A day with Junior Johnson: Moonshine, ham 'n stories (cont'd)

1:30 p.m.: Hamming it up

Not too often can you have lunch and then see just exactly where your lunch came from.

Such was the case on my journey with Junior.

At lunch, per his suggestion, I ordered the Junior Johnson Country Ham and Biscuits and so it was only fair that he take me to Suncrest Farms Country Hams, Inc. where the Junior Johnson-branded hams are cured, processed and then shipped to grocers.

Just a short drive from the lunch spot, Suncrest Farms Country Ham, Inc. has been producing the Junior Johnson-branded products for nearly a decade now.

Inside, sweet old ladies in hairnets were lunching in a break room and their eyes lit up when Junior walked in. They asked for autographs as they fidgeted with their smocks and smoothed their polyester pants.

As I readied myself for the tour of the factory, Johnson handed me a hairnet.

I looked at him and said, "I'm good. I don't really do hairnets per se, not really a flattering accessory for me, you know?"

He looked down his nose at me and put both hands on my shoulders, gave me a shake and said, "What about muzzles?"

So I put on the hairnet, despite my better judgment and proceeded to learn the ins-and-outs of curing hams.

Did you know they simulate seasons? Inside the factory are different rooms kept at different temperatures. The winter room was 10 degrees -- Junior sent me in there alone -- and the summer room was above 75. The overall process for one ham to be cured is 90 days. So that's why my lunch was so delicious.

But I had to ask Junior and the guys at the factory if they were thinking on organic options, forego the harmful nitrates in the ham.

"Organic! What in the hell is that," Johnson asked. "That sounds like some kind of worm coming out of the damn ground."

OK, guess not. Too soon for a Trader Joe's in Wilkesboro.

So Junior knows ham, Junior knows racecars, Junior knows cattle, and Junior knows booze...

What about hot dogs? Yep, that's next.

"Ever heard of Frank Fries," he asked? "That's our next move, French fried hot dog strips."

Got ketchup?

2:30 p.m.: Back home on the ranch

It was time to get back in the truck and head home. I still didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay for dinner and feed the cows. Too often we take our national treasures for granted and don't spend nearly enough time with them while we have them.

That said, I had to soak up as much knowledge as I could on the way home so I figured if I uttered the words 'Daytona 500,' or the fact that NASCAR is celebrating the 50th running next season, stories would come flooding from the past champion.

As we walked back to the truck, Johnson leaned over to me, pointed to his chin and asked, "See that scar?"

Behind that scar was one helluva story that took place on the track at Daytona, some time during the 1960s.

"I cut my chin all da hell," Johnson said, as he began to recount the crash, a crash that will forever stand out in his mind because of what Bill France Jr. had to say...

Johnson crashed and more or less ate the steering column.

As he crawled out of his racecar, basically holding his jaw together while blood poured down his forearm and dripped from the tip of his elbow, he yelled to France, and pleaded with the boss man to take him to the hospital.

"You know what he said? He said to wait for the ambulance; you'll get blood all in my new white Buick Riviera."

On a serious note, Junior said of the 50th running of the Daytona 500, "I hate that Billy won't be a part of it," he said. "Me and him fought like cats and dogs but we was also friends. I miss him."

Like France Jr., Johnson tries to leave positive impacts on the sport. He is credited with an early safety innovation -- the shoulder harness. Johnson and Banjo Mathews developed the device to help hold the driver in the seat. At the time, stock car seats were just that -- stock seats from passenger cars.

"I like to stay on top of things. I don't like the Chase though. It's ridiculous how they start everything over, but the sport has been good to me," he said.

So once a moonshine mechanic now a successful business owner and innovator, what is left for this NASCAR icon to accomplish?

Well, he still has two teenagers to raise, he says, likely his biggest challenge yet.