Nascar hall-of-fame driver, team owner Junior Johnson dies at 88

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Junior Johnson, the former moonshiner turned hard-charging race car driver who won 50 NASCAR races before becoming a team owner, has died at the age of 88, NASCAR said on Friday.

“We have lost one of NASCAR’s true pioneers, innovators, competitors and an incredible mechanical and business mind. And personally, I have lost one of my dearest friends,” Winston Kelley, NASCAR Hall of Fame executive director, said in a written statement announcing Johnson’s death.