Drag Illustrated Issue 141, February 2019 | Page 48
D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
O
n Sunday, November 18,
2018, Dent Johnson signed
off on the microphone at
Carolina Dragway after an amaz-
ing career that spanned 55 years of
being the track announcer at the
Jackson, South Carolina, facility.
To put in perspective just how
long he’s been involved with this
fabled facility, Johnson, who turns
82 his next birthday, vividly remem-
bers when this track was not much
more than a quarter-mile strip of
dirt that ran through a parcel of
farmland. Back then, the track uti-
lized a timing system consisting of
a pair of spotters at the finish line, a
stop watch and an old-
timey crank telephone
to call the tower and
deliver the times!
Even before they
broke ground on the
drag strip in 1957,
“Mr. Dent” (as he’s af-
fectionately known
to all) used to ride
his horse across the
farmland that would
one day become Jack-
son Dragway, which
was renamed to its
present moniker,
Carolina Dragway, in
1985. Years before he
became the track an-
nouncer, Johnson ac-
tually raced a variety
of cars here and won
quite often, which was
an amazing feat con-
sidering Johnson was
on crutches for most
of his life, the result of
contracting polio as a
young child. The doctors advised
him early on that he would be able
to walk on crutches for 25 years max
before his shoulders would give out,
but being the overachiever that he is,
Johnson walked on crutches for 59
years before he finally had to retreat
to a wheelchair for mobility.
To refer to Mr. Dent as “handi-
capped” wouldn’t exactly be an ac-
curate description, as I’ve always
found the man to be more “handi-
able” than anything. I visited with
him many times over the years in
the tower of Carolina Dragway and
always enjoyed hearing the fascinat-
ing stories of his life. In
addition to his drag strip
announcing gig, he also
held a full-time job for
many years and traveled
the world for meetings
– on crutches, mind you.
He’s visited Tokyo, Hong
Kong, Hawaii and Mon-
treal, and every six weeks he would
to travel to New York City for meet-
ings, where he would hobble down
the sidewalk with a suitcase in one
hand and a briefcase in the other.
Somehow, he learned to navigate
stairs as well as anyone. One time at
the drag strip, Bob Motz famously Mr. Dent came to be the
track announcer in the
first place. It goes some-
thing like this: Quite a
few years ago, Johnson’s
employer transferred
him to Statesville, North
Carolina, for several
years before retracing to
South Carolina. As soon as he re-
turned, Mr. Dent dropped by the
drag strip to visit his old friends.
When he went to the tower to say
hello to then-track owner Junior
Steed, well, something life-changing
happened. “Junior handed me the
microphone and said, ‘How about
caught the tower on fire with his
jet-powered Kenworth truck, which
sent the tower staff on a quick
evacuation. “I was running down
the stairs when suddenly Mr. Dent
passed me on crutches!” laughs Jeff
Miles, whose family owned the track
from 1985 until 2018. “After we all
reached the ground level, Mr. Dent
hopped in his wheelchair and came
rolling through the smoke like some
epic scene out of a movie!”
Everyone seems to have a favorite
story associated with their beloved
track announcer. Personally, I al-
ways enjoyed the one about how holding this for a second until I
get back,’” recalls Johnson. So he
waited. When Steed never returned,
Mr. Dent decided to say a few words
into the microphone...and the rest is
history. Since Steed never returned
to reclaim the mic, Johnson ended
up talking for the next 55 years!
For the vast majority of racers
at Carolina Dragway, Mr. Dent is
the only track announcer they’ve
ever heard call the action at their
local track. Understandably, he’s
become an irreplaceable figure to
many. “There’s not many people in
this world that I would drop every-
thing for no matter what, but Dent
Johnson is one of those people,” says
Jeff Miles. “He means the world to
me,” echoes Jeff ’s sister, Angel, who
worked alongside Johnson for de-
cades. Johnson used to babysit Jeff
and Angel when they were kids, and
now they both have grown children
of their own, who likewise adore Mr.
Dent.
When Jimmy Owen became track
manager last season, he persuaded
Mr. Dent to delay his retirement
until the end of the season, even
though his doctors were wanting
to operate on both shoulders right
away. It was actually an easy sell for
Owen since Johnson
really wanted to spend
one more year with
his family at the drag
strip. “I told Mr. Dent
I’ve got a microphone
and a key to the place
for him anytime he
wanted to drop by for
a guest appearance,”
says Owen.
Long-time track
employee Beverly Re-
vis was instrumental
in organizing a retire-
ment ceremony for
him on his last day at
the track, and it turned
out to be quite the cel-
ebration. Like so many
others, Revis holds
cherished memories.
“If something’s wrong
in your life you can call
Mr. Dent and he will
pray for you over the
telephone,” she says.
During one of my
many visits to Carolina Dragway,
Johnson told me he only travels to
three places with any kind of con-
sistency. “I go to church, the doc-
tor and the drag strip,” he smiles.
Best anybody can tell, that always
seemed to satisfy him. “The Lord’s
been good to me,” he assures me.
“I’ve had a great life...I just enjoyed
it from crutches.”
We should all be inspired to feel
so fortunate. Thank you, Mr. Dent,
for sharing your upbeat spirit and
spot-on perspective. We will forever
cherish your influence and friend-
ship.
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Issue 141