In every other division of the sport, you graduate from rookie status automatically once you pass your first year. Top Fuel is the sports most extreme division. These racers idolize like gods, the big names such as Larry McBride , Tony Lang , Elmer Trett, Ron Webb , Russ Collins, Terry Vance, and so many others from the past and present.
Nothing comes from off the shelf, and nothing resembles a production motorcycle.
It's the builders job to mate with precision, every last inch of tubing, spending countless hours machining exotic metal billets into thin lightweight components, and then matching them all together into a fire breathing rocket. Tommy Smith has raced in almost every class in the sport, including Super Gas, Super Comp, Pro Comp, Super Eliminator, IHRA Pro Mod, Pro Stock and then Funnybike. Funnybike was limited. The fire had escaped him, and the enjoyment was simply not there any longer. He called up Jackie Trett, and began what would become four months and literally a few hundred phone calls to bang through the possibilities.