Johnny Lightning

Lore & Background

Johnny Lightning was introduced by Topper Corporation in 1969, with 11 cars and several hard plastic track sets. All but one model, the Custom Turbine, were based on real cars of the period. In 1970, 31 new models were added, including seven 'Jet Power' cars that used a pressurized air bladder for propulsion. The brand sponsored five Parnelli Jones cars, including Al Unser Sr., who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1970 and 1971 driving the blue lightning bolt decorated 'Johnny Lightning Special'. After the first victory, sales rose dramatically, reaching a ratio of one Johnny Lightning to every three Hot Wheels cars. Only five new models were introduced in 1971, and Topper closed by the end of that year due to business fraud.

In 1994, Thomas Lowe of Cassopolis, Michigan secured the abandoned trademark for his Playing Mantis toy company and began producing replicas of 10 original cars. Playing Mantis produced over 600 different models, including replicas of all original 1969-71 cars, until June 2004. The company also revived the Thunderjet 500 line of slotcars, sharing the Johnny Lightning name, and later introduced X-Traction cars with a magnetraction chassis. In 2004, Playing Mantis was sold to RC2 Corporation, which overhauled the brand in 2006 with new packaging and a new logo. RC2 was bought by Tomy in 2011, and Tomy discontinued the line in 2013. In early 2016, Round 2 LLC, owned by Thomas Lowe, revived Johnny Lightning for a second time.

Reader's Guide

Johnny Lightning's significance lies in its technological innovation and its enduring appeal among collectors. The original cars were engineered for extreme speed using a lever-driven catapult, a design that set them apart from gravity-based or battery-powered competitors. The brand's association with Al Unser Sr.'s Indianapolis 500 victories in 1970 and 1971 boosted its popularity and helped it compete with Mattel's Hot Wheels. After a 23-year hiatus, the brand was revived by Playing Mantis, which produced over 600 models and expanded into slotcars with compatible chassis for Aurora AF/X and Tuff Ones systems. The brand changed hands multiple times—through RC2, Tomy, and back to Thomas Lowe's Round 2 LLC—each transition affecting its product line and collector base. Despite discontinuations, Johnny Lightning maintained a loyal following, and its reintroduction in 2016 demonstrated the brand's lasting legacy in diecast collecting. The comprehensive catalog of models produced by Topper and Playing Mantis is documented in the Standard Catalog of Diecast Vehicles.

Did You Know?

• Johnny Lightning cars were propelled by a lever-driven catapult that hooked under the front axle, making them faster than gravity or battery-powered competitors.
• Al Unser Sr. won the Indianapolis 500 in 1970 and 1971 driving the 'Johnny Lightning Special'.
• After Topper closed in 1973, the brand was revived in 1994 by Thomas Lowe's Playing Mantis company.
• In 2006, Johnny Lightning received a major overhaul with a new clamshell package and logo, designed in partnership with Design Force.

Inventive Origins & the Topper Era

In 1969, Topper Corporation, a New Jersey-based toy company owned by inventor and author Henry Orenstein, entered the rapidly growing 1:64 scale diecast market with a bold new brand called Johnny Lightning. The debut lineup featured eleven cars—nearly all modeled on real vehicles of the era, with the exception of the imaginative Custom Turbine—alongside hard plastic track sets, flexible plastic track, a loop-the-loop, curved sections, a branded helmet, and a carrying case. What set Johnny Lightning apart from competitors like Mattel's Hot Wheels was its propulsion system: a small hook molded beneath the front axle allowed a lever-driven catapult to launch the cars at speeds far exceeding what gravity or battery-powered supercharger devices could achieve. By 1970, the line expanded dramatically to thirty-one new models, many of them fantasy vehicles, including seven Jet Power cars that used a squeezable plastic bladder filled with pressurized air to blast down the track. The following year brought a Custom Cars series of five models, each packaged with snap-on plastic parts that let children personalize their rides. In total, Topper produced forty-seven distinct models before the brand's abrupt end.

The Indy 500 Breakthrough

Johnny Lightning's fortunes changed dramatically when the brand crossed over from the toy aisle into the world of professional motorsports. Topper sponsored five Parnelli Jones team cars at the Indianapolis 500 in both 1970 and 1971, and driver Al Unser Senior captured the prestigious race in both years behind the wheel of a blue, lightning-bolt-decorated machine dubbed the Johnny Lightning Special. The association with Indy car racing transformed the brand's commercial trajectory almost overnight. Before Unser's first victory, Johnny Lightning sales lagged well behind Mattel's dominant Hot Wheels line. After the win, demand surged so sharply that the company was selling one Johnny Lightning car for every three Hot Wheels—a remarkable ratio for a challenger brand. The visibility of the race sponsorship, combined with the distinctive lightning-bolt livery on the race car, gave the toy line a cultural cachet that pure novelty could not have achieved. For a brief window, Johnny Lightning was no longer merely a fast-running diecast alternative; it was the car of a champion, and children across the country wanted the same speed and style on their own tracks.

Collapse & the Twenty-Three-Year Silence

The meteoric rise of Johnny Lightning was cut short by scandal. Topper Corporation was forced to close in 1973 after business fraud came to light, bringing an abrupt and permanent halt to production. The company had manufactured just forty-seven distinct models over its brief run, a modest catalog compared to the hundreds of designs its competitors would eventually offer. With Topper's closure, the Johnny Lightning name vanished from store shelves, and the brand entered a twenty-three-year silence that seemed to erase it from public memory. The catapult cars, the Jet Power bladders, the Custom Cars with their snap-on accessories—all of it became a footnote in the history of 1970s toys, known only to the children who had played with them and the small community of collectors who kept the memory alive. The Standard Catalog of Diecast Vehicles would later document the full Topper and Playing Mantis line, serving as a scholarly record of what had been lost. For over two decades, the lightning bolt logo became a ghost, a name whispered in hobby shops and collector forums but absent from any toy aisle in America.

Resurrection & the Collector's Legacy

In 1994, Thomas Lowe of Cassopolis, Michigan, discovered that the Johnny Lightning trademark had been abandoned and secured the rights for his Playing Mantis toy company. His first move was to produce faithful replicas of ten of his favorite original cars, and the response was immediate: Walmart and Toys R Us became his launch customers, and sales were hugely successful. Over the next decade, Playing Mantis expanded the line to more than six hundred models, including reproductions of every single car Topper had made between 1969 and 1971. Lowe also revived the Thunderjet 500 slot-car line in 1/64 scale, offering pullback-action bodies compatible with original Aurora AF/X and Tuff Ones chassis, and in 2003 introduced the X-Traction series with a magnetraction chassis that pressed tires harder against track rails for greater cornering speed. In 2004, Lowe sold Playing Mantis and the brand to RC2 Corporation, which was itself acquired by Japan's Tomy in 2011. Tomy discontinued the line in 2013, but a loyal collector base kept the name alive. In early 2016, Lowe's new company Round 2 LLC brought Johnny Lightning back to store shelves for a second revival.