushing to build their own cars. I did do some testing on it, and I says, oh, the car, I think it's got potential, but it was kind of. It was kind of evil. It was unpredictable. And so I wouldn't run it. And so we stayed with our stuff. Well, I think it put too much stress on James at that time, and he just walked out.
- [47:28]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know, like, y' all just. Y' all kind of just won Rockingham. Not long after that, he just steps away. You never got any answer on.
- [47:39]
Johnny Benson Jr.
No, No, I. I don't. I sure don't know really what it was. I mean, I know there was a lot of. There's a lot of pressure in a sport. We know that, but I think it was that, and I think it was being forced to do something with these cars or whatever the situation was. And then Jay Guy stepped into that there, and Gary Putnam, and. And we actually finished the year off just fine. I mean, it didn't really change. I think the last race that I ran would have been at Miami, and I think we finished fourth in that race, and. And then it was kind of over at that point in time. And they're. They were just like. I don't think. I know Riggs drove it there for a short bit, but I don't think it went very long after that.
- [48:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No.
- [48:23]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Because it was. It was starting to head that way.
- [48:25]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was like when James left, I mean, not. I just felt like that he was. He and you were A good combination and a good reason why that car continued to sort of produce and improve and eventually, you know, it wins this race that we're all expecting that was gonna, you know, y' all were kind of running second, third, fourth, fifth, finally get this win and he decides that he needs to get out of here. And it was never the same since at the end of 2003 they would release you and bring in Riggs. Riggs comes in and, you know, tried his best to make it work. Rodney Childers was a crew chief at one point for that team who's here in Junior Motorsports. Rodney would go on to have great experience, but you would go back to the bush series. Was there a. You'd go race for James in the Phoenix racing, which is always a good time.
- [49:17]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yep.
- [49:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, the. Which is such an interesting landing spot for you. Right. You seem like a very reserved, you know, methodical, smart decision. I don't, you know, I'm not going to do this unless it works or feels good. And James's operation was very. A little flamboyant, you know, a little brash, very honest about who they were.
- [49:42]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [49:43]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And that was an odd couple, odd pairing. But had you. Did you seek out more opportunities at the cup level when they released you from the tent or.
- [49:52]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Not really.
- [49:53]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Did this pop up and you went, man, that sounds good.
- [49:55]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Well, I, I love James. I bet he's awesome and. But I knew going in that this was a five or six race deal. Even though we're covered for the year. I meant everybody, everybody stand there, watches, we see what happens.
- [50:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [50:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
If you ain't gonna win every week, he's gonna try something different. And I knew that going in. Really, I was like, I'm fine with this.
- [50:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Okay.
- [50:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. But you know, we were still doing our TV show, so I, I always had something to lay back on. So it was like I go, well, this would be fun. And we did, we went there and. And we did have some good runs. But where was it at Gate Gateway. You know, we're shifting there back then. Well, the shift and handle kept falling off and. Well, he got, he was upset over that and a couple other things and like we, I think even Texas, we qualified. Horrible. And even though the car was fast and I actually complained, there's something on the track. Well, they went out and checked. I went, finished my qualifying thing and we just, we didn't put the caps on the water heater or cool down unit. So I was spraying water out. So I started at the back. It was yellow freight race with Yellow freight on a car car. And we drove up and I think we finished third or fourth. And James is just mad that I'm like, all your people were happy. But at that point in time I go, oh, I know he's gonna make a change eventually.
- [51:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really?
- [51:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Which he did. I knew that going in now. Yeah, it's been things. So then, you know, I was still doing some TV then I obviously got an opportunity to go do the trucks.
- [51:25]
Walmart Express Delivery Announcer
Walmart Express Delivery can get what you need delivered in as fast as an hour. Whether it's baby formula, when you're down to the last scoop, pet food before the bowl runs, empty batteries for a dead remote or a last minute gift, it is handled. Try Walmart Express Delivery today and get free delivery with promo code Express Promotion valid for First Express delivery order $50 minimum subject to availability restrictions apply.
- [51:53]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
One of the things that I hear from you is anything, anything that happened to you that would maybe most people might view as disappointing really didn't get under your skin?
- [52:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
No.
- [52:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Is that like, is that something that you're, is that some trait from your father? Is that your, you know, you kind of go into these situations going, I know what I'm, I know what I'm facing. I know what could and can happen. And if it did go well, it went well. If it didn't go well, you moved on to the next thing without any, I mean, do you. Is, is there real frustration that, that you hide? Is there, is there, you know, some, some disappointments that eat at you or all that stuff is just kind of water under the bridge?
- [52:48]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, it's, you know, it's going to, there is, there is those spots where it does do that. But there's so many things out of your control that you can, you know, you can leave there and be mad. Of course you are when that happens. Don't get me wrong, you are. But it's like I can't fix that.
- [53:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [53:05]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So how much of it do I want to ruin my life before I decide to go up the other way? Yeah, I learned on that pretty early, I think just working with my dad and, and how he approached things and how hard he worked. I mean, it was. Working for my dad was tough. I mean he, he's a workaholic. You know, he, we did the race shop he worked at, at the railroad. You know, I worked there and then I had a full time job and was doing the same thing. And I used to always laugh. I says, I love Sundays because that was my day off because I only had to Work from noon to six and I'd love to Sundays, you know, and work for my dad. And I. I think that, that I didn't really get that frustrated because I didn't see him get that frustrated. And I think that that's just. Probably just my way of dealing with.
- [53:53]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [53:54]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It was like, well, if this happens and it already happened, I can't fix it. So why, why wait too long for you to say, you know what, just move on. Find something else to do. Because I always felt that if. If it didn't work out out. And I could always go back home.
- [54:09]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [54:10]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I could always go back home and build cars and.
- [54:13]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And you would?
