RIP Pop Johnson

Over the years, Pop Johnson was a fixture in the pro pits watching several of his grandchildren race on the professional level. On December 19, 2010, Pop Johnson passed away, but he will not be forgotten. Here’s an email we received from the Johnson family:

He had a great run over the last couple years of his life. The great-grandfather of Justin Buckelew, Keith and Kevin Johnson and a fan of all the New Mexico motocross/supercross racers including Ivan and Gio Tedesco, Isaiah Johnson, Ryan Clark and many others. Pop chased these guys around the country, from California to Florida. He went to Loretta Lynn’s back in the day, to Anaheim, to the Des Moines Arenacross. His trusty van had some miles on it. Pop would hang out with Erv Braun in the announcer’s tower at the nationals, and even Erv would say, “I see Pop coming. It must be time to get started. ” The AMA ladies took care of Pop at all the races, helping him get in and set up with front-row parking. I think the chocolate he would bring them helped out a little with that. Pop was old, but knew the ladies were a sucker for chocolate. Pop would even go down on the track and check out the SX tracks on his electric scooter. I think somehow he got more access at the races than some of the racers and even more tricked out swag from all the industry reps. Pop lived a great life, and thanks to everyone along the way he was able to do what he enjoyed: hang out at the races. We at Bobby J’s Yamaha in Albuquerque and all of his family would like to thank everyone in the motocross world for being so nice to him and helping along the way. Pop made a lot of great friends and lived for you people to the ripe old age of 93.

Thanks for everything.
The Johnsons and Bobby J’s Yamaha Inc.