Johnson: Racing Return a “Fun Opportunity” for Indy Podium

Photo: Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson said his return to driving after a 20-year hiatus is simply a “fun opportunity” to be able to stand on the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Archangel Motorsports team owner (pictured top, left), who rose to fame in the mid-’90s in the MTV series ‘The Real World: London’ amid his brief stint in the junior open-wheel ranks, will take part in Friday’s GT America powered by AWS race at the wheel of a ProSport-owned Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Johnson, who drove in USF2000 from 1996-98, scoring a best finish of third at Mid-Ohio, before going on to make sporadic sports car racing starts, will be getting back behind the wheel for the first time since claiming a LMP2 podium finish in the 2005 Petit Le Mans in a BAT Competition Lola B2K/40 AER with Bob Woodman and George Forgeois.

The 52-year-old Missouri native, a renowned race strategist who restarted his Archangel operation in 2020, said the idea of him climbing back behind the wheel of a race car came earlier this summer.

“It’s kind of funny,” Johnson told Sportscar365. “We were at Road America and I was watching the GT America race and there were only six cars entered, all of them being GT3s, and of those, two of them crashed.

“So I went to Staci [Langham, SRO America general manager] and asked if I could enter in the GT4 [GT America] race at Indianapolis?

“She was like, ‘Well of course you can!’ I’m like, ‘Oh.’ Once she said yes, I was like, ‘Crap, now I have to somehow make this thing happen.'”

With Johnson’s clients, Todd Coleman and Scott Blind, both having older GT4 machinery, he initially thought it would be an easy solution finding a car.

“Then it turned out Todd and Scott sold their Astons and I was like, ‘Crap, I don’t have a car anymore,'” he said.

“So we were down at the [Porsche] Sprint Challenge Road Atlanta race and Dougie [Livingston, ProSport managing director] was sitting there.

“I was thinking, this would be great if I use Dougie. He lives in Indianapolis; we wouldn’t have to pay for travel or flights and he was running his Porsches.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, he’s got a Cayman. I can drive a Cayman, how hard can that be?’

“I was like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ He was like, ‘We have an Aston just laying around not doing anything. I’ve got tires and fuel and leftover brakes.’

“I’m like, ‘How much are you going to charge me for this?’ I thought it was going to be a big-ass number. He was like, ‘I don’t know, a couple of grand.’

“I’m like, ‘Oh crap, now I really have to do this!'”

Johnson then set to work to renew his race license, and without any previous testing, is set for track action this week, borrowing all of Blind’s race gear.

“It started as a random idea of, ‘Oh that would be cool to stand on the podium at Indy. How card could it be?'” he said. “Now my whole family is coming up and the pressure is on.

“I think everybody on my team and anybody else that’s driven for me wants a radio so they can yell at me in the corners or tell me what I’m doing wrong, or whatever else.

“I may have like 30 people on the radio for this race!”

While originally thinking he’d be the only entrant in GT4, Johnson will face competition from both Jozsef Petkes (RCX Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport) and Craig Lumsden (Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT4) for GT4 class honors.

Johnson said he will likely forgo the pre-event test sessions, due to his shoestring budget, and is also not planning to take part in the second race of the weekend on Sunday, either, meaning he’ll have one real go in Friday afternoon’s 40-minute contest.

“I’m kind of nervous because I either want to be ten seconds off the pace or be quick, because if these other guys are quick, I don’t want to have to go racing,” he said. “I don’t want to damage or crash the car.

“This was just a fun opportunity to stand on the podium at Indianapolis, which I think is any racer’s dreams from any level. No matter what you do, to be on the podium at Indianapolis or to compete here, as any driver or crew member’s dream… anybody.

“I don’t think an opportunity like this will come around ever again unless I get a real job and start making some money!”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John