- [54:15]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I would. And I did. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I did it down here. When I was racing Cup, I had so many customers wanting to. Wanted me to build cars. And I said, look, I'm not going up Michigan to do it. So I build a building down here by next door to Champion Tire. And I. I think through all my cup stuff I was doing, I was still building race cars. Other people.
- [54:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Damn.
- [54:36]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And I quit doing it probably about eight, nine years ago. I finally stopped, you know, and I
- [54:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
was like, no one would even know
- [54:43]
Johnny Benson Jr.
this now they did. Everybody thought I moved back to Michigan.
- [54:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. You ended up landing in the. In the 23 truck for Bill Davis racing at the back end of the 2004 season or sometime around then. And would have a lot of fun, I imagine. I mean, watching. Yeah. Watching you run that truck and know that every weekend you got an opportunity to run in the top three. You're going to win races. We talking about this series yesterday? The truck series was solely developed to market the truck vehicle. Right. But it was also a place where a lot of guys found a home where they could race for a living. That didn't exist for a long time. You know, you might. Yeah. I mean, ASA or maybe. Maybe in the bush series. But the top of dines of the world Mike Skinners, a lot of guys ended up in the truck series and made a nice living to be able to kind of finish out, you know, that sort of 20 year.
- [55:45]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [55:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You know, career that we all hope to have. Um, and you were able to do that in that truck and have a lot of fun. I mean, was that as good or as much fun as you had behind the wheel of a stock car as it looked?
- [55:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I meant, you know, I don't, I don't care what series running good. And you can, you know, propel the team or to get these, you know, wins and all that. It's always fun. Doesn't matter what level you're at. And what we did, we had. We had good success there, you know, good crew chiefs. I ran there three and a half years, I think it is. I came in there halfway through and. And we. We bumped right in, going well, and I thought, okay, those are pretty cool. And I was on a handshake deal. We went from race to race. I says, and I finally told Bill, I says, I. I hate calling on Wednesday and saying we race and not racing. So I finally just told him, I go, only call me when you don't want me to run. And then that way I could keep in contract with a crew chief and try to figure out your travel plans, because every week I'm like, I don't know if I'm racing or not racing, really. So he says, all right. So we did that. And we did that for three years.
- [56:53]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. So you were the most popular driver in the series. Well appreciated by the fans, I imagine. That was a good feeling.
- [57:02]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Probably as good as any championship I met you, how many times you won it. It's awesome, right? Yeah, it is awesome.
- [57:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You and you would win a lot of races and win the most popular driver award multiple times. You know, you won these championships and had all this success. It was you. It was over. The career in. At that level was over. Now you're going to talk about it. You go on to do a lot more with. With in racing beyond that point. This is a part of the show where I like to ask this question, because it's as much for me as it is for the person sitting in that chair. But what was the process like, I suppose, in closing the door on racing at the truck O'Reilly or Cup level? Mentally, those doors are open. You're in a truck, you're winning races. And so mentally, you're open to whatever opportunity might walk in the door. But at some point, you. You say, you know what? I'm ready. Like, your dad, you know, got up one day and said, they don't want to drive anymore. You know, one day you said, you know what? I'm going to go home, I'm going to redirect my focus in racing to something else. What was that like? You had. You been, you're down here, you established a foundation, you've got a shop, you're building cars, you're doing all these things.
- [58:32]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It. I mean, it's tough. I mean, I just. I knew at that point in time that before the year was over, we run the truck, won the Truck championship. I knew that team was closing, so, like, wasn't a whole lot of opportunities. And I wasn't sure really what I wanted to do. I know Harvard called me once and, and asked about going over the truck. And I was interested in that. I really was. And. But then it was when we won a championship and then Bill Davis is close. I called him. Well, he wanted me to leave like before or five races to go. And I said, dude, I can't do that. Not. Not in the middle of running for a championship. And I'm running against his truck.
- [59:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [59:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so that, that I was. I was actually kind of excited about that. But then, then when a year was done, he was like, well, no, you didn't want to do it. And I said, well, I did, but I just assumed you're going to wait till the end of the year, not during the middle of the year or not. I mean, there was only four races ago. And so at that point in time I was like, I don't know. You know, what is it? Red horse racing? They hired all of us from, from there to go try to win a championship. And, you know, we build all the bodies or triad did there, but we. He came down there and I thought that was going to be a really good situation. And then I think we were six in points. The teammate was like 21st somewhere in that area. And I think he started to see how expensive this is to run for a championship because it is running to win races, running for a championship. They are two different budgets. And, and I think he saw that. So I thought that this is not going to work. So he was basically saying, you need to build trucks like the other team. And I go, well, hold up. We're six and points are back. I said, that's going backwards. And I've always been very vocal about moving backwards. I'm going to say something. I'm not just going to sit there and, okay, this would be fine. Well, then he fired all of us. So I thought, okay. I go, you know what? That was actually better than the road we were going to go down. And at that point in time, I said, you know what? I don't. If a great opportunity come along, I'll do it. If not, I'm not going to.
- [60:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [60:51]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And, and, and so I didn't, I didn't really dwell on it. I mean, I, I felt like I for sure could go in there and be competitive. I knew that.
- [60:59]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [60:59]
Johnny Benson Jr.
But I didn't have anything to prove to anybody, so I didn't care. I was like, well, I'll just do something else. And. And that was still just, you know, building race cars and still racing. Am I still race? Just. Just not at that level.
- [61:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you went back to super modifieds. You. You run. You raced a super. For Brad Lichy.
- [61:22]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, Lichti.
- [61:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Lichti.
