The Hall of Famer celebrates his 68^th birthday on Saturday.

by Bob Heyden

Saturday (April 8) is John Campbell’s 68^th birthday. To celebrate, here are 68 “first” or “one and only” facts about the Hall of Famer.

ONLY CAMPBELL CAN SAY THAT:

1. He was the first winner of the New Jersey Classic (1980, Bold Rush). The $300,000 pot was his highest ever at that time.

2. He was the first catch-driver to win a million-dollar race (1982, Hilarion in the Meadowlands Pace).

The sidebar here is that he did not drive him in the elims, Bill O’Donnell did. Campbell’s own colt, Merger, did not make the final. It opened up for Campbell when O’Donnell chose Rompin Home (5th).

3. He was the youngest to go into the Hall of Fame (1990) at age 35 and 3 months. Herve Filion did so at 35 years and 5 months in 1975.

4. He was the first and only driver to win a Breeders Crown race 15 straight years (1984-1998).

How dominant was he? He led in money in 1999 despite not winning a final.

5. He was the one and only driver to win over $100 million in two different centuries. $176.2 million in the 20th century and $123.6 million in the 21st.

6. He was the youngest driver to lead in earnings at year’s end, twice. He did so in1979-1980 at 24 and 25. In 1979, he finished $4,008 ahead of Herve Filion.

7. Thirty-seven years ago, he won eight races one October afternoon at Freehold and that mark still holds today for a single card.

8. Nobody has won the Hambletonian back-to-back since Campbell did it in 1987-1988 with Mack Lobell and Armbro Goal, respectively.

9. He was the first driver to win a race in sub-1:50 with a filly. It was on June 27, 1998, in 1:49.4 with Armbro Romance.

10. He was the first driver to win a race in sub-1:50 with a mare. It was in the 1998 Breeders Crown Mare Pace in 1:49.3 with Jays Table.

11. He was born in 1955, the year of the first Triple Crown winner, Scott Frost.

12. For 24 straight years (1979-2002) he was first or second in earnings 23 times. In 1981, he was third.

13. In 2006, his record fifth Hambletonian driving victory came with Triple Crown winner Glidemaster.

14. He drove the great Moni Maker only once in 1997 and she broke stride.

15. He is the all-time leader in wins and earnings in the Hambletonian, Meadowlands Pace, Breeders Crown and Triple Crown races.

16. He’s won the very same million-dollar race four straight times: the North America Cup in 1994 (Cams Card Shark), 1995 (David’s Pass), 1996 (Arizona Jack) and 1997 (Gothic Dream).

17. He’s won the same million-dollar race six times in a single decade: the four above and 1991 (Precious Bunny) and 1999 (The Panderosa).

18. He was in the richest trot and pace of all time. He was third in both:

The 2009 $1,520,333 Hambletonian with Calchips Brute at 59-1 and the 1984 $2,161,000 Wilson with Supreme Dynasty.

19. He has won, been on the board or cashed in more Breeders Crown races than anyone else:

313 48-50-44 $22,483,677.

20. He was the first to $6 million, $11 million, $12 million, $13 million and $14 million.

21. His first year (1972) he averaged about $48 per start: ٤٢ 7-5-4 $1,947.

22. He represented harness racing on Larry King Live.

23. From The Meadowlands drivers, he played golf with Michael Jordan.

24. He threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium the same week he won the Hambletonian (1998).

25. His bio says he’s the most accomplished Hambletonian driver and CEO/president of The Hambletonian Society.

26. He has won two Breeders Crown races by at least 12 and a half lengths with Mack Lobell and Snow White.

27. He has led in yearly Breeders Crown earnings 13 times (1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002).

28. He has been in the top two in Breeders Crown earnings 19 times.

29. He was the first driver to hit $100 million in the1991 Breeders Crown with Armbro Keepsake, $200 million in the 2001 Breeders Crown during the richest ever BC Canadian card and $250 million in 2007 with freshman sensation Snow White who vaulted him past that mark.

30. He and his friend Bob McIntosh can say they combined to win the last two races ever contested in front of the original Meadowlands grandstand in 2013.

31. The 44th anniversary of his first $100,000 win comes up next month. It was in the 1979 Oliver Wendell Holmes with Merry Isle with $108,000 on the line. He beat the very horse, Hot Hitter, who that year would set a new all-time single season money mark of $826G.

32. He has won a Sweetheart four straight times: 1984 (Armbro Dazzler), 1985 (Follow My Star), 1986 (Nadia Lobell) and 1987 (So Cozy, the richest pacing event, $797G, he ever won for Chuck Sylvester).

33. He’s won 16 national earnings titles. Billy Haughton is next with 12.

34. He won 16 Meadowlands driver titles. No one else is within 11.

35. He drove the first two Hambletonian/Breeders Crown winners in the same year: Muscles Yankee in 1998 and Mack Lobell in 1987.

36. His first drive on Mack Lobell came on the first Million Dollar Babies Night in 1986 when he was second in the Peter Haughton. O’Donnell had been driving him up to that point.

37. He has led in all-time earnings since 7/31/86, making it 37 years this season. He supplanted Herve Filion and has never looked back.

