» Drive to Win
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Three generations of racing: Ryan (father), Pat ‘Pop’ (grandfather), and Isaac Johnson.
“DesignSpine taught me to be more than an engineer,” he said. “We were pitching ideas, creating business plans, learning to present value. It felt like I was learning how to sell a product—which is exactly what I do now, whether it’s for my day job or trying to bring a sponsor on board for a race.” That shift proved crucial. In motorsports, talent behind the wheel isn’t enough—you also have to market yourself to sponsors. Johnson works full-time as a sales engineer for the George E. Booth Company, a valve and instrumentation distributor in Greenwood. The industrial distributor hired him, then became his first sponsor in ARCA. Others have followed including Endress+Hauser. Booth is a sales and service partner of Endress+Hauser, making their joint sponsorship a natural collaboration. “UIndy prepared me for both the engineering and the business sides of this career,” he said. “I’m selling instrumentation by day and pitching sponsorships by night.”
Back at Daytona in the Hard Rock Bet 200, Johnson qualified ninth. It was a proud moment, but he knew the hardest part was yet to come. “It’s not just about the speed,” he said. “You’ve got 39 other guys out there, and at a place like Daytona, things can change fast.” They did—on the final lap. For most of the night, he ran clean. Steady. Smart. A top-10 finish within reach. But in the chaos of the final lap, a multi-car wreck erupted in front of him. In a split second, Johnson’s path disappeared. He turned low to avoid the carnage but clipped another car, sending him straight into the wall at over 170 mph. “I saw it coming and had just enough time to let go of the wheel,” he said. “You never want to have your hands on the wheel when you hit the wall that hard— you can break your wrists. I just braced, hit, and everything stopped.” The safety team arrived quickly, and Johnson climbed out on his own. He was sore, but okay. His car, however, was done for the night. But even a trip to the
infield care center couldn’t dampen his sense of pride. “In the moment, I thought, ‘This might be the last time I ever get to do this,’” he said. “But I also thought ‘I just raced at Daytona!’ I’ll never forget what it felt like walking onto that grid, hearing my name, knowing how far I’d come.” Today, Johnson is back to balancing his dual life: full-time sales engineer by day, aspiring full-time driver on nights and weekends. He’s running a full schedule in the Kenyon Midget Series in 2025 and continuing to chase sponsors and grow partnerships to return to the ARCA or NASCAR Truck Series ranks full-time—and eventually, he hopes, the Cup Series. “It’s tough, but every race is a step forward,” he says. “I’ve raced under the lights at Daytona, competed with some of the best, and proved that I belong. That experience drives me to keep pushing for what’s next.” For a kid from Martinsville who once swept floors at his Pop’s body shop, that’s already one incredible victory lap.
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UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
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