Herm Johnson is a former driver in the CART

Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

 Championship Car series. He raced in 7 seasons (1979–1985), with 35 career starts, including the 1984 Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis 500

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

. He also raced at Indy in 1982, but the race was not part of CART that year. He finished in the top ten 8 times, with his best finish in 6th position in 1982 at Atlanta.

In 1976, Johnson won the SCCA National Championship at Road Atlanta and was the 1977 USAC

United States Automobile Club

The United States Auto Club is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, the USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapolis 500...

 Super Vee Champion. Johnson's father suffered a fatal heart attack, while watching him race in the 1982 Indianapolis 500. Also during this race, Rick Mears

Rick Mears

Rick Ravon Mears is a retired American race car driver. He is one of three men to have won the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race four times , and the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six...

 bumped into the back of his car on a lap 183 pit stop. For his next race Johnson, who runs a business painting helmets, trimmed the back edge of his rear wing with the message "Rick...if you can read this, you're too close."

Herm currently resides in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...

, running his custom painting business, 'Just Herm Designs'. The shop has done work for several Indy 500 winners as well as IRL and NHRA Champions (Eddie Cheever Jr., Al Unser Jr., Johnny Herbert & Sam Hornish, Jr.

Sam Hornish, Jr.

Racing League]] championships. He currently drives the #12 Alliance Truck Parts Dodge Challenger for Penske Racing part-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He also drives the #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford when Travis Kvapil is unable to drive the car....

 to name a few)as well as amateur racers like Jon Belanger. The shop specializes in custom paint jobs for helmets, racecars, and motorcycles. Herm also is a performance driving instructor at Brainerd International Raceway

Brainerd International Raceway

Brainerd International Raceway is a road course, dragstrip and kart track near Brainerd, Minnesota, USA. The raceway hosts the National Hot Rod Association Nationals.-History:...

 in Brainerd Minnesota.

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1980 1980 Indianapolis 500 Results of the 1980 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 25, 1980.-Recap:After failing in its 1979 debut, Jim Hall's radically new Chaparral chassis is driven to easy victory by Johnny Rutherford. Tom Sneva becomes the first driver to place second after starting last. He also...	Lightning	Offy	Failed to Qualify
1981 1981 Indianapolis 500 The 65th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 24, 1981. A hectic month of May was interrupted several times by rain. Bobby Unser took the checkered flag as the winner, with Mario Andretti second...	Lightning	Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	Failed to Qualify
1982 1982 Indianapolis 500 The 66th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 30, 1982. Gordon Johncock, who had previously won the rain-shortened 1973 race, was the winner...	Eagle	Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	14th	9th
1983 1983 Indianapolis 500 Results of the 1983 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 29, 1983.-Recap:Three-time runner up Tom Sneva is stuck behind the lapped car of Al Unser, Jr., who is helping protect the lead of his father Al Unser despite being shown the blue "move-over" flag...	March March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...	Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	Failed to Qualify
1984 1984 Indianapolis 500 Results of the 1984 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 27, 1984.-Recap:An exciting first half turns dull as defending champion Tom Sneva and Mario Andretti fall out late with mechanical trouble, leaving Rick Mears the winner by over two laps. Rookies Roberto Guerrero, Al Holbert,...	March March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...	Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...	9th	8th
1985 1985 Indianapolis 500 The 69th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis, United States on Sunday, May 26, 1985. Due to a dramatic spin by eventual race winner Danny Sullivan, the race is known in auto racing lore as the "Spin and Win".-Recap:...	March March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...	Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...	Failed to Qualify
1986 1986 Indianapolis 500 The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Saturday, May 31, 1986. After being rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend...	March March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three,...	Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...	Practice Crash