- [61:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [61:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You went back to. To and raced in the IMSA Modifieds at Berlin in 2006. You made your first start in 06 there. You went to Sandusky, nearly won the race. So that is something that I think is really fun and fascinating. A lot of guys, when they decide that they're done at the cup level, they. They don't look to going back to where they came from. Right. I, Yeah, I told myself, you know, I want to kind of go out the same way I came in. I want to go run a couple of bush races or O'Reilly or Xfinity races and did that. And now I'm running my little late model car, the same stuff that I was racing when I was just getting my start. And it's been amazing to go back to these race tracks that I ran at and see a lot of the same people now, they're now their fathers or grandfathers and their sons are racing and so forth, but the same families and the vibe or culture and atmosphere within the garage or in the, in the pits of these racetracks hasn't changed all that much. And, but. And I'm. And I'm curious that a lot of guys like ourselves don't go that route. A lot of guys, when they finish driving, like Jeff Gordon, for example, is a great. He's a great example. Like Jeff, when he retired from the cup, he has zero interest now. He plays a little bit. He dry a little Iraq thing with ray over at 10:10, and he ran a little Porsche race at Indy one day. But I'm like, man, you still could do it if you wanted to, right? You could come jumping. Yeah. You could jump in their O'Reilly car or one of ours and go race at a track that he loves and just have fun one day. He's zero interest. But then there's other guys that, that still want to race and they go find things to do, go find race tracks to race at. And that's what you did. You weren't done driving. You weren't ready to be done driving. What was the appeal, I suppose, of going back to the short tracks?
- [63:33]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Well, that I think the short tracks are my passion. I. I love them probably more. I meant, you know, going to the super Speedways, when you run your Charlottes, Daytona's Talladegas, they're kind of cool at the beginning, until you wrecked her once or twice. And then I dreaded. I didn't dread going there. I didn't care as far as that, but it was like, you just know eventually you're going to get tied up into something and. And it was. So that was a little less appealing to do, like, if I was going to go play and they give me an opportunity to. To run in a short track, I got to pick a short track more than I would Charlotte or. Yeah, or Atlanta. And I did help some testing with some people. And, you know, after, I'd say it was done, it was after my truck stuff, and I was running a super and my late model, and one of the guys that was on a 23, they were. They were testing over at Martinsville, and it's come over and. Come over and help me. So I did. I went over there and. And he wanted me to get in. I go, dude, I ain't been in one of these in six, seven, eight years. And that's, of course, they got the big sway bar, all the different crazy
- [64:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
stuff, and wildly fast, lots of power.
- [64:38]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so I went out there and ran, and I go, all right. Because the kid, he said, you couldn't keep it on the bottom. And then I run right on the bottom. I said, man, I says, this turns better than the truck we won this race with, you know, and we did that for a little bit. And then I was like, all right. Well, then he wanted me to go to Atlanta, and I told him, I said, I really. I'll come down and help, but I don't have any desire of getting a truck. Well, he eventually got me in there, and it was like, you know, Atlanta, like, going into turn three there, it's. It's never secure ever, you know, anytime. And it's bad when you're doing it at a weekly basis. Well, when you haven't been in one for five, six years, that's not a very good feeling. And so I went in there and I was like, all right, I don't need to be doing this. And I came in, I go, unless we run through two, three such tires, I'm not going to be able to help you. And I said, the kids running faster. I was way faster in him at Martinsville, but down there, I wouldn't run that speed. I was. I was like, I'm gonna. It's gonna take more laps than I feel I should be doing. This yeah. And. And I don't feel at this point in time I'm helping you.
- [65:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [65:40]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So therefore I'm not doing it. Yeah. And I mean I stay for the rest of the day. Don't get wrong. But. And we did change a couple things, you know, just based off his comment and the three laps that I did run, I was like, I changed this and this and they did, they picked up a, a fair amount and then he was more comfortable. So I guess I was okay. But so, so like I say, I like the short tracks. I love to do that. I love to run my late model car. Soup modified is something that was new to me. I've seen them, I've watched them, never been in one. And they're crazy. They're insane how fast they are. And we've run it, we've run at five, eight mile tracks faster than we run at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a cup car. That's insane. And it, they're a lot more physical. Like 50 lap race on nose is all you want to do. And they're, they're insane. But, but a lot of fun too.
- [66:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [66:33]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Guys are very respectful in those cars.
- [66:34]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I imagine you have to be.
- [66:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
There is no wheel banging.
- [66:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [66:36]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Very little.
- [66:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You were involved in a bad crash at Berlin in 09. Broke your collarbone, separated shoulder, ribs bruised your lung, broke your wrist, burns.
- [66:47]
Johnny Benson Jr.
A lot of stuff.
- [66:48]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Is that when you, when, when you go through something like that, do you have some serious conversations with yourself about whether you need to be doing this at your age? None.
- [66:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
None. No. It.
- [67:01]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Did anybody.
- [67:01]
Johnny Benson Jr.
My dad did.
- [67:02]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, right. Anybody in your family try to not talk some sense into you?
- [67:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so there we had that. And I mean I was tied up for a while and so at the end of the year Kyle Busch called me and says hey, we helped this kid down at Smyrna. And I said okay, it was the truck team. And I says, you only rule is at the end of the test I want to drive a truck because I haven't been in a vehicle and you know, and, and like I had a severe concussion which I like talk a little bit about with that with you later. But. And I was like watch and, and crew chief when I was at Bill Davis. Rick. Rick ran. He was a crew chief then. So I very understand what he was doing. Reading all the tire sheets and stuff. I saw where they're at and so it was set up that I got in a truck after at the end so I was to get ready and he goes well I'm going to do this to it. And I go, no. I says, free this thing up. I'm looking at all the stuff the kids running, and I just free it up. Let's just roll it like we would if you and I were still racing at Bill Davis and. Which he did. So I just left pit road and just straight through the gears on the floor, and I ran three laps, came in. I says, I'm good. And he was like, I didn't expect you to leave pit road the way you did and go. And I says, well, that's. I think if you approach it different, you're already in trouble.
