Much like our recent list looking at the top drivers in NASCAR today, we’re going to take a look at the top race car drivers in Tennessee history.
This week, we will check out drivers 6-10. The list of drivers left off the list includes an impressive array of talent. We didn’t consider Dario Franchitti, the Scotsman who briefly lived in Franklin while he was married to Ashley Judd.
Those who missed the top 10 include a who’s who from the Tri-Cities. That starts with G.C. Spencer, a Bluff City driver with 415 career Cup Series starts and a fourth-place finish in the 1965 points.
Other omissions include Paul Lewis, the only Tri-Cities driver to win a Cup Series race, Brownie King who drove in both the final Daytona race on the beach and the first Daytona 500, Gene Glover, the 1979 Late Model Sportsman national champion, and Brad Teague, the 1981 national runner-up.
Tri-Cities drivers John A. Utsman, who relief drove for Benny Parsons to win at Bristol in 1973, Cup Series veterans Mike Potter and Connie Saylor, and local pioneers Walter Ball and Bill Morton also weren’t among the top 10. Neither was Johnson City road racing specialist Johnny Miller.
Notable omissions from other parts of the state include: Mike Alexander, the 1984 All-American Challenge Series national champion, dirt track legend Ronnie Johnson and his father Joe Lee Johnson, the first winner of the World 600.
Jeff Purvis, a three-time All-American 400 winner in asphalt late models and a three-time World 100 winner in dirt late models, along with four Xfinity Series wins, had serious consideration. Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, was also left off the list.
Now that we know who’s not on the list, we get to the drivers ranked 6-10.
10. L.D. Ottinger — The Newport driver won back-to-back NASCAR Late Model Sportsman national championships in 1975-76. Famous for driving the No. 2 Chevelle, Ottinger won track championships at Kingsport, Smoky Mountain and his hometown track. He won 56 national Late Model Sportsman points races as well as three NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) races.
His last Busch victory was the spring 1990 Bristol race, which is more well known for Michael Waltrip surviving a spectacular wreck in which his car literally exploded after hitting the wall.
9. Allen Johnson — The Greeneville driver won 27 NHRA national events and the 2012 Pro Stock World Championship. Behind the wheel of Mopar products, Johnson dominated his sponsor’s race at Denver. He tied Bob Glidden’s record seven wins and made 10 consecutive final-round appearances at Bandimere Speedway.
The son of drag racing pioneer Roy Johnson, Allen retired with 37 No. 1 qualifying awards and 59 final-round appearances.
8. Bobby Hamilton — The Nashville racer was introduced to the sport by his grandfather, who served as crew chief for country music singer Marty Robbins’ NASCAR career. Hamilton won four times in the Cup Series including two races in the Petty Enterprises No. 43 Pontiac and once in the Abingdon-based, No. 4 Morgan-McClure Chevrolet.
Hamilton also scored a victory in the Xfinity Series and 10 wins in the NASCAR Truck Series. His crowning achievement was the 2004 NASCAR Truck Series championship.
7. Jimmy Owens — Nicknamed “The Newport Nightmare,” Owens is a four-time Lucas Oil national dirt late model champion and a four-time UMP national modified champion. He has close to 600 career wins between the two different types of dirt cars.
Owens won the first race he ever entered, a Street Stock race on a then dirt-covered Kingsport Speedway in 1991. He’s racked up on big money events, a two-time winner of the World 100 and a two-time winner of the Knoxville (Iowa) Late Model Nationals.
6. Clay Millican — From the Memphis suburb of Drummonds, Millican completely dominated IHRA drag racing with six consecutive Top Fuel championships from 2001-06. He scored a record 51 IHRA professional victories and was runner-up for the 2000 Top Fuel championship.
Millican struggled to find the same success on the NHRA tour, but finally broke through at the 2017 NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. He has three NHRA wins and 19 career final rounds. In 2022, Millican finished eighth in the Camping World Series national standings.