38. He won over $200 million after going into the Hall of Fame.

39. In 1995, he won the big four in the same year: North America Cup (David’s Pass), Meadowlands Pace (David’s Pass), Little Brown Jug (Nick’s Fantasy) and Hambletonian (Tagliabue).

40. He and his brother, Jim Campbell, have teamed up as driver and trainer to win a Hambletonian: 1995 (Tagliabue).

41. He and Stanley Dancer won Hambletonian heats in 1983. Campbell won the first division with Joie De Vie in his Hambletonian debut, while Dancer won the second division and final with Duenna for his fifth Hambletonian.

42. In the 47-year history of The Meadowlands, only he has won seven consecutive races on a single card. It was on 2/3/83 in the slop.

43. He and Dexter Dunn had both the Trotter and Pacer of the Year in the same year. Campbell did it in 1994 with Cams Card Shark and Pine Chip, while Dunn did it in 2022 with Bella Bellini and Bulldog Hanover.

44. He drove the only horse to be Trotter of the Year each season that he raced without being Horse of the Year: Pine Chip in 1993-1994, who left after his 4YO season as the fastest trotter (1:51) he drove for Chuck Sylvester.

45. He had the favorite in the dead heat Hambletonian season of 1989. He was second and fourth with the streaking filly Peace Corps.

46. His total for the 1978 season of $748,096 was not in the top 25, prior to being No. 1 in back-to-back years in 1979 and 1980 with $3,308,984 and $3,732,306, respectively.

47. He entered the decade of the 1980s as No. 60 all time in earnings with $5,084,254.

48. Over a 24-year span, from 1979-2002, he finished in the top three in money earnings with 16 titles, seven seconds and one third. Unmatched in harness racing history.

49. His best single season was also the sport’s first $14 million driving campaign: $14,184,863 in 2001.

50. Overall, he had eight $10 million seasons and in seven of eight he led the way nationally. In 1999 he finished second to Mike Lachance.

51. He won his first Triple Crown race at age 27 in 1982 with his own colt Merger in the Jug. His final in 2014 at age 59 in the Kentucky Futurity with Nuncio.

52. He has won the same Triple Crown race three straight years with a trotter. From 1992-1994, he won the Kentucky Futurity with Armbro Keepsake, Pine Chip and Bullville Victory, respectively.

53. He had a filly in the 20th century and all the way up to 2010, that made $1.777 million pacing: Miss Easy. It lasted 19 years until Put On A Show broke it in the Breeders Crown.

54. Del Miller was in a Hambletonian 36 years apart (1946-1982). Campbell has been in a Hambletonian 33 years apart: 1983-2016. He retired prior to the 2017 Hambletonian.

55. Only once did the all-time leading money-winning trainer and driver in Hambletonian history team up in the Hambletonian and they finished 1-2. Jimmy Takter (trainer) drove the winner, Trixton, and Campbell was a game runner-up with Nuncio (also trained by Takter).

56. He was favored in his very first Hambletonian drive (1983) at age 28 with Joie De Vie.

57. Thirteen times he has driven the Hambletonian favorite (including elims). Nobody else comes close.

58. He won the Jug twice with a decade in between the two: 1982 (Merger) and 1993 Life Sign.

59. He competed in his last Triple Crown race, the Kentucky Futurity, in 2016. That’s the same year Marion Marauder won the last trotting Triple Crown.

60. He has won the Messenger a record eight times. The most of any single Triple Crown race.

61. In the modern era he won twice in a Triple Crown race with a filly. He won the Kentucky Futurity with Peace Corps in 1989 and then with Armbro Keepsake in 1992. Coincidentally, they were both the Hambletonian favorite that year, with Campbell in the bike, and they both finished fourth.

62. He was in the only pacing Triple Crown event that ended in a dead heat. In the 2004 Cane Pace at Freehold, Campbell handled Western Terror who tied with Timesareachanging (Pierce). They were stablemates.

63. Forty years ago on April 9, he drove Jefs Eternity to victory in the Graduate Series at Freehold beating Cam Fella. She’s the only female to beat the two-time Horse of the Year.

64. He won the 2001 Meadowlands Pace despite not having driven Real Desire in the NA Cup (Randy Waples). He drove Artsplace in the 1991 Meadowlands Pace, second, despite having driven Precious Bunny to victory in the 1991 NA Cup (Moiseyev won Pace).

65. He drove — early in their careers — standouts Jenna’s Beach Boy and Gallo Blue Chip.

66. His first million-dollar drive in the 1981 Meadowlands Pace was with Slapstick, who was the favorite in the sport’s very first $2-million race, the Woodrow Wilson, in 1980 with Jack Parker, Jr. where he finished fifth.

67. He was not able to reach the winner’s circle in his first 10 East Rutherford assignments, but his brother Jim won his first Meadowlands drive with Boyne in 1981 for trainer Lou Meittinis.

68. Finally, he was the first driver in Meadowlands’ history to win with a trotter in sub 1:50: J L Cruze in 1:49.4.

Happy Birthday John. Fittingly, The Masters is this weekend.