NASCAR's notorious Junior Johnson -- the man Sports Illustrated named as the greatest driver in the sport's history -- said there was one driver whose reputation as a prankster couldn't be matched in his day.

"Jabe Thomas was a total clown," Johnson said recently in a telephone interview from his home in Hamptonville, N.C. "He needs to be in Barnum & Bailey. Jabe was a firecracker."

Although the first racing figure to hold the title "Clown Prince of NASCAR" was Little Joe Weatherly, Thomas was next in line.

The Christiansburg comic still has stories circulating about the antics he pulled during his career from 1965 to 1978.

Nascar Speedway, a Web site devoted to the sport, relates one:

"Jabe Thomas was around a hundred laps down at Bristol in the 1970 race when he apparently became bored. He pulled into the race leader's pits. Donnie Allison was the leader at that time. He talked with Donnie's car owner and jokingly asked how much he would pay for him not to spin Donnie out. He went back and returned to the [race]. The car owner waved a sign that read '50 cents.' Jabe stopped and collected the money. Donnie Allison ended up winning the race."

Ronnie Thomas, Jabe's son, doesn't dispute any of the tales.

"Dad's personality was perfect for the times in those days," he said. "He likes to play practical jokes. Well, there's no place for that in Nextel racing. There's no time for that type of humor. There's just pure pressure."

In his day, Jabe Thomas was known to liven up the pits and the infield with his silly sense of humor. Running fast often came second to pulling a fast one.

He once pitted for a hot dog.

"We had a good time," the 75-year-old man says now. "They was fun times. Instead of arguin' and fightin' the way they do now, everybody had to help each other."

Thomas helped others by making them lighten up.

Ronnie Thomas remembers a day at the races when Donnie Allison was waiting in line at the concession stand, patiently biding his time behind the chain used for crowd control, when his father sneaked up from behind and clipped the chain to Allison's belt loop.

"He moved up in line and tore his belt loop," Ronnie Thomas hooted. "Allison was so mad. He said, 'I know that durned Jabe is standing around here somewhere.' That's the kind of stuff my dad used to do."

Jabe Thomas even tells on himself.

"I was always putting stuff in people's pockets," he confessed. "One time, our crew chief made me a Spam sandwich. It was so thick I couldn't eat it, so I took the Spam off and ate the bread. I slid the Spam down in Wendell [Scott's] pocket. He came to me later and said, 'Why didn't you put some bread in there with that Spam? That was pretty good.' "

Thomas, who attended his friend Wendell Scott's funeral in 1990, laughed and sighed. Scott, of Danville, holds the distinction of being NASCAR's only black driver. He raced from 1961 to 1973.

"We used to have all kinds of fun like that."