Two more people accuse brother of NASCAR legend of failing to restore classic cars
Two California women say the brother of legendary NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson owes their families a combined $243,000 after failing to restore their classic vehicles from the 1950s.
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According to Iredell County Civil Superior Court records, Julia Tomko says Larit Johnson, his Troutman-based car restoration business and one of his workers owe her nearly $143,000. Jarit Johnson and the others failed to restore the 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup truck her grandfather willed her, Tomko says.
The sides settled the case for $85,000, but Johnson made only two of the 48 monthly payments of $1,770.84, in March and April 2024, the lawsuit says.
Johnson also faces a separate lawsuit alleging he failed to restore a car, which The Charlotte Observer first reported on earlier this month.
Tomko’s lawyer, Alex Heroy of Charlotte, told the Observer this week that he intends to seek further court action against Johnson soon to recoup the money. He said two attempts to do so through the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office were unsuccessful.
Heroy said someone who fails to pay their debts as ordered by the courts can be jailed, and he’s gotten sentences against people in other cases.
“It’s extremely frustrating because it was my late grandfather’s truck that I sent to him,” Tomko told the Observer.
Tomko said she considered Johnson a friend since their days at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Calif., she said. She still lives in nearby San Diego.
And the Observer has learned of a third person making similar allegations against him.
Nicole Taylor, who also was friends with Johnson in California, told The Charlotte Observer that Johnson owes her and her father, Billy Taylor of Lancaster, S.C., the $100,000 they paid him to restore the ‘57 Chevy Nomad her dad had in high school. He’s now in his 80s, she said.
Nicole Taylor, who still lives in San Diego, said she is gathering documents for a lawsuit against Johnson alleging failure to complete the restoration.
“The car was paid for up front because my dad trusted Jarit,” Taylor told the Observer in an interview.
Tomko contacted the Observer after reading its recent article about a lawsuit against Johnson by Lee Chapman, a self-described car enthusiast from the United Kingdom.
Attempts by The Charlotte Observer to reach Johnson and his business by phone and email were unsuccessful in recent weeks.
In his July 16 lawsuit, Chapman said he paid at least $140,000 in advance to have Jarit Johnson restore his 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Coupe in 2021, the Observer reported.
Chapman chose Johnson and his team of restorers because they “purported to be NASCAR and racing guys,” his lawsuit says.
After five years of failed promises, Chapman had the car towed from Johnson’s business, the lawsuit says. Chapman sent multiple messages over the years to Johnson and two of the restorers to no avail, according to Chapman’s complaint.
In her 2022 lawsuit, Tomko says she considered Larit Johnson “an old friend” from high school when she chose him to restore the truck in April 2016.
“I have had the same (type of) lawsuit against Jarit for years now,” Tomko told the Observer in an email. “He took roughly $80k of our money with promises that our truck was almost done.”
Larit Johnson first contacted her when she sought potential restorers on her Facebook page, according to Tomko’s lawsuit.
“On or around April 2016, Ms. Tomko, trusting her friend, entered into an agreement with (Jarit Johnson Restoration) to repair and refurbish the truck,” her lawsuit states.
She paid $78,364 to Johnson’s business “for the parts necessary for refabrication and for labor servicing the truck,” according to the complaint.
Updates from Johnson and his worker via texts and emails led her to believe parts were being ordered and the truck was being restored, Tomko says in the lawsuit.
The complaint included this allegation of the excuses Johnson and his worker gave Tomko:
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On Oct. 16, 2018, four months after paying for the paint job, Tomko’s husband, Brett Tomko, asked Johnson’s worker if the truck had been painted. The worked indicated the truck “was at the paint shop.”
On Jan. 4, 2019, Johnson’s worker emailed the Tomkos requesting another $5,000 for the paint to be finished. He “indicated that the paint was about four weeks away from being complete. Mr. Tomko expressed his frustrations via text … but received no response.”
On Feb. 22, 2019, after the Tomkos wired $16,000 to Johnson and his company for paint and other work, Brett Tomko requested pictures of the truck with the paint color. Johnson’s worker replied that “he was sick and could not send any photographs,” according to the lawsuit.
Excuses mounted, the lawsuit says.
On March 11, 2019, after Brett Tomko texted him again, Johnson’s worker said he was waiting “on the painter to put the color down so we can see it,” according to the complaint.
On June 11, 2019, Larit Johnson responded to another text from Brett Tomko by saying all vehicle parts were at “powder coat,” and he’d soon have parts soon to assemble.
In a text six days later, Johnson’s worker said the painter was waiting on Johnson to have the chassis built.
On Aug. 7, 2019, Johnson’s worker sent a picture to Brett Tomko showing parts for the truck with the caption, “[i]t’s in 1 million pieces.”
With no progress over more months, Julia Tomko asked the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office to visit Johnson’s business and confirm her truck was still there, which the office did.
Someone at the shop promised the sheriff’s office that the truck would be completed by a January 2022 deadline, because “all necessary parts were safely inside the shop, paid for, and that the Truck only needed to be painted and assembled,” according to the lawsuit.
“The promise of a January 2022 delivery was false,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants did not deliver Ms. Tomko’s truck to her by this time.”
On Feb. 1, 2022, Julia Tomko asked Johnson to deliver the truck and parts to Marley Williams at Kustom Koncepts, a Mooresville custom vehicle fabrication and servicing company.
After ignoring her request for months, Johnson provided “only a small portion of the parts” to Kustom Koncepts in April 2022.
“The parts received by Kustom Koncepts were of very little value and in bad condition, including some parts caked with mud and leaves,” according to Tomko’s complaint.
“Moreover, certain parts delivered to Kustom Koncepts contained incorrect VIN numbers that do not match Ms. Tomko’s truck (and which were not new parts she purchased).
“Of the parts received by Kustom Koncepts, Mr. Williams described them as ‘junk parts,’ with no large, major parts being delivered to Kustom Koncepts.”
Johnson acknowledged in a January 2023 court response that he hadn’t finished the restoration but “fully intended to.”
“However, in March of 2017, Mr. Johnson broke his back,” according to his reply to the lawsuit. “In November of 2018, he had his left hip replaced and a procedure done on his right hip.”
In April 2019, he had his right hip replaced after the earlier procedure failed, he said. “Subsequently, Covid disrupted the supply chain,” he said.
In his reply, Johnson said he “returned all parts, both old parts that were not to be reused, and new parts” to Tomko. He denied parts were caked in mud and leaves.
Tomko’s lawsuit says Johnson and his worker “initiated a scheme to defraud, designed to have Ms. Tomko provide her Truck to JJR, and tens of thousands of dollars, only to completely fail to render any service to Ms. Tomko; instead converting her Truck and funds under false and misleading pretenses.”
The sides agreed to settle for $85,000, with payments over 48 months, but Johnson sent only two monthly payments of $1,770.84, in March and April 2024, the lawsuit says.
Minus those payments, and with the settlement breached, Julia Tomko says she is now entitled to $121,458.32, according to her complaint.
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