Son of AFL great Brad Johnson to take step forward in his fledgling racing career, contesting the Formula Ford series this year

The 19-year-old son of Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson is making his Formula Ford motor racing debut this weekend, a dream forged as a five year old at the Melbourne Grand Prix.

His dad was an AFL great for the Western Bulldogs, but teenager Jack Johnson is racing after his own sporting goals in a vastly different field.

The 19-year-old son of the Bulldogs’ “Smiling Assassin” Brad Johnson is making his debut in the national Formula Ford series at Winton Raceway this weekend.

A visit to the Formula One Australian Grand Prix as a five-year-old sparked Jack’s interest in motorsport and he worked his way through the karting ranks before turning to circuit racing in the Victorian Hyundai Excel series last year.

This weekend marks the teenager’s maiden national level motor race.

While he played a few seasons of AFL as a junior, Jack was never tempted to follow in the football footsteps of his dad after being hooked on racing while watching the on-track action at Albert Park.

Jack Johnson is looking to make a name for himself in motorsport with the support of dad Brad Johnson. Picture: Matthew Christie/NetworkR

“I started karting when I was 13. I had always wanted to do it since I went to the grand prix when I was five or six with dad,” Jack said.

“I played footy from under-9s to under-12s and then got the opportunity to get in a kart and wanted to pursue my own career and had the support of dad to do that.

“It’s something that I’ve always loved to do. Once I got the opportunity to hop in a kart, I just loved the speed and the adrenaline.

“(Dad) loves it. He has gotten into all the Formula 1, V8s and IndyCar, he loves watching it with me on the weekends.

“It’s just our own thing that we can do at a track with not really much pressure.”

A 364-game player and three-time best-and fairest for the Western Bulldogs, Brad Johnson was right behind his son’s “passion”, but admitted motorsport was a lot different to the AFL world he was familiar with.

“Like anything, if the kids are passionate about something then you’ll give them the best opportunity to excel and drive that passion forward and have some fun with it,” the former forward-turned-Fox Footy commentator said.

“That’s been the best thing for us as a family, just seeing his full commitment to wanting to get better every time he goes to the track, or he is on his sim or anything like that.

“He was always more interested in motorsport ever since we went to the F1 for the first time.

Jack Johnson, the son of former Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson, will race in Formula Ford this year. Picture: Supplied.

“He had an opportunity to drive down the main straight in this little motorised car and I think that fuelled the passion for, ‘How cool is this?’

“He played a few years of junior footy, but always wanted to step into go-karting and we had no idea what we were entering. It wasn’t our world.

“So, we have had to work it out and since then he has had some unbelievable people that have helped him and helped us as a family navigate the sport.”

Jack’s time in the Hyundai Excel class led to an association with Ben Bargwanna, the son of 2000 Bathurst 1000 winner Jason, which will continue this year, acting as a mentor and engineer.

Formula Ford is considered a key development category in Australia for future stars with the likes of Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and Cam Waters all winning in the series before launching their Supercars careers.

Brad Johnson on the field for the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Jack, who is also an “apprentice chippy” away from the track, said his ultimate aim was to race GT3 cars or Hypercars in the World Endurance Championship overseas.

Wherever his son ends up, Brad is enjoying the ride.

“He has got a great coach in Ben Bargwanna and good support around him with some people that are really keen to see how far he can go,” Brad said.

“That’s on him now to continue his passion, his full commitment and work extremely hard, which he is doing.

“We, as a family, just sit back and support him in that facet because he has got a good team around him now and it is up to him and the team to drive him forward, pardon the pun.”