- [68:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [68:26]
Johnny Benson Jr.
If you don't just go. And. And I did. And he was like, truck's pretty good. I go, yeah, we run like, three, four tenths faster than a kid. We were helping, but he didn't have as much experience. But. And I never been at Smyrna. I never been on track. And so I was like, nope, I'm good. And so, you know, good. Thanks to Kyle for trading that off me to help his guys and. And then him let me jump in there. That's. I. I knew I was fine after that.
- [68:53]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Well, you got to race a couple of truck races for Kyle Bush. Your final NASCAR start was with Kyle. Texas.
- [68:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yes. Yeah.
- [69:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10th. You were trying to put. To get a. Put a deal together with turn one. Racing in 11. Didn't come together. And you're back in the IMSA model modifieds. You served on the National Motorsports Appeals panel a few times.
- [69:15]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I did. I think I was out for a couple of years. And.
- [69:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, like, that's a bit of an honorable opportunity.
- [69:22]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It is, man. I tell you what, when you, you know, when it's all your people that you've raced with and some of your peers and some of them aren't, you know, I just felt like I was in a weird.
- [69:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah, we're awkward.
- [69:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And there was one particular case that I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm like, there. It's just. It was an odd feeling. I don't know if that makes sense. You know, I mean, everybody. Everybody has their idea of.
- [69:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Of pushing rules and interpretation.
- [69:51]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Interpretation of the rules. We all do it. There's any. Anybody that Races that hasn't done it.
- [69:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [69:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And some of them are probably more over the edge than the other, you know, And. And this is just one of those weird, weird rules, actually. It was a shock failure, but they wouldn't take it apart to find out what it is. And they're just, like, wanting to hold that penalty up and I'm like, hold it. I thought we had that, that was our role. And, and it was, it was, it was just kind of different. And I, I kind of felt bad because it was like they wanted to. The fine nobody cares about, but they, they were really wanting him to like miss the first five or six races. And this was after a Phoenix thing going. I said, dude, you're going to absolutely destroy his career. If he doesn't have a job going into the season, he's not going to have one the entire season. If that happens in the middle of the year, that's not as, I don't think as big of a deal. But so we, we kind of got that term. But it was, I think it was difficult. And you know, I felt bad. I go, man, I don't really want to be in a situation where even though they may have caused a situation, but you hate to put somebody out of racing just because of somebody's decision. And I didn't want to be that person to make a decision even though it was a group one. But I felt there'd be one day that that would be hard to live with, I think.
- [71:10]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [71:11]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So I didn't want to do it.
- [71:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You got out of that.
- [71:16]
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- [71:44]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So this is around 2011. 12 you back, you're back home, you're back racing full time. You race full time in 11 and 12 in the IMSA super modifieds, wins at Seaconk and other racetracks. You were in the inducted into the hall of fame at 2013, still driving race cars. You joined your father who went in in 01. You were elected into the Michigan Motorsports hall of fame in 2018, still driving race cars. You joined your father there who was inducted in 86. You were inducted into the Berlin Racing hall of fame in 22. Your father went in in 06. In 2023, you competed in SRX, finished 12th at Berlin. Your final race of your entire career was a 2025 North south shootout at Caraway.
- [72:37]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yep.
- [72:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Local track here in North Carolina, super modified event. You ran fourth. And then you decided to announce your retirement on March 6, 2026. So I remember seeing on social media that Johnny Benson has decided to retire And I thought, was he racing?
- [72:59]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [73:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Like I didn't know you'd been racing all these years up there in, you know, up north.
- [73:05]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, just around. Well that, yeah, the north and northeast, the certain modifieds, they don't, you know, they run more up on the east side. And may.
- [73:15]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Have you predominantly been driving super mods?
- [73:18]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I, I only, I think I only ran one full season. We, I, I said I'd love to win a championship in that and like
- [73:25]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
over from 11 to, from 2011 to 2025 on average, what were you racing? How many races a year? Sometimes eight.
- [73:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
10.
- [73:35]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Eight or 10? Yeah.
- [73:36]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. It's not, it's not a lot. A lot of double headers. You know, like Berlin would run that. We'd run a Friday night.
- [73:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [73:42]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And then Saturday, they're two totally different shows. It'd be like you showed up instead of the next week. It was just the next day. And I helped on travel and expenses and so there was a lot of events like that and other than Caraway, I mean we did practice qualifying or heat races on Friday and then we raced on Saturday and, But you know, every time I wanted to go race, it was 10, 12 hour drive because I was, I still live here. So all the races are up.
- [74:08]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You never moved back home?
- [74:09]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I never, I never did.
- [74:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So when you went to race at Caraway and ran fourth, did you get out of the car going, all right, last box is checked?
- [74:18]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Did you? No, no, I didn't, I didn't.
- [74:20]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What made you decide? I'm done, not gonna do another one. What's stopping you from I answering the phone one day and going, yeah, I'll drive it? How do you make it official?
- [74:34]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Is it ever official? No, I know it, I know it. I always feel like, I always wanted to run some more, but just you know that I Love Race 1 of Brad, Mike and all that. Well, Mike, they, they own a trucking company up there and Mike's got a sprint car now and he wants to, he should do that. He should run the dirt. I mean he's run cert modified his whole life and I've had him race my low light model in and it was actually funny. It was probably no different than I was. He was scared to death of the thing. And I go, really? You're running a super. It should be the other way around. And he ran good. He run second at it and he, he did like it. But so I'm, I, I felt. And I told him This. I says, look, I probably need to quit doing this. I'm getting too old to go that fast anyways. And. But Mike needs to do what he wants to do.
