Spiro Kontos, owner of the Nitro Funny Car driven by Mike Kirk, was in a
bit of a dilemma. Kirk was unable to make it to the MOPAR Canadian
Nationals presented by Castrol and he was in need of a driver. With the
help of Barry Paton he found his man “across the pond.”

Smax Smith is a former European Top Fuel Champion who had experience in
a Nitro Funny Car. Smith had just come to Canada after finishing as the
runner up in England the previous week in an European Top Fuel event and
was at Paton’s house telling him about his weekend when the patriarch of
the racing Paton Family had an idea. Paton knew Kontos was looking for a
driver, so he picked up the phone.

“Barry Paton brought us together,” Smith said. “I’ve known Barry ever
since I’ve been in Canada, we used to be like partners when I ran my
outlaw deal. We’ve always been good friends. I was around at Barry’s
Wednesday to tell him about my weekend in England and they were telling
me about Spiro’s problems finding a licensed driver just for this
weekend. I told them I was licensed, that I had an international
license, so we rang up Mike Baker at the IHRA and he told me as long as
I proved I had just raced last weekend he would be happy to have us
racing. Then Barry rang Spiro and told him he had a driver for him, and
Spiro had actually heard of me. He thanked me for helping out at the
last minute. I went and met him Wednesday and he’s a great guy. Maybe
this is an opportunity for me to do something over here.”

Smith is looking for the chance to drive in Canada. The Preston,
Manchester, England native has lived in Canada off and on for the better
part of a decade. He originally moved to Canada in the 1980’s and was
there for 12 years. He moved back to England in the 90’s before moving back.

“I moved back to Canada last year,” Smith said. “I lived in Canada for
12 years, from the 1980’s to the early 90’s, but I missed England so I
moved back. Then I missed Canada so I moved back. But I’ve always
carried on drag racing. I’ve been racing for 33 years and I love it.
It’s great.”

When he moved back to England from Canada, Smith made his mark on the
European drag racing circuit. He remains a fan favorite in England and
goes back to race as much as possible.

“I won the European championship as a rookie in 2003, and that had never
been done before,” Smith said. “We were #6 in 2004, and the last two
seasons we’ve just gone back and done the British leg of it because we
didn’t have enough funding to go to Finland, Sweden, Norway and Germany.
But we are having fun. I was back (in England) last weekend and we were
in the finals. Then we managed to pull this deal off this week. Spiro,
the car owner, I just met him Thursday night and he’s been fabulous.”

Before he slid into his Top Fueler, Smith drove a Nitro Funny Car. He
made his mark in the Top Fueler, but Funny Cars are his first love.

“I had my own Nitro Funny Car in the early 2000’s and ran that for three
years,” Smith said. “But it was just too much money so I put it up for
sale. Then I got a sponsorship for a nitro dragster, which is what I’ve
been doing since. But I love the Funny Cars, and now that I have the
opportunity to drive one I’m really thankful to these guys. And this is
his first time out for Spiro and it’s in memory of his dad so I’m happy
to be part of that as well.”

After he moved to Canada the first time, Smith did not stop racing.

“I raced here for all 12 years I was here, but I had a supercharged
outlaw machine,” Smith said. “We would do the northern swing in Michigan
and Ohio with the Supercharged Outlaws against the Wild Bunch. We had an
absolute ball. Then I took that car back to England with me and set the
European record which was 203 mph at 6.92, which still actually stands
today. But I do most classes of racing. I’ve been in Nitro Funny Cars
and have some really big crashes and some great stories. I had a film
crew follow me around in England for nine days and make a documentary
called ‘A Week on the Wild Side.’ It’s all been really, really fun
stuff, and I’ve always just wanted people to give the kid a chance. We
have always been the underdog, and sometimes that’s the best place to
be. I mean, we won the championship on one block and that’s unheard of
in Top Fuel racing. We would run in the four second range at every
track, set the et record in Norway. We’ve done all these incredible things.”

Now he’s hoping to capture someone’s attention at the Grand Bend
Motorplex race. He has proved his ability on the track in Europe, he
just hopes his performance at the Canadian Nationals, coupled with his
extensive resume, will speak for itself.

“All I’ve ever wanted was for someone to give the kid a chance,” Smith
said. “We’ve done it all in Europe. We haven’t run as quick as the
Americans, but the tracks aren’t as good and the weather is never as
good in England. But we’ve always done pretty good and I’d love the
opportunity to do something over here.”

Kontos is hoping this weekend will lead to something special. The Queen
City, Ontario resident is grateful to have someone with Smith’s ability
who could step in at the last minute. He is not dismissing the
possibility this could lead to something special.

“Well, a legend’s a legend,” Kontos said. “He’s a man who knows what
he’s doing, and if he can help us out why not? That’s what we want, we
want to keep going and prove what we have to prove. Hopefully we can get
a second car going and Smax will be there for us. Smax is an
unbelievable man. Before I make a decision I like to follow up on things
as best I can. In talking to people and reading about Smax there was no
mistake there. He’s very good.”

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