A year ago, Will Smith made the jump from the Top Alcohol ranks and received his Top Fuel license.

Smith made his debut at the Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals last September in Indianapolis and came up a little short of making the 16-car field.

Now, Smith is back for another race – the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance May 19-21 in Chicago.

Smith once again will be driving Larry Dixon’s dragster. Dixon has 62 career Top Fuel victories and three world championships in 2002, 2003, and 2010.

“We are going to run Chicago,” Smith said. “We didn’t qualify at Indy. We went 3.83 (seconds) and I think we were like 20th. We made a good run and there were four or five guys who made better runs in front of us and unfortunately, we didn’t make the show.

“We chose Chicago because some of our sponsors, it was better for them for that race. It is a home race for Schepel Buick GMC Cadillac. We have been friends and partners for a while, and it is in their backyard. Also, we have shop space in Indy and a lot of people who work on the car are close to Chicago. It just makes sense as far as the traveling aspect.”

Smith also said he has a liking for Route 66 Raceway.

“That track is one of my favorites to go to,” he said. “Now that it is back on the (NHRA national event) schedule I’m really looking forward to that. I have run Top Alcohol there in 2018 and 2019. That was the first national event I entered in Top Alcohol, and I got my first round there in 2018.”

Smith said he has not made any passes in Dixon’s Top Fuel Dragster since Indy.

“Q1 (in Chicago) will be run No. 7 I think for me,” Smith said. “Of course, licensing last year, I had to make a half-track run and then two full runs and then what we ran at Indy. I think I have six runs under my belt right now.

“Larry has done some testing with the car. Earlier in the year, they helped someone get their license. The car ran very well. They made a lot of changes to it since we ran Indy. Larry and Tony Shortall are very, very pleased with the changes that were made. We feel very optimistic going into (Chicago). We are just looking forward to a good race. We didn’t run badly at Indy (last year), but we had a couple of mechanical issues that prevented us from running better, where we should have been at. They feel confident we have fixed those issues and improved the overall performance. I feel like we are going to be in a pretty good position to qualify and hopefully do something on race day.”

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Smith said there’s nothing definite after the Chicago race, but he’s working on adding to that schedule.

“I’m working hard to secure funding for other races,” Smith said. “There are a few that Larry and I have talked about that we would like to do, and obviously Indy is Indy, and everybody wants to do Indy and we would like to try and do that. Our ultimate goal is to have a full-time operation. That’s what he and I are working to do. Right now, we are taking baby steps and doing what we can do to get to the next level.”

Smith said running the U.S. Nationals in 2022 opened a lot of doors for him.

“It really helped me in so many ways as far as pursuing marketing partners for our team,” Smith said. “None of it is easy, but it has somewhat made that a little bit easier moving forward as far as finding funding. Now I’m just hoping to stay out there and build some momentum and get some good traction and hopefully land some partners who want to be part of our team full-time and grow from there.”

Smith will be aided by a robust list of marketing partners to compete in Chicago. This list is his team’s “Band of Brothers.”

Robert A. Tull, Inc; Schepel Buick GMC Cadillac of Merrillville Ind.; Greenbrier Excavating & Paving; Fabstar Industrial; Frederick Line-X; TeaCo Geophysical; Daniel P. Moore Attorney at Law; Tim Meggs; Hussey Performance Gaskets; and Red Line Oil.

“Competing in Top Fuel has been everything I thought it would be,” Smith said. “I don’t have the words to describe it, but I could sit and talk about it all day. It was everything I dreamed of and more. Icing on the cake would hopefully find more funding to do more races. I couldn’t ask to be with a better group of people and drive for a better guy out there than Larry. He has seen it all and done it all. I feel like in my opinion, he is the best teacher out there. I’m just happy to have him in my corner as well as everyone on our team. It is a good fit. We hope we can keep it going and keep living the dream. I’m chasing it every day.”