- [75:25]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [75:26]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Because he's working on a sprint car, he's working on his super. He's working on my super, and then working during the day, too. And it's 11 hours and going across the border for me to go up and help. And I felt that I like to work on them all the time, and I wasn't getting that. So just driving it doesn't necessarily fill that void. I like working on them and then driving them, you know, try to improve them, trying to win every week and things of that nature. And I think that a little bit of that element was missing, so that's why I chose that.
- [75:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
So you're. You've been down here all this time building, you know, building race cars and going up there and racing a little bit. You also have mentored some drivers over. Over, you know, the course of that time. One of them being Carson Hosar. You know, how enjoyable, I suppose, was it to. To help him? And what. What. What type. What type of reward is that for you personally?
- [76:28]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Oh, it's great. I mean, every. All the people I've helped and, you know, I thought I. I'd helped Anak out with. With it with your there for a short bit, but. But somebody that's new and starting there, like Carson's dad, Scott, he had. He had purchased race cars from me, but he had other drivers driving him. And one day he had said, he goes, hey, when my kid gets a little older, would you help him out? And I says, well, who's your kid? And he points over there, and I go, he's this tall. He's like 10.
- [77:00]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [77:00]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And I thought, okay, well, it's gonna be a couple years. I knew he was doing a quarter budget stuff, and I really thought that that would just be forgotten type scenario. And then I think when he was 11, his dad. His dad called. They said he wanted to buy my house car, and I'm not selling you my house car. Why do you want my house car? Don't make any sense. I'll build you a new car. And he goes, no, I want to put the kid in it. Like, what kid? You know, because I'm thinking of their drive. I know there are other drivers, you know. And then he was talking his. And I says, well, let's take us a different approach. Let's bring him down here. Let's put a. Do a seat or foam A seat up and move the pedals. And we went to Hickory test and, and I have tested there a couple, two, three fines. And he went out. And I know the first time I took the outcome car there, you get around there pretty fast. I mean, I was kind of surprised I can look at a track and tell you, but. And I thought, well, I can get into low 14s easy enough. I think I can get into 13s. Well, Kevin, he goes right in the way. I go, you ain't seen these cars run. And this is a late model. Not. I did. I went 40 lap tires and I, I run 1430s. And then I, I think I get down to 14 O's and Carson got in it and he's running 1450s, 1460s like to start with. And by the end of a two day test, he's. These are in 1430s. And I, you know, and I expect to be a couple times faster than him. But he was gaining that pretty fast. And so then it was like, okay, well then Scott of Stad was like, well, we want him to race at Berlin. And I go, I go, are you sure you want to do Berlin? I said, berlin's fast, it's tricky. And he goes, nope, that's what we want to do. So I had him test that Hickory a couple more times. And I told him, I got up there and I says, listen, I go, this place is way faster than you think it is. And he did, he went out there and he run a couple laps and then I started helping him more and he got, he got faster and faster. And he did get out of the car. He seems shaking a little bit. This place is fast. It's way faster in Hickory and, and, but he would like we ran the year, and I meant pretty much running the top five almost the whole year. The second year, I think we struggle a little bit. Same car and, and then they were kind of wanting to go with the template cars. I didn't build the temple cars. I don't, I don't care for them that much. And so I hooked him up with Bursley and them, and he did run for them, but he ran, he ran through that one spot where he was struggling. But I think it was his growth. I meant because he wasn't that tall then. And all of a sudden he was like, yeah, goes way up there. And I. He did struggle through that. And it took a minute to figure that out. You know, I don't think he thought he was, but I thought physically he wasn't quite, quite ready or that Growth thing was just making him not ready, I think. And then they worked it out, you know, talked to his dad, dad put him in a program, had him checked, and, and then obviously he's doing pretty good. He's doing great.
- [80:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You, you know, you, you've decided to, you know, to hang it up. So you still live down here. You know, what do you find, what do you find time to, you know, that you enjoy? What's some of the things that you spend your time doing now that, you know, racing's probably still woven into the DNA of your afternoon or your week, but less and less, especially if you're never, you know, if you're done driving.
- [80:38]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So, you know, it is.
- [80:40]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Carson's moved on to the Cup Series. Like, what's, what's, what's the projects go.
- [80:44]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I've got, I've had calls about mentoring people, but I don't if it, if it's not like I haven't driven that type of car. Like, I think if I was going to help somebody, like with your cars, not understanding the car that whole little bit, I think it's very hard to help. Now I can do the, the standard, you know, well, this, that. But I'm more about trying to get you to go faster. I'm more about chassis and stuff like that. And I don't think that opportunity is going to be available down here just because the cars are very different. So I don't know. But I do still do some fabrication work. There's a couple of buddies, of course, they own businesses with plumbing stuff, and I build their fun stuff that they do, their racks and things that nature or just, just weird stuff. Got my dad's old Corvette. It's. I think he bought that. It's a 1965 Corvette he bought, and I think it was like 10, 12 years old. So I'm in a process of redoing that.
- [81:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [81:39]
Johnny Benson Jr.
So I'm keeping busy, but. But I'm not stuck. I can't. I can go do what I want. If I want to take off. Want to go somewhere, we just take off.
- [81:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Who's we?
- [81:48]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Me. Nicole.
- [81:49]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [81:50]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Wife. So, yeah, we just. Other than that, I'm more of a homebody. Yeah, I don't mind. I, I, you know, we've got like 19 acres. I'm 900ft off the road. Nobody sees us. It's awesome, you know, sounds. Got one neighbor back there, lets us horses run free, so they come over and visit, stuff like that. But, but other than Adam and I love fabrication work, but I don't want it to be 10 hours a day.
- [82:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sure. Yeah.
- [82:15]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I. I feel like I've. I've done enough work throughout my life that I'll just take these small projects that may take a day or two.
- [82:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [82:24]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And just find something to do after that.
- [82:26]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. You ever see yourself like, you know, you ever see yourself working on the short track scene and. And in this environment down here?
