STEFAN JOHANSSON ART IMITATING LIFE
Stefan Johansson has achieved much over the years, from arriving penniless in London, to scoring grand prix podiums for McLaren and Ferrari, and being frustratingly close to winning in Formula 1. He’s also driven for a couple of teams that possibly shouldn’t have been on the grid in the first place, but at no point did he give up.
He is an outright winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, and many other sportscar events. Each drive he had he attacked with the same ambition and determination, that has carried on into his life since. He’s been a team owner in America, has managed many drivers since 1997. Once such is six-time IndyCar champion, Scott Dixon, a relationship that started before some of Dixon’s current rivals were even born and continues to this day.
The Swede, now residing in California, has also built a fast-growing reputation as an artist, with exhibitions around the world scheduled for this year, all tackled with the same focus, passion and smile as he did his racing career. There’s a lot to cover, but we tried. Thanks to the MN readers for the questions.
Question: Were you influenced in your youth by Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson? Is that what made you start racing, or come to England even?
Dave Woods Via email Stefan Johansson: “I was certainly influenced by them, no question about it. Ronnie in particular was definitely the big hero in Sweden and for myself, because I was doing karting when he won the Monaco Formula 3 race. It was inspiring at the time, for sure. But the biggest push for me was really my dad more than anything.
“I think in the early years, had he not been pushing as hard as he did, I would’ve probably been focusing more on ice hockey than I was on racing, because I was reasonably good at ice hockey and that took up a lot of my time around then. I was doing the go-kart and ice hockey at the same time. When I turned 18, I started racing bigger cars. And then I moved to the UK when I was 20 and tried to make a career out of it. Luckily that went reasonably well and somehow made it work in the end.”
MN: You arrived in England with next-to-no money. So much so you famously spent two years sleeping mostly in your car in West London outside a house in Buller Road well-known for being a broke racing driver refuge, owned by then racing journalists Ian Phillips and home to Chris Witty both of whom were key players in looking after Gunnar Nilsson when cancer struck…
“The 1985 Ferrari could be turned up to 1600bhp”
Stefan Johansson
SJ: “… Weirdly enough, I was just talking to Chris this morning. Yeah, the first two years in England were pretty formative years, that’s for sure. It’s no lie. I did sleep in my own car more than I slept in the bed in total both those years! And there were days where I had to choose whether to eat or fill up the car to get to the next race.
“You’re young and you’re clueless and it’s all
