Texas Pro Mods: Q&A with Gaylen Smith

By Danny White

1. How did you get started in drag racing?

Gaylen: I grew up at the racetrack watching my dad race. It is in my blood.

2. The first time I saw you racing, you had a 69 Camaro with a nitrous small block. What can you tell us about this car?

Gaylen: It was built by Phillip Morrison. It had a 406 c.i. Buick headed small block in it at first. Then we bought a 500-inch Pro Stock motor from Daryl Warren. When we freshened it up, we made a 555 c.i. out of it. We sold the car years later in order to buy the Trans Am. This motor would soon become our Pro Mod motor.

3. When did you start your Pro Mod career?

Gaylen: We bought the Trans Am in late 1993 and ran it with a Powerglide and a 555 c.i. nitrous motor but the front frame rails in the car were bent from a crash that the previous owner had. We put the car in the chassis shop in Feb of ’94 and didn’t get it back until August of ’94. We ran the car from the end of August to the end of October and we only qualified when there weren’t enough cars to fill 8 spots. We tested from November of ’94 until March of 1995 when the Texas Outlaw Pro Stock season started. In the first full season with the car, we won our first points championship in 1995.

4. Tell us about the first Pro Mod you drove.

Gaylen: I drove a couple of TPSA cars back in 1988 but we installed nitrous on them to grudge race and the nitrous made them illegal to run with TPSA so the 91 Trans Am was the first car that we competed in.

Smith staging on the night of the terrible hailstrom at Paris Drag Strip.

5. When did you build the 91 Trans Am and tell us about the car?

Gaylen: We bought the Trans Am from Danny Beverly out of Dallas, TX in late 1993. It was built by Smith Racecraft in 1987. It was powered by a 555 c.i. nitrous motor with a 4 speed Lenco. It was an old Pro Stock car and we turned it in to a Pro Mod car by adding a few tweaks.

6. What was your best clocking in the car?

Gaylen: Our best ever time in the Trans Am was a 4.48

7. You bought the "Must Be Magic" Chevelle from Donn Gingrich next, what can you tell us about the car?

Gaylen: We decided that we needed to step up in order to be competitive and this car looked more like a Pro Mod than the Trans Am. It had dual frame rails and we needed this in order to step up the horsepower. We had the same 555 c.i. nitrous motor in it and we ran a 4.48 with this car too. We planned on selling the nitrous motor and going blown until the “deal of a lifetime” fell into our lap.

The "Must Be Magic" Chevelle at Texas Raceway.

8. Why did you sell the Chevelle after one year?

Gaylen: We sold the Chevelle after one year because Clayton Pool made us a deal we couldn’t pass up to purchase his blown Camaro.

9. The car you bought next was Clayton Pool's "Wild Child Dry II", tell why you bought that car?

Gaylen: We decided that we couldn’t afford a new nitrous motor that was competitive so we figured that the next best thing was to go blown. Clayton Pool made us an offer and we sold the Chevelle to buy the Wild Child Dry II Camaro. The car was top of the line. It is a Tommy Mauney chassis and that speaks for itself.

10. The Camaro had a blown BAE Hemi, was the transition from nitrous to blown hard?

Gaylen: We did not get the motor or transmission that Clayton ran in the car, but he did sell us a blown motor combination and 3 speed Lenco transmission. After a few modifications, we held the state record with a 4.14 recorded at Lone Star Raceway Park in Sealy.

"Texas Bounty Hunter" leaving the line at Texas Raceway.

11. What has been the best clockings with the "Texas Bounty Hunter"? Describe how you got that name.

Gaylen: So far our best E.T. on the 1/8 mile has been a 4.03 recorded at Lone Star Raceway Park in Sealy, TX. The best MPH has been 185 mph recorded at Texas Raceway in Kennedale, TX. We came up with the name “Texas Bounty Hunter” when we were at a race in Lena, MS. There was a guy there by the name of Hugh Scott who was known as the original “outlaw”. We were told that there was a bounty on him so Celeste suggested that we name the car “Texas Bounty Hunter” and go after him. (We were feeling a little chesty our first year but knew that only good things would come with the car and blown combination for us.)