- [82:36]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I think it'd be interesting. I. I think maybe would have to see what that would look like.
- [82:42]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Right.
- [82:43]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Type type thing. I mean, I was involved in Berlin when Berlin had that. There was like four or five of us limited partnerships that were involved in it. And I was. I was on competition rules. Rules thing. But. But we don't have that many rules.
- [82:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [82:58]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know, so. And I did that for little bit. But you. I don't. I don't want to feel like I need to go to the racetrack every week.
- [83:05]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [83:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And I think that's. I think like one of the guys that says wanted to mentor a guy. Then he sent me a schedule and I go, God, that schedule is five times more than I was doing racing with the super. And I was like, I don't want to do that.
- [83:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sure.
- [83:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
But if I could help somebody, I would.
- [83:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [83:21]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I just don't know at what level and how far. I feel like once you get to a certain point part, they should be able to handle that. Carson has done that. You know, we get to that part and I said, okay, you got a gist. What's going on now? Just keep going after it.
- [83:33]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. For sure.
- [83:34]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And because I did help him at truck race down at Phoenix.
- [83:37]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Really? Yeah.
- [83:38]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And that's been a few years ago. But. And so I did do that. I did do that stuff. And I enjoy that.
- [83:45]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You talked about the big concussion you had. No. 9, I suppose. Was it. Is that the only time. I'm sure you've been banged around and rung your bell multiple times. We all go. Go through those.
- [83:56]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yep. That it was by far the worst. I. I shouldn't have lived through that for one. Really there. I. I can't remember the guy's name that I think it was with gm and he was one of the safety guys. And he passed away not long. I can't. Probably about eight, nine years ago. Whatever. Maybe not been that long ago. Anyways. I did have a computer in a car and I just like the AIM system for the gauges, stuff like that. And NASCAR came and looked at the car after this wreck and they took the computer and he had said that he's never seen a spike straight up. Well, the computer only went to 100 GS, but it was straight up. He goes, it's always on an angle. He says, this thing was straight up. He goes, I can't guess, can't even guess what that would have been after they, they came and looked at the car and everything. I mean, it was, it was tore up. It was, it was pretty bad. But. But I had broke a lot of stuff. I mean, I was, I was in ICU for four days. I meant there. I don't think it was one of those touch and gold things, but I mean, it was. My lung, my kidneys and, and all that were in pretty bad shape. Same with the, I guess, knocking my head and I was bleeding out of my ear and all that fun stuff. There's. But I have my moments.
- [85:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [85:16]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Where I can't remember what happened yesterday.
- [85:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [85:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And then, you know, I got to figure out. I don't know if there's a way around that.
- [85:22]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No, I mean, I'll say this. My doctor told me, he's like, you know, I started, you know, going through the process of the symptoms and went to see my, my doctor in Pittsburgh. And from the moment that I realized that I wasn't all right, I started analyzing myself daily. And I recognized or, or, you know, when I would forget where I put something or forget why I walked across the room to the refrigerator. I would, I recognize that. And I would highlight that in my mind as a moment. And, and I went to him. You know, I'm going to him through this process and telling him everything. I'm trying to be as transparent as possible, possible. And I'm, man, you know, the other day I did this. The other day this happened the other day I turned my head and I felt this and I forgot this and forgot that. And he's like, he's like, you can't put every single thing that happens in the concussion bin. Just because you forgot where your keys were doesn't mean that's a concussion related thing. Some things are just going to happen. People forget names and birthdays and things they said they were going to do all the time.
- [86:36]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [86:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And I needed to stop analyzing every day and sort of tracking every day. Is this sort of, you know, trying to understand the, you know, the metrics of wherever. If I'm, am I improving? And so I kind of, I, you know, I am forgetful. Is that related to my concussions? Maybe not entirely. I laughed the other day. I told somebody, I said, I can't tell you. I can't tell you. They were asking me about something that we did the day before. And I go, you know, I don't really remember what we, what that was. I'll tell you in about a year I was like, I can remember that happened a year ago or two years ago, but I can't remember things that happened in the last week. But those things I'll remember in a year, you know, just laughing. Not that's really true, but I, I feel like that. And again, you know, I'm no expert, but as you and I get older, we are less likely to, you know, as. When we're younger, we're. Our mind is constantly recording every day, everything we do, we think, every conversation we have, every moment, every song we hear. Our minds are just this processor that's just recording and downloading all this information and storing it away. And as we get older, we do that less just out of habit. We're less probably we're less, we're less. We're less likely to be memorizing and downloading and recording and processing and storing away every single thing we do all day long because we realize that's not that important.
- [88:35]
Johnny Benson Jr.
That's true.
- [88:36]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And so if you said, man, remember what you said yesterday? And I don't, I don't get all that bitten out of shape about it because I didn't, in the moment when, when I did it, I didn't file it away is something very important because we get. We've tuned ourselves to only file away the things that are critical. And, you know, I don't, I don't know. I think that now there are some things that are real. You know, there are some symptoms and issues that are real. And I'll tell you this. I am, I am not the same version. I'm not, you know, I, I kind of call myself, this is 2.0. There was the first. There was that one version before the wreck, and now there's this version And
- [89:22]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I think 100, right.
- [89:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And that, that, that I had to, that I just had to come to terms with, right? That not everything was going to. I wasn't going to be as sharp or as, as elite or as I wanted to be. And another thing I'll tell you too, and I think you can appreciate this, it's like when we're racing a car every single week. All of those senses are so perfectly finely tuned.
- [89:50]
Johnny Benson Jr.
They are.
- [89:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
And when you get out of that rotation and you no longer do it day in and day out, you never, you can't you know, when you do go back and get behind the car, you see that, you see that 5 or 3 or 4% that's not there.
- [90:06]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [90:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
That the other guys have that. They're the guys that are doing it every single week. You don't have it. You don't. And you're not going to.
