Most drivers remember the moment their opportunity arrives. For newly christened full-time Top Fuel driver Will Smith, that moment came between operating rooms and pathology reports.
Shortly before he was offered the Bluebird Top Fuel dragster for the full season in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Smith was diagnosed with Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans, or DFSP, a rare soft tissue sarcoma. As the public announcement of his hiring was made, he was on an operating table in Alabama, beginning the first of six surgeries in five weeks.
The timing was jarring. The contract he had chased for years arrived just as doctors were mapping out how far and how deep they would have to cut.
“Well, last November, when I was actually out West crewing for the Samsel’s, in their A/Fuel car in Vegas and Pomona, I got the call that I was diagnosed with Dermatophibrosis sarcoma Fertuberins,” Smith said. “It’s DFSP cancer, and I had one tiny little bump show up on the side of my face, around my cheekbone and had been there for a while. Never hurt, never went away, didn’t think nothing about it. And I decided one day I was going to go to the dermatologist, have it checked out. And long story short, it came back as DFSP cancer, and you get that numb feeling of wow, wasn’t expecting that. What is this process going to look like? And I had to best doctors and caretakers out there. Went to UAB in Birmingham, had my first surgery January the 8th, and they went in, we had a game plan of what they were going to do to remove. And what DFSP is, actually technically a skin cancer, but it’s actually a soft tissue sarcoma.”
His voice cracked at times recounting the sequence. The early optimism faded when pathology reports returned.
“It typically will show up in a bump on the skin, but it’s really what’s happening down below, and it’s extremely rare. One to four people out of a million have it. And they went in, they did the surgery, the wide excision procedure, and the MRI showed them where it was at, or where they thought it was… Showed them everything they thought they needed. And they went around their perimeters with a certain margin to make sure they got it all. And unfortunately, when they went in after the first time, the pathology results came back and showed it was still positive.”
A second surgery followed. Doctors went wider and deeper, only to discover the tumor had extended beyond what imaging suggested.
“About a week and a half later, I go back in for another round of surgery and they do the same thing, except they go wider and deeper. And what they realized when they got in there, the MRI showed one thing and then what they saw when they got in there was actually a whole other thing.”
He said the experience tested and strengthened his faith. Emotion surfaced again as he reflected on perspective.
“100%. I’m sorry,” Smith said, voice cracking with emotion. “I’ve been a very devout Christian my whole life and we as humans, we are all sinners and we all fall short. And I know I do, and I haven’t been the best example at times that I should have been, but I’ve always had the faith there. But as I grew older, I grew stronger, and told some people that this was a test, and I’d love to say I made an A+ through it. But the reality is I feel like I passed it, but it was like a C plus.”
He did not hesitate when asked who stood beside him. The gratitude came in a rush.
“I’m not sure what all I said, but here’s who I would like to thank during this whole deal, if you don’t mind: God, My family, Krystle Bos, My SCAG Racing family, my bluebird turf team, my PDRA family, and a ton of friends who all never left my side and did so much for me!
And of course my doctors and nurses:
Dr. Arora, Dr Juang, and Dr Le”
He informed team leadership about the diagnosis before finalizing his deal. Their response reinforced his belief he was in the right place.
“I did tell him that I had this going on before he hired me, because it wasn’t right for me to not tell him. And then two days later have a surgery, and what if he got complications or whatever? And he told me, he said, ‘Your health is most important, and we’re hiring you to do the job because we feel you’re the right guy for the job. And you just focus on your health and get better, and we’ll basically play the hand we’re dealt and we will get through it.’”
The scars on his face do not trouble him. He said they represent a fight, not a flaw.
“Shown me the power of God. That part doesn’t bother me. It’s just another chapter, and it just shows that all the sacrifices that I’ve personally made along throughout the years to try to position myself, to get an opportunity like this, everything he’s done for me, it’s all been a blessing from above.”
Years of internal scars preceded the visible ones. He said those sacrifices shaped him long before any diagnosis.
“Way too many. There’re plenty of them, but I wear them proudly even though they’re internally, they helped make me who I am. A lot of people, most people wouldn’t have made all the sacrifices I have along the way to do what I’ve done along the way. People would’ve complained about sleeping on a couch for years, and this and that, but I did it because I wanted to go racing.”
When he warmed up the Bluebird Top Fuel car in Gainesville testing, the reality began to settle in. This time, the car was his for the full season.
“The feeling is still unreal. To sit here and tell you it feels a certain way, it still seems unreal. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but as I sat in that car and warmed it up, that thought come across my mind. I’m like, I’m going to be doing this week in, week out. This car is did it for me. The guy said, ‘If you don’t like something, we change it. This is your car.’”
The first qualifying session will bring noise, fire and vibration. Smith expects another sound to rise above it inside the cockpit.
“Me screaming in joy 100%.”