We did beat him at Lena, MS a few months later, but we were told that we couldn’t collect on the bounty unless it was on his home turf. He is from Red Bay, Alabama. We have never raced him in Alabama. Collecting the bounty wasn’t as important as the win for us. We had stepped up to a new level of competition and were actually competitive. Our move to the blown alcohol combination was the right move.

12. You raced a P/ST Camaro too during this time tell us about this car?

Gaylen: This was a 68 Camaro that Smith Racecraft built that my dad owned. We bought the car to run the KOTH class but the car was not competitive after some new rules were allowed.

13. I know you drove other people's car, could you list some? Through the years there has been many. To name a few:

Gaylen: Clarence Jackson’s 81 Camaro, and also his Beretta that he purchased from Daryl Warren. Most of the others were just Friday night grudge racing cars and there were plenty of them.

14. Everyone who knows you knows your wife Celeste, how important is your wife Celeste to your racing team?

Gaylen: Celeste is the glue that holds our team together. She plays crew chief, fashion coordinator and “MOM” to all the guys. That’s the three most important things that make a team successful. She is also “Cheer Mom” for our daughter and tries to coordinate the competitions and the races where she doesn’t have to miss either one of them.

15. How and why did you start the TOPMA?

Gaylen: What other groups have you been involved with? After several promoters attempted to start an organization but failed after a single season, I decided that the organization needed a “racer’s” perspective. I started calling the track owners and talking about all the cars that were out there looking for a place to race. I guess you could say that I’m the president of the organization, but we are really a “racer’s organization”. I just do all the talking with the track owners. Thomas Myers has also helped the organization grow to where it is today.

This is our 3rd season as TOPMA. Other organizations that I was involved with include the King of the Hill Back Half class for one year and the Outlaw Top Sportsman class which is in it’s 2nd full year of existence. I was asked to step in and help this new class along. It is a 4.70 heads up index class. It started out to try and be an all nitrous class but later opened up to all combinations in order to cater to a growing number of cars that couldn’t compete with the Texas Outlaw Pro Mod cars as they stepped up through the years.

Smith and crew in the the staging lanes at Redline Raceway last year.

16. What is your biggest victory? How many championships have you won so far?

Gaylen: I would have to say that my biggest victory was when I beat the original “Outlaw” Hugh Scott on a holeshot at the 40th anniversary race at Texas Raceway. My 4.10 beat his 4.05 in front of my home crowd. I won the Navasota crown in 1995 and was also the TOPS Points Champion in 1995. I won the Texas Raceway points championship in 1999 and I won the 1st two seasons of the TOPMA (2003/2004) and after a slow start to this year, I’m currently 3rd in points with my goal set on a 3rd championship.

17. Who is your favorite opponent?

Gaylen: My favorite opponent would be whoever is in the other lane. All of the guys in this organization are tough and any of them could step up and bite you at any time.

18. What has been your favorite track and least favorite? I don’t really have a least favorite track.

Gaylen: I have won races at just about every track that we run on. Some days are good and some days are not so good.

19. The team has had some problems this year, do you think they are behind you now?

Gaylen: I hope so. This is the longest we have gone without being in a final round. We have the car and the motor but our combination just wasn’t right. I think we have something figured out now and I will be very tough to deal with from here on out.

20. Last question, what are the future plans for Smith Racing and the TOPMA?

Gaylen: Drag Racing is our life! As long as there are race fans in the bleachers, we will be at the track. We would like to step up our program and run some NHRA/IHRA events, but we will need a major sponsorship in order to do that. Celeste and I would like to thank our crew, David Reeves, David Sandlin, David Short and our part time crew guy Todd Haas. Todd is building a Studebaker and we hope to be competing with him soon. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Pro Trak Trailers, Teddy Bear Productions, Mr. Gasket Contingency Program, Hostile Graphix, Pro Motion Performance and last but certainly not least, Texas Raceway.

Thanks you very much Gaylen for taking the time to answer our questions.

Danny White