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Driver Bio: Craig was born with speed
running in his blood. After growing up on the family farm, a
wheat and cattle ranch in Odessa, Washington, he graduated from
the Spokane Airways flight school with a Commercial Multi-Engine
Instrument Rating. He flew charter aircraft for a few years,
flying hunters into the wilderness areas of Idaho. Today, Craig
still flies his turbine powered cropdusters, as he has for the
past 30 years, racking up over 14,000 hours of flying time. Currently,
when not farming or crop spraying, Craig keeps busy flying passengers
all across North America, Canada, and the Caribbean, in one of
his Lear jets " JET AIR ENTERTAINMENT ". Craig Smith's business acumen stems from running his own business for 30 years, selling fertilizer and chemicals along with application by ground and air. "I really have always loved farming, and crop dusting was the closest I could get to it at the time" says Craig. In 1990, Craig leased an irrigated ranch (640 acres) and decided he would start raising wheat and potatoes, building it up to over 6000 acres of irrigated crops after 10 years. But Craig had the need for speed. He started racing with boats (drag hydros), moving to cars and graduating to a blown alcohol dragster, "I always loved the challenge and competition of drag racing" remarks Craig. His first land based drag experience was with a blown 427 Chevy powered dragster that was announced for sale at a race he was watching. "I jumped out of the stands and headed for the pits, made a deal with the owner, got in the car the next weekend and said lets go." He won three AHRA World Finals in a row with his alcohol dragster and was the first person to break the 5 second barrier in an alcohol dragster. Incidentally, this alcohol dragster is almost twice as fast as his first Chevy Dragster. Craig loves competition: "I really have a feel for the car, the vibration, sounds and having the reactions to be able to stay ahead of the car, you drive these cars by the seat of your pants, its exactly like flying a duster, you have to be able to feel what the machine is doing in your tailbone." Craig is poised to excel at the top level of Drag Racing. He's geared up to take on the toughest names in the Top Fuel Dragster class of NHRA drag racing. Persistent and dedicated, he is a visionary who has been able to create a great racing operation with limited funds over the years, he has no intention to take a back seat. Leading requires strategic thinking, which Craig has demonstrated he does well. His first near term goal is to secure adequate sponsorship to allow the team to do things right the first time. "Half the money, is only half the win." A Top Fuel Dragster is an extremely sensitive machine that continually needs parts and fine tuning. Having covered all the bases for a successful team, Craig is looking forward to the day that he will be winning consistently and in contention for the championship. |
 898 West Lind Warden Hwy, Warden Wa 98857 PO Box 519 509-988-0106 Contact us Phoenix Arizona Cell 602 448 9449 rolandmcnew@aol.com Web site by ProMotion Motorsports |