- [90:14]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And the, the one thing I don't have problem is, is actually being in a car.
- [90:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [90:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And I think it's. I think you got to concentrate so hard.
- [90:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. That forces you.
- [90:25]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It forces you to just stay on track. Right. I meant sometimes on your caution you find yourself like, get back. I'd rather go back green now. Yeah. And. And so I did have that problem in a car. And I. And I don't have the, the problem if I, if I trip. I remember reflexes are still very good.
- [90:46]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [90:46]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so I don't. I don't know what area that. That it is. But I. But I'll get horrendous headache and that I never used to have before ever. I mean, it's probably just started in the last three, four years. You would get that. But only, only for a short minute. But it got. It feels like your head's getting cut off. You know, and then it kind of goes away. And. And it. I've had enough times you walk across shop to get something and not know
- [91:11]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
what you went over there for.
- [91:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. And then.
- [91:12]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oh, yeah.
- [91:13]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Back. And then you go, oh, crap. What the hell? You know what. What was I even looking for? Then I have to think of what I was doing because I may have two or three different things going on in, you know, from building cars and all the machining. Your head's always, always rotating and. Because I. I still always have this great ideas for some of the race car to do, but I don't want to put the energy into it. Now I'm at the last. I think the last outlaw car I had bayonet thing. It was just wicked fast. And there's some things that I think they do to make it even better. I don't want to go through the energy to do it.
- [91:47]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [91:48]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know, it's just. And I. And I just feel weird about, okay, let's get somebody to do it for you. But it, but it never works that way.
- [91:57]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No.
- [91:57]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know, not, not, not necessarily in tune to what's going on. But I. But I do. I do enjoy those aspects of things of the racing and I think that's what keeps me playing and keeps me fabricating and things that nature. Because I do, I do like to do that.
- [92:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Well, I, you know, when in, in terms of the, you know, the memory and hit, you know, I feel like that my dog, you know, I, I, I had this really great vision most of my career and like 2010 always had really good vision. And then I had the, the concussions and stuff. And when he sent me to an eye doctor, I'm like, well, my eyes are great. You know, I don't. Why do I got to see this eye doctor during this whole process? But the guy started putting glasses on me, and I picked my mom's glasses up one day and I was like, wow. I didn't even know my vision was steering off in the wrong direction, but it is. And so now I wear glasses all the time. And he's like, you know, you were probably. I was like, I was so disappointed in that, man. This wreck and this injury has messed up my vision. I really was going to have great vision all my life. I loved being able to read and see everything. And now I got to wear glasses. And without glasses, I'm literally useless. Right. If I sit on the couch with Amy and I don't have my glasses on, she's like, check us out on my phone. I'm like, okay, but my doctor's like, you were gonna get this way. He's like, this accelerated it a little bit, but you were gonna do this. And so it's kind of similar with the memory. And like, isn't my memory as sharp as I think it should be? No, but it was probably, you know, this is likely a, you know, an aging process anyways. Maybe it's a little more profound, but I do that too. I'll, I'll, I walk across the shop when I'm working at shop and walking across there for a particular bid or something like that and a tool or whatever and get over there and go to hell.
- [93:57]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Was I.
- [93:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
What did I need?
- [94:00]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Sometimes it comes back in five minutes. Sometimes it's two days. Yeah, that's.
- [94:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [94:04]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And, you know, that's probably the best way to look at it. It's usually nothing bothers me. I don't, I don't really dwell on it, but it was like this. There's certain things that, yeah. That are just.
- [94:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The headache thing would be something. Yeah. But I, I'm in a place personally where I no longer recognize moments as going, oh, that's a concussion related thing. I never do. I don't. I'm thankful for that. My doctor told me, he's like, quit analyzing yourself. Quit Putting everything in this concussion bin, thinking that you're. You're this damaged goods, and everything that happens there that you don't do perfectly goes in this concussion box. And I'm like, all right, I'll stop. And finally, you know, I go through days where I don't even think about it. And I don't. I'm not, like, reminded that. Oh, yep. That. That's something I went through. And now I'm so. But there are some. Some moments. But if I was having some pain, you know, that would drive me right back to the doctor. Like, I would probably say, hey, you know, I've got. I'm feeling physical pain, and I just want an MRI or something to get in there and look around.
- [95:12]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah. It seems odd. It's so long. I mean, this. Was that records in 09.
- [95:16]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I know.
- [95:16]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And. And then why all of a sudden is it doing that? I don't.
- [95:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I agree. And. But that happens, you know, I. When I. Not the same thing, but my last real issue with concussions happened in 2016, and the wreck that I had that triggered it was two months before, like, I had wrecked. I knew when the wreck happened that I'd gotten my bell rung, but I was like, probably good in a couple days. I was. Went on and raced for two. Two months with no issue, perfectly fine. And then all of a sudden, I started realizing my. My vision was getting blurry and my eyes. I felt a ton of pressure behind my eyes and all these things, and I'm like, oh, I must have allergies. I don't have allergies. Never had them all life. But this is what it sounds like. And I'm just talking to people, and they're like, oh, yeah, probably allergies. And, you know, finally we got it all figured out and diagnosed. But the issues. I always felt like you get. You. You get a concussion or you have a concussion from a moment that, you know, an impact or a thing that just happened. Somebody hit you upside down with a bat. Concussion. Right. But sometimes there's these lingering effects that can come out of nowhere from months or even years after an incident. Right. As our bodies are always changing and.
- [96:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah.
- [96:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Evolving. But, yeah, I mean, if you're uncomfortable or having any kind of pain, I would certainly, like, think, all right, let's get in front of this. Could be something completely unrelated to concussions.
