VOLUME 59 ISSUE 12 MARCH 22, 2022 P123
So, you are the Dee in D's
Leathers?
Yes, sir. I am Dee Johnson.
You're retired now but made
dirt track leathers for 50
years. Is that correct?
Yes, and the only reason I
retired was because I had a
detached retina in one eye, and
I don't have much depth percep-
tion anymore, so I couldn't see
to sew. I don't have an exact
count, but I've made somewhere
between four and five thousand
sets of leathers in 50 years.
Back in the day, I was making
80 to 100 sets a year. The last
suit I made was for a kid named
Rob Williams (#12 and 54), and
he waited almost a year for it. I
had four eye surgeries during
that time, and a suit that would
normally have taken me two days
to complete took two and a half
weeks. That's when I decided I
couldn't do this anymore.
How did you initially get
into the dirt track leathers
business?
My husband, Larry, was rac-
ing enduros here in Ohio and all
over the U.S. We lived in Toledo,
and then we moved to Michigan.
Our new neighbor raced short
track, and Larry went with him to
see what that was
about and decided it
was what he wanted
to do. He needed
a set of leathers, but back then
we had three little girls and
couldn't afford $150–200 for
leathers, so I said I'd make him
a set.
It took me about a month; I
made a cloth pattern and ev-
ery day when he came home
from work, I'd have him try it on
to check the fit. I also borrowed
a set of leathers from a friend,
Rick Deye, to see how they
were constructed, and then I
went to Tandy Leather in Toledo
and bought the leather. Back
then leathers were pretty much
all black, and I didn't like that,
so I made the jacket suede-out
while the sleeves and the pants
were black. I didn't have enough
money to buy another hide of
white leather to make the stripes
on the sleeves, so I made those
out of vinyl. Then Larry painted
his bike to match, and we went
to the first race—a little short
track at the Travelers Motorcycle
Club in Toledo.
And Larry and his leathers
attracted a lot of attention?
I mean, everybody wanted to
know where he had them made,
and I didn't realize it was any big
deal. I was a dental technician,
and I had a good job, so I wasn't
really planning on going into
business making leathers.
What changed your mind?
Our neighbor, Kenny Peck-
ham, wanted a set, and I
said, "Okay, I'll make you a set
for the cost of the fabric, and
if anybody asks you who made
them, you can tell them it was
me." And so that's how I basi-
cally got started.
We used to go up to Auto
City just ten miles north of Flint,
Michigan, every Friday night. It
was only an hour and a half drive
from home, and Larry raced
there. We were good friends
with Bart Markel and his wife,
the Stars:
Johnson of D's Leathers
Scott Parker was
one of Johnson's best
customers.
