America’s Oldest Speed Shop

I met a lot of cool people at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas last week. One of the coolest was "Speedway" Bill Smith of Nebraska, the owner/founder/president of Speedway Motors (www.speedwaymotors.com) in Lincoln, Nebraska. This legendary motorsports figure has a business card that is three times (maybe four times) larger than normal to fit all the stuff he has accomplished. Bill has won everything from the Stroker McGurk Award to NSRA "Man of the Year" honors. His mail-order products range from Model T racing equipment to pedal car parts and he owns the biggest collection of flathead Ford V-8s to be found anywhere. Bill's black Quaker hat and sunglasses made him easy to spot in the crowd at SEMA. He was giving the once over to the fantastic "hot rod shop" display set up by Ford parts seller Bob Drake (www.bobdrake.com) when I bumped into him and another equally famous legend - racing driver Johnny Rutherford. Getting to know people like Bill, Bob and Johnny on a face-to-face basis is what SEMA is all about. Over the next week or so, as I dig through my cards and notes, I'll tell you more about what a great time we had at SEMA.