John "Bodie" Smith will be back behind the wheel this coming weekend at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals held in Madison, Ill. John makes his return to NHRA Top Fuel competition with help from SaferBrakeLight.com, Red Line Oil, Wheel Vintiques, Competition Products, Howards Cams, and Ole Country Smokehouse.

Independent racer Terry Haddock has given John Smith the opportunity to get back behind the wheel of his Top Fuel dragster after he made the decision to run his Funny Car during this weekend’s event due to the lack of points he would earn at the event in Top Fuel since NHRA implemented their new testing policy.

“I helped Terry this past weekend with his Top Fuel car in Rockingham, NC for the IHRA event and the subject came up for me to drive his dragster this weekend” said Smith.  “I have been racing at IHRA events, match races, and tuning for several teams over the years and this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I already had plans on attending the race so that I could help the Simpson’s with their Top Fuel dragster and now I’ll be pulling double duty.”

John "Bodie" Smith will be back behind the wheel this coming weekend at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals held in Madison, Ill. John makes his return to NHRA Top Fuel competition with help from SaferBrakeLight.com, Red Line Oil, Wheel Vintiques, Competition Products, Howards Cams, and Ole Country Smokehouse.

Independent racer Terry Haddock has given John Smith the opportunity to get back behind the wheel of his Top Fuel dragster after he made the decision to run his Funny Car during this weekend’s event due to the lack of points he would earn at the event in Top Fuel since NHRA implemented their new testing policy.

“I helped Terry this past weekend with his Top Fuel car in Rockingham, NC for the IHRA event and the subject came up for me to drive his dragster this weekend” said Smith.  “I have been racing at IHRA events, match races, and tuning for several teams over the years and this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I already had plans on attending the race so that I could help the Simpson’s with their Top Fuel dragster and now I’ll be pulling double duty.”

John’s father, Paul Smith, will be closely working with the Haddock team this weekend and his wife and former Top Fuel pilot, Rhonda Hartman-Smith will be cheering them on.  John added, “Rhonda and I are working every opportunity to get back into competition and we have some programs that we are putting together, but anytime that I can be out here working whether it’s tuning or driving it’s a blessing. I have grown up in this sport and in no way am I ready to step away.”

“If it weren’t for Paul Smith and John helping me out over the years, I wouldn’t be where I am today with my racing operation,” said Haddock. “With all of the experience and knowledge the two of them bring to the table it was a no-brainer to have John race the dragster.” Haddock  won last year’s IHRA championship in the Nitro Funny Car class.

During John’s driving career, he finished as high as 8th in NHRA Full Throttle points which came in 2003, but made history books being a part of the first husband-wife professional team to qualify and compete against one another, and finish in the NHRA top 10 together. They remain the quickest couple in drag racing history.
 

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