- [96:42]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I. You know, because I did. I knew I had a bad concussion and it. And it was. But because I was out of the race car so long just from surgeries and fixing Everything got a good. I didn't feel that. I mean, I had that vertigo there for the first week or something like that every time you wanted to get up or something like that. But, but that went away pretty quick. Even, even after I did get back in racing. I didn't, I never. I couldn't feel that. I couldn't feel that. Yeah, that, that was fine.
- [97:14]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [97:14]
Johnny Benson Jr.
You know, it's probably just old age. Maybe I'm trying to claim it on something.
- [97:19]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, you're putting everything in the concussion bin. You're just getting old.
- [97:22]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I know it. Right.
- [97:23]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. And like that, that headache could be unrelated entirely to this wreck. Well, you have no, you have no idea.
- [97:31]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Yeah, I have no idea.
- [97:32]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
We always very quick to make assumptions. And me and you were mechanical minds that we want to connect things and make, make things make sense. Right.
- [97:39]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I know it. That's a bad habit.
- [97:41]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, it is. Well, look, let's see, 62 years old. I know that she may not love this, but I think you got one more. You got a couple laps left in the town.
- [97:57]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Absolutely.
- [97:58]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You're in great health. You look.
- [98:00]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I'm good. I'm in, I'm in good health. I think at least you must, you
- [98:04]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
must pay attention and for the most part try to do a good job there.
- [98:10]
Johnny Benson Jr.
It got to the point that everybody fluctuates on all their stuff. Right. And it was, you know, the cup cars, yeah, they're hot. They're every race car's hot. Open wheel car, not so much. They're still warm and they're still hot. But the, the physical aspect, to drive one of those cars, I've never experienced that before. It just, I mean, I can't even. Where do we run? I run Toledo and I think we, we ran a truck race and I come over, There is a 40 lap race. It goes green, the car's a little loose. I started like 12th or so. And with those cars, somebody was running a little heavy on their fuel with that. With methanol. It just burned your eyes, you know. And all of a sudden I was like, I couldn't breathe because those cars, you can't breathe in of course, corners. So you're, you're constantly trying to adjust
- [99:03]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
your, your breathing because of the loads.
- [99:05]
Johnny Benson Jr.
Just because.
- [99:06]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes. Oh my gosh.
- [99:07]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so I was like, I'm really pull off track. Yeah, that's only a 40 lap race. And I'm like, man. And I, I looked up at the board and I go, it was lap 32. I go, I can run eight more laps. Without breathing and of course I got to the end and jam the belts off and I think that that seat in that cardio quite fit quite perfect. But in any way I'm looking at the board and it's got 74 up there and I don't make any sense for third or something like that. And the three of us have to stop on a start and finish line. So I stopped up there. Brad comes up there all happy as man, if we had a caution you'd have won this race. And I go, dude, he had no idea. I almost pulled off the track at lap 32 and I was like man, I'm either just so out of shape but then what? Kyle Busch had to have the Rowdy 250. Well, I was racing that on Wednesday. I was scared to death going into this race. I thought geez, I just barely made it through this 40 lap race with the super and. And I got there and we ran that. Nothing fit a start in it. I was like God, I could run five of these. So just a 50 lap race while those things are insane. Yeah, they're just. You get, you get. If the car is not quite white it'll absolutely wear you out.
- [100:18]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I bet.
- [100:19]
Johnny Benson Jr.
And so you kind of try to stay ahead of that.
- [100:21]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, for sure.
- [100:23]
Johnny Benson Jr.
But they're fun man.
- [100:24]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Let's stay in touch. Man. I didn't know you were still down this way. And we got a lot of great things going on in the cars tour and around racing in general and love
- [100:33]
Johnny Benson Jr.
to have you out at least now I'm going to go do some of these races.
- [100:38]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, come come visit us and just kind of see what we're doing.
- [100:42]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I'd love to do it.
- [100:43]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah, dude, it's fun and it's close. All our races were there and you know, most of them were within three hours of drive.
- [100:48]
Johnny Benson Jr.
I, I like working with Tony Erie.
- [100:51]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yes.
- [100:51]
Johnny Benson Jr.
With.
- [100:52]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah.
- [100:53]
Johnny Benson Jr.
With Danica and stuff like that. I, I think I did some stuff with some breaks with them and of course seeing him at the srx. So yeah, I mean there's, I mean I'm going to keep obviously on your schedule. I see you racing somewhere. We'll probably sneak over and see how it's.
- [101:07]
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yeah. Come check us out. All right buddy. Thank you very much for today. It was a lot of fun. It Johnny Benson Jr. On a Delin download. All right, Johnny Benson. That's a fun conversation. I, yeah. I love obviously that he, that he had this career in, in NASCAR and then he went back and ran a lot of short track races since then in the last, you know, decade, decade or so. And even like right now, like, he's very. Matter of fact. I don't know, man. I wonder if way down in there, there's, there's. If he's, if he's like hiding his true, like, emotion around things, but, like, he didn't get. He doesn't seem too upset or bothered by things that didn't go his way on the cup side or the, the NASCAR side of things. And he, you know, he's just like, yeah, I'll just go back do this. I'll just go back and do this. I'll just go do this. I'm just. I'm just gonna go do this. Yeah. I don't know. Kind of envious of his lack of emotion in terms of the, you know, the frustrations or the disappointments in every. Every one of us has faced at some point in time in our careers. But he. It's a champion, man. Bus Series Champion, 95, 2008 Truck Series Champion, 1993 ASA National Champion and a lot of hall of Fames. He has, he's got, he's had the. He's had a very robust career, man. I think a lot of people really appreciate him. I, I enjoyed that conversation, man. Surprised we hadn't had him in here sooner, but that was a good one. So we're grateful for Johnny coming through the the Arby studio today. Don't forget about Arby's new meet in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats and we'll see you tomorrow. Check out dirty mo media on instagram, facebook x and tick tock.