As Isaac Johnson pulled his fire suit over his shoulders and began strapping into the No. 34 Van Alst Motorsports Ford, the moment had already taken on a dreamlike quality. The stadium lights burned above him like a stage set. The roar of the crowd buzzed in his helmet. Moments before the biggest race of his life, the 2022 UIndy mechanical engineering grad looked out at the massive grandstands and said a prayer with his team. It was go time. A year earlier, Johnson had walked Daytona International Speedway as a fan. Years before that, he’d first seen the massive track from the living room floor of his grandparents’ house, sitting beside his dad and his grandfather—Pop—the man who first introduced him to racing. And now, he was about to pilot a 3,400-pound stock car around one of the most famous ovals in America at 180 miles per hour. “I remember thinking, ‘This might be the only shot I ever get at this,’” Johnson said. “And I wanted to make it count.” Johnson grew up in Martinsville, Indiana where his love for racing began not on a track, but in a garage. At his family’s Brother’s Body & Paint, Johnson started sweeping floors, organizing tools, and doing odd jobs as a young boy. There he spent countless hours elbow-deep in grease and paint dust with Pop learning the value of hard work and developing a fascination with cars.
“Some of my earliest memories are watching races on TV with my dad and Pop,” Johnson said. “It was just part of life.” He got his first go-kart for Christmas at age 12. By 17, he was working multiple jobs to fund his racing habit. Success on the track started adding up in 2018 and 2019. The momentum kept building. In 2020, when national races paused due to COVID-19, several top-tier drivers returned to Indiana’s local tracks. Johnson not only held his own—he beat them, winning a local championship and finishing first or second in seven of eight races. That breakout season opened the door to more opportunities, culminating in a chance to drive in the ARCA Menards Series and race at some of the most storied tracks in the country—Phoenix, Kansas Speedway, and of course, Daytona. That opportunity, like so many in motorsports, came not only from performance but partnership. “You don’t just drive fast and get a ride,” he explained. “You have to be the driver and the businessperson.” While chasing speed on the weekends, Johnson was also racing toward a degree at the University of Indianapolis. He graduated in 2022 with a degree in mechanical engineering—a path he initially chose to pursue a career on the technical side of racing. But as he progressed through UIndy’s unique DesignSpine curriculum, he discovered that engineering, like racing, required more than just precision.
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MAGAZINE // SPRING 2025
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