taken from the "where are you in your automotive journey post" late last year....

Monte Smith

I was born in 63 and my dad was a racer and hot rodder then. Not as much a serious racer and just enjoyed fast cars and going to the track to see who had the fastest car among his friends. In 65 he bought a new tri-power GTO, brought it home, changed the cam, gears, clutch and ported the heads. To hear him and others tell the story the car was about unbeatable. In the late 60s the Mopar bug bit him and he ordered a new 440-6 Challenger. He bought the car with intentions to race NHRA Super Stock and that's what we did. So by this time I was 7 and we were on the NHRA tour to some extent. His best friend in high school was Clayton Harris who was a very successful top fuel racer by then. So we basically traveled with Clayton. I grew up in the pits of NHRA tracks with John Muldowney, Kurt Johnson, Billy Glidden and others. The Challenger was soon a serious contender and even a national record holder a couple times. Likely mid 70s we quit going to as many NHRA events as the cost was getting large and he raced more locally. Local tracks still had "class" racing at that time. You could run your class and 3 above. So for years we traveled in a few hundred mile radius on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to various tracks and ran SS/D,E,F and G. He usually won all 4 classes for the 3 day excursions unless we ran across a strong D car. Of course these were outlaw tracks, short on rules and high on Modified elim type motors running in SS. We still won. Few local modified engines were much of a match for serious effort REAL SS car. As counts dwindled in our classes, he was forced to try and run in some modified and gas classes with the SS car. So about this time most of the local tracks switched to brackets and he essentially parked the car. He was NOT interested in brackets and is likely where I get some of my disdain for it. Said he would rather quit as go too fast and lose. So quit is what he did. Now we ALWAYS had "cool" cars sitting around. I can remember at one time the family fleet consisted of the Challenger race car, 66 Hemi Coronet, 70 Super Bee, 70 shaker hood Cuda, chopped 51 merc, two 66 GTOs, a 74 SD Trans Am(moms car) among others. I took my drivers test in a 66 GTO ragtop with a 455, tri power, super T-10 and a 12 bolt with 4.56 gears. During these young years, if we weren't racing, I was. Raced go karts, bicycles, raced moto cross a few years. Anything that was fast and involved racing it, I was IN.

At 15 I had bought my first car with my own money. A two owner 63 Dodge Maxie car that had a 383 in place of the Max motor since 65. It had been neglected for years and I got it cheap but KNEW what it was when I spotted it. The plan was to put one of my dads SS motors in it that he was prepping for modified elim when he quit. It wasn't ready when I was 16, so the GTO was my "ride". The motor was a punched out and stroked SS motor with alum rods, ported iron heads and a tunnel ram. Trans and converter from the Challenger. By the time I was 18 in 1981 the car was running high 9s and I drove it to school my senior year. It was virtually unbeatable on the street as it was a mile ahead of what others had around here at the time on the street. It was a ladder bar car with 30x12 slicks. For graduation, my parents bought me a 69 Roadrunner convertible. Needed a little work but was now my "driver" with a warmed over 383. It was then I started bracket racing the 63 and won two track championships at Green Valley Dragway.

My girlfriend at the time and future first wife, had a 76 Trans Am. I had the 63, the RR and the GTO had been given to me. We traded her Trans Am for a 69 GTX with a 440-6 and a 4 speed we found on a used car lot with a worn out motor. While she drove my RR, me and dad rebuilt the 440, put an auto in the car and sweetened the car up some for her to drive. When we got married, we traded the GTO for a Lil Red truck and started restoring the GTX. The resto went from that to show car and the GTX ended up being an ISCA division champion for two years on the show circuit and also won "Most Popular Car" one year at the Mopar Nats. A few years later, we divorced and I let her have the new turbo Conquest we had and I kept the GTX and the Lil Red Truck. That show car GTX would evolve into my RACE car GTX that I would get into 10" tire racing with. By now I was married again and in 96 I was Hot Rod Magazine Super Street World Champion in the GTX and finished top 5 in points up until 2000, when I tore it down for a total redo and the car hasn't run since. They totally changed the 10.5 rules in the midst of my changes and I was left holding about 30k of motor parts I could no longer use for that type racing. New baby and life meant that was more than I could overcome at the time and as that type racing NEVER gets cheaper, I just wasn't able to make it up quick enough. I did take a stint during that time driving an alky funny car part time for a couple years on the IHRA circuit and also driving a blown alky pro-mod for a guy in Florida. The two year deal with the Texas Big Bird was also in that time.

A little later the job offer from Holley was presented and I also started Monte Smith Performance. Concentrated all my efforts on business and tuning other peoples cars and before you know, it's been 16 years since you raced your own car. During that time, I also built a new house, had quadruple bypass heart surgery and built a pretty good business. At 52, the racing bug is not AS strong as it once was, but it's there. When younger, I would sacrifice any and everything to race. Not so much now. I have toys........boats, Harleys, jeeps, several cars I could sell and finish the GTX, but at this point in life it's just not AS important to race as it is to enjoy things. So while I DO intend to get the GTX back out here pretty soon, it will NOT be at the expense of other things I like to do. It's ready when it's ready.

So while it appears from this thread that many picked up cars later in life.........seems I was born into cars and racing..........LOL!!! Wouldn't do it any different........except maybe turning down a full time ride in an alky car. Likely wouldn't let that one pass again........LOL!!!


Edited by Monte_Smith (12/11/16 08:38 PM)

I'll always remember when I got my issue of Pop Rod and saw his GTX on the cover. It was so rare to see a Mopar on the cover, especially a GTX.