Imagine golf without Arnold Palmer.
Baseball without Tommy Lasorda.NASCAR racing without Junior Johnson.
Unthinkable.
However, the last has happened.
Johnson, a hall of famer as a driver and the Winston Cup Series' winningest car owner over the past 20 years, has sold his teams.
The No. 11 "flagship" operation, with which Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip won three championships each for Johnson, has been bought by Brett Bodine, Johnson's driver in 1995. It's the biggest of many new looks the circuit will have in '96.
Bodine has moved the team to Mooresville out of its longtime home at rural Ingles Hollow in Wilkes County and revamped it with new personnel. Donnie Richeson, Bodine's brother-in-law, is the crew chief and Jack Nickel the shop foreman.
Bodine previously worked with both on the team owned by Kenny Bernstein.
There are five other "alumni" from Bernstein's disbanded team among the 14 employees preparing the Fords Bodine will drive during the coming season, which opens next month at Daytona International Speedway.
Bodine, 36, is obtaining engines from Mark Smith of Tri-Star Motorsports. Private contractor Norman Negre of Concord is "hanging the bodies" on the cars and is in charge of aerodynamic work.
"We're coming along real well," Bodine said last week. "We're a little behind because we got the final rules clarifications a bit late, but everyone else appears behind, too.
"We've got 10 cars ready, including two built especially for superspeedways, that we'll test beginning Monday at Daytona."
Bodine conceded it's a major step going from a hired driver to team owner/driver.
"It's something my wife, Diane, and I have considered for a good while," said Bodine. "We talked about being able to control our own futures for years to come.
"I wanted to have a more hands on role in the management of a team. I wanted to handle the sponsorship duties. Being more involved really appealed to me."
Bodine pointed to his late friend, Alan Kulwicki, as being the inspiration who has led a growing number of drivers to form their own teams.
"Alan gave the rest of us the itch to do it," Bodine said of Kulwicki, the 1992 Winston Cup champion who was killed April 1, 1993, in the crash of a private plane near Blountville, Tenn. "What he was able to accomplish gave a lot of the rest of us the courage to try.
"He showed that you don't have to have a big, fancy shop and 40 employees to be competitive and become the champion.
"Alan brought back to reality that good hard work and strong determination can take you a long way in this sport.
"I'm intent on me and my team having those qualities."
Bodine and Johnson began talking in midseason last summer about the possibility of the driver purchasing the operation. The story broke publicly in October and the deal was completed in early December.
"Junior made quite clear at the beginning he was interested in stepping back and spending more time with his wife and two young children," said Bodine. "As long as he had been around and as much as he had done for our sport, he deserved to do that.
"Still, I'm sure it's going to seem strange to everyone in Winston Cup racing not to see him around during the first few races of the season.
"I know Junior is going to be watching with interest to see how we do. I've repeatedly told Junior that we're going to make him proud of No. 11 again."