NHRA News: Prestone driver Smith racing out of the shadows of his famous wife (3/20/2003)

Prestone driver Smith racing out of the shadows of his famous wife

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
3/20/2003

"When I saw the win light in the semi's, I told the guys, 'Can you believe it? We're going to the finals of the Gatornationals!' "
– John Smith

Until this year's Mac Tools Gatornationals, Top Fuel driver John Smith was known for two things – he's the husband of Rhonda Hartman-Smith and was the guy Gary Scelzi T-boned in a scary accident in Brainerd in 2001.

My how things have changed. Smith raced to the first final round of his 42-race career in Gainesville, a feat wife Rhonda hasn't yet accomplished, and sent the fans into a dither when he uttered an unfortunate heat-of-the-moment quote after out-pacing his bride in the first round, proclaiming that, "It sucks to have to beat your wife." Currently third in the points, is the Prestone driver an overlooked contender or merely an early-season anomaly? Either way, Smith doesn't care; he's too busy having fun.

"I can't believe I said that over the PA," Smith said from the team's South Carolina shop, as wife Rhonda continued to rib him about the slip-up in the background. "Rhonda actually had a lady come up to her at the trailer later in the day when she was signing autographs and the lady said, 'I will continue to root for you but I'm done rooting for your husband after that one.'

"Sometimes you're just so fired-up your mouth goes faster than your brain. Needless to say, I love my wife very much and I meant that it's a bummer to have to race her in the first round. Our goal since we expanded this deal to two cars has always been for us to meet one day in the final round. It's still our goal."

Stretching their dollars
It seems that dream is closer to reality than ever before. Despite running two cars on a budget that's a mere fraction of many of the top single-car teams, John, Rhonda, and Rhonda's father, Virgil Hartman, who serves as co-crew chief on both cars, are progressing nicely since the group's expansion in 2001. Rhonda has had two top-10 seasons in a row and she registered 13 elimination-round wins in 2002, nearly as many as the 15 rounds she won in her first nine years of competition combined.

Currently third in the POWERade points, John Smith is off to his best start ever in the Prestone dragster.

"Virgil and I have taken both cars and learned from them," said Smith, who, like Hartman helps tune both dragsters. "We're slowly getting to the next level. We just have to be very careful with everything. We're getting to the next level on a budget. We've learned how to watch parts and get the most out of every dollar we spend. I think we've perfected how to work on a budget and that's where the little bit of success we've had is coming from."

Smith is quick to point out that the financial support they get from Fram and Prestone is very much appreciated. It's just not in the same ballpark as say the Budweiser or Miller Lite teams.

"The folks at Fram and Prestone are the best supporters you could ever ask for," Smith said. "This deal has grown with them every year. If not for them we couldn't have one car, let alone two. But like everyone else, they have a budget they need keep. They've told us that if another deal came along that they would be happy to work with us on making a fit that would benefit all of us. We're moving in that direction. We hired a PR person and we're constantly searching."

Big bang for the buck
Of course success on the track, like this past weekend's runner-up finish in Gainesville, can only help the team.

It's a family affair at every race as daughter Megan roots for her father John and mother Rhonda.
RacersEdge Photography

"It really hit me when I saw the win light come on in the semi's," Smith said. "I got on the radio and I told the guys, 'Can you believe it? We're going to the finals of the Gatornationals!' I know the Prestone guys were loving the TV time we got for them. It's very satisfying to pay them back like that.

"I was so excited I actually had to take 10 minutes by myself when we got back to the pits to collect myself. I'll tell you, it helped a lot that I had raced to the finals of the IHRA race the week before in San Antonio. I red-lighted there because I was too excited and my brain said to go before the lights came on. I was thinking that I needed to relax and at least give myself a chance to win.

"We came close against Brandon [Bernstein in the finals]. We just missed the tune-up slightly. We were chasing the track all day. The air started off good then went away and then came back when it got a little cloudy. It was a handful."

Maybe it's not so farfetched to think of Smith as a contender. He did race to a 10th-place finish in the POWERade points in his first and only full season of competition last year. And, as a practicing crew chief, he's as familiar with the inner workings of the engine and clutch system as any driver on the circuit. There must be some advantages to tuning your own car. At the very least the crew chief would always know exactly what the driver was telling him if they were one in the same.

This year Smith is clearly the third-best driver of the first three races, having logged at least one round win at every event. He's also got the Prestone dragster running consistently – truly the hallmark of a frontrunner – with a pair of eighth-place qualifying effort and one ninth-place start thus far.

Priority No. 1
"I'm having fun and I'd like to think I've done some driving, but I've also had some good luck, no doubt," Smith said. "Rhonda's car is the one that needs the attention right now. We use the exact same parts on both cars. I've just caught the breaks lately. "

Hartman-Smith's Fram rail has sputtered from the gate in 2003, a fact husband and co-crew chief John Smith plans to change soon. RacersEdge Photography

The teams foray back to the IHRA, where Rhonda started her career, was a mission to bolster the team's bottom line and gather some additional data.

"If we can go over there and qualify both cars, let alone win rounds or a race, and not hurt anything, we can leave a race with more than we came with," Smith said. "Plus, it's another opportunity to sell gear. There's certainly less pressure on that circuit for us since we don't know how many races we're going to race with them, and it gives us some more laps on both cars. It's a win-win situation."

For a team that runs on a tight budget, Smith's back-to-back runner-up finishes will add close to $40,000 to the kitty.

"It's all good," Smith said. "On top of the money and the notoriety for the sponsors, the last few weeks have been so much fun for me. I've gotten calls from people I hadn't heard from in years that saw us at the Gators. It's just been a cool way to begin the season."

Smith's quick start might be helping in another area as well. "I used to be Mr. Hartman-Smith, or one of Paul Smith's sons," Smith said. "But Rhonda tells me she heard someone say, 'That's John Smith's wife,' when she walked by them at the end of the day in Gainesville. Now that's progress."

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