Veteran Pro Stock Motorcycle team owner-racer Steve Johnson is the 2014 recipient of CompetitionPlus.com's Mike Aiello "Spirit of Drag Racing" Award.

CompetitionPlus.com owner Bobby Bennett made the presentation Sunday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, during a break in eliminations of the Auto Club of Southern California Finals.

Veteran Pro Stock Motorcycle team owner-racer Steve Johnson is the 2014 recipient of CompetitionPlus.com's Mike Aiello "Spirit of Drag Racing" Award.

CompetitionPlus.com owner Bobby Bennett made the presentation Sunday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, during a break in eliminations of the Auto Club of Southern California Finals.

Johnson, 53, a Granada Hills, Calif., native whose racing team operates out of the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Irondale, has been one of the National Hot Rod Association’s most genuine and genuinely enthusiastic ambassadors. His love of the sport hasn’t waned in his 20-plus years of competition, despite economic hardships and funding shortfalls.

Johnson’s seemingly boundless energy, sense of humor, and tireless effort to secure marketing partnerships have made him a fan favorite and excellent choice for the Mike Aiello Award.

His recent appearance on WPMT-TV (FOX43, serving York and South Central Pennsylvania) provided a classic Steve Johnson moment. He explained to the studio host what a quarter-mile ride at nearly 200 mph on a Pro Stock Motorcycle feels like.

“First of all,” he said, “you have to imagine maybe the fastest roller coaster on the planet, then get rid of your seat belts and all safety equipment. Throw that away – that’s for the cars. Then it’s like hanging onto a bullet as it’s getting fired out of a gun. It’s 3Gs, so if you’re 150 pounds, it’s like 450 pounds slamming against you. And you’re going to leave the starting line at 10,000 rpm. The front wheel comes up into the air. You can’t steer with the handlebars, so you’re leaning back and forth on the motorcycle with your feet on the foot pegs. And hopefully the front wheel comes down. And as you go through the quarter-of-a-mile after pushing the shifter five times, hopefully your eyes are closed. Oh – and you have to be on the motorcycle when it crosses the finish line.”

That affirmed Johnson’s declaration that “John Force is the face of our sport, but he isn’t the only one who can tell the story of how wonderful our sport is.”

He is a six-time NHRA winner and was the Drag Bike USA National Pro Stock Motorcycle champion in 1987 and 1989. Johnson also won a drag race at Fuji International in Japan in 1991 and participated in the first USA Drag Festival in Japan in 1989.

“Wow - that is cool!” Johnson said, eyeing the engraved trophy. “I'm proud as heck to have this!”

The Mike Aiello Award honors the Houston native and standout college athlete at Texas Tech University who was a longtime drag-racing fan and former National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock crew member. The honor commonly is referred to as "The Spirit of Drag Racing Awa

Aiello spent his final years confined to a wheelchair after a workplace injury. Despite physical hardship and severe mobility limitations, he not only attended drag races but made dozens of friends among racers, crew members, and media with his positive outlook and unselfish behavior. Aiello passed away December 29, 2006, at age 39, at Santa Monica, California.

The Mike Aiello Award recipient is someone who has persevered and remained positive in spite of hardship.

“I'm a big NHRA fan. They haven't signed the adoption papers, but at some point I feel like they will,” Johnson said. “That's what my life is kind of about, inspiring people to love drag racing and to do the best at whatever they're doing.”

John Force Racing crew chief John Medlen received the inaugural Mike Aiello Award in 2007, followed by Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson (2008), Pro Stock's Mike Edwards (2009), International Hot Rod Association racer and journalist Michael Beard (2010), NHRA Funny Car racer Jack Beckman (2011), and former IHRA President Aaron Polburn (2012). Top Fuel racer Antron Brown and Top Alcohol Dragster’s Shawn Cowie shared the 2013 honor.

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