WHIDBEY
ISLAND LIVING Saturday, April 12 , 2014 • The Whidbey News-Times
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM
Page A11
Photo courtesy Steve Furhman/cyclopsphotography.smugmug.com
Mike Smith, who makes Oak Harbor home, took first place in his 7.0 pro class at the National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Ky., last summer, one of two victories he claimed in 2013.
Still smokin’ By RON NEWBERRY Staff reporter
From the comfort of his living room, Mike Smith likes to lounge in his recliner in the morning, sip coffee and enjoy an expansive view of Oak Harbor. The pace in Oak Harbor, a city of 22,000, is nothing like what he and his wife Pattie grew accustomed to while spending most of their lives in San Diego, which teems with more than 1.3 million residents. “It’s all hustle and bustle there,” Smith said. “Here, everyone’s laid back. “We call it Mayberry.” The slower pace suits Smith most days yet he knows he has a unique outlet to speed things up when he grows restless. Any day, the phone could ring
from his sponsor and a date with a drag strip could be set. Smith is a nostalgia drag racer in the NHRA’s Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. Retired after 40 years as a tile contractor in San Diego, Smith took his passion in motorsports to a new level when he slipped inside a cockpit of a dragster and began racing 15 years ago. Competing in the 7.0 Pro class, Smith has enjoyed success, winning six races and making 12 finals in alcohol-fueled dragsters. At age 63, he’s on a bit of a hot streak of late, winning two big events in 2013. He went to Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Ky., in June and won the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, then followed that up in October with a title
at the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield. “When I put the helmet on, I’m 19-years-old,” Smith said. Smith isn’t into racing for paychecks, which are sparse in his class, or even points to win a series title. Smith, who competes in only a half dozen or so races each year, races for the purest of reasons that fuel most drag racers — whipping the guy in the lane next to you — as well as pleasing his sponsors. His primary sponsor is San Diego-based Crower Cams & Equipment Company, a maker of engine components, which pays for his expenses when he travels. Growing up in the drag racSEE DRAG RACER, A14
Oak Harbor nostalgia drag racer finds at 63, there’s still plenty of gas left in his tank
Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times
Smith, a retired tile contractor, remodeled the basement of his Oak Harbor home, where he placed the championship trophies he earned racing in nostalgia drags. He’s won six in all and has advanced to the finals 12 times.