Famed NASCAR driver and racing-team owner Robert Glen Johnson, a.k.a. “Junior Johnson” — the guy Tom Wolfe wrote about in his famous 1965 article “The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson. Yes!” and which led to Lamont Johnson’s The Last American Hero (’73) with Jeff Bridges in the title role — has come out for Barack Obama.

Robert Glen Johnson; jacket art for Last American Hero DVD.

“Our country is in a rough spot, and we’re going to need some serious change. There’s only one candidate ready to deliver it — and that’s Barack Obama,” Johnson has written in a mass e-mail.

“Every day I talk to someone else who’s never voted for a Democrat, but now they’re voting for Barack Obama. They realize that Barack understands what we’re going through here in North Carolina. And they’re ready for change. So I’ve made up my mind, and I’m ready to get involved. I know that I could never have won a race without my pit crew, and I know Barack can’t win this one without us.”