“First of all, I never got the belt like my brother did,” said Natalie Bachetti, Jack Johnson’s daughter. “He was just dad to me. I knew that he was something special, but he was still just dad.”

“My father was a jokester and he liked to play tricks on JoJo DeSarbo who was a crew member for my father from 1971 on,” Ronnie Johnson said. “My father was racing at Weedsport, NY one Sunday and JoJo went into the trailer to wash his hands and my father closed the door behind him. Before my father knew it, he was talking to the fans and then all of a sudden he got in the truck and started driving home down the Thruway.

“My father would never stop on the way home but that night he did and out in the parking lot of the rest area somebody came up to him and said is that your truck and trailer? My father said yes, why and they said you’re an evil man, there is a man in that trailer. JoJo was locked in the trailer and after my father let him out JoJo wouldn’t talk to him for what seemed like a month.”

“I’ve been here at Fonda for a long time,” noted Jeff Johnson, Jack Johnson’s brother. “When my brother beat Pete Corey in a heat race, I knew we had a race car driver in my brother Jack. It took quite awhile after that to get another win but that is what I remember that started his whole career. Myself, Jack, and my other brother Joe all raced and it was a legacy that we carried on quite well. Jack made a lot of heroes, he was my hero since day one, and he was obviously quite a champion.”

“I’ve been coming to the Fonda Speedway all of my life and I see the museum back here and for all of these years I’ve been hoarding all this stuff,” Ronnie Johnson said. “I’m probably the biggest Jack Johnson fan walking and I have things that I’d like to donate to the Fonda Speedway Museum tonight. It’s something that I’ve been struggling with but here are a few things that I have.

“I’ll start off with the 1979 Syracuse Championship trophy, it’s hard to part with it, but it’s yours for the museum where it belongs. I was in turn two standing on the infield for that race when I was five or six years old, and I have some memories of that race. I remember with three laps to go the caution came out and he was leading, he came by and gave us a thumbs up out the window.

“I’d also like to donate the embroidered 1975 Track Championship jacket back from when Coca-Cola used to sponsor my father. Joe Bellomo was with my father as a crew member since 1972. After my father retired Joe never left, never worked on another racecar, never even looked at another racecar. He believed in orange just like the rest of us. On behalf of Joe, I’d like to donate his BR DeWitt pit uniform from the 1984 Syracuse event.”

“I was very tired when Jack retired but Ronnie sucked me back in,” said Joe Bellomo, Jack Johnson’s longtime crew member. “We get along good, and I’ve known him since he was born. We did a lot of racing together; Ronnie won a lot of races here at Fonda and he always asked me why I never came to victory lane for a photo. I told him when he won a track championship I would come out for a photo and in 2011 and 2016 he did just that.”

Randy and Travis Colegrove were on hand at the ceremony to accept all the donations from Ronnie Johnson for the Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame & Museum.

“Thank you to all the fans for being so dedicated to Jack, I know that he is looking down on us tonight appreciating everything,” Jeff Johnson said in conclusion.

Natalie Bachetti concluded the night saying, “Thank you all for coming.”

“I’m happy to be here and thankful to all of the fans for their support after the loss of my father,” Ronnie Johnson said. “I appreciate all of their responses, text messages, phone calls, and Facebook posts along with everything that people have sent to my house. It is overwhelming and it will take awhile for all of this to sink in.”

“My dad, he was a little shy, kind of reserved, but I know that he loved all the fans and he lived for it. He wasn’t who he was if he didn’t love it. But he did love it and he loved everybody.”