Anna Lisa Smith and Roy Hill to field a Top Fuel car

DRO editor Jeff Burk had the opportunity to sit down with O. Bruton Smith’s 25-year-old daughter, Anna Lisa Smith, and his favorite driving instructor, Roy Hill, at the SEMA Show during a visit to the Mickey Thompson display. Ms. Smith was working on the details of a new Top Fuel team that will feature her as the driver and Roy Hill as the team manager. Ms Smith has the blessing of her father O.B. Smith to proceed with the venture and she is already working on her driving skills in a Roy Hill Super Comp dragster school car.

Her agent and the man in charge of bringing the project to reality is Donald G. Hawk, SMI’s VP of Business Affairs. He formerly held the same position at DEI working directly with Dale Earnhardt, Sr.

Hawk told DRO that they were going to work with the John Force organization in putting the team together as driver safety was their primary concern and they felt Force’s organization was the leader in that field. The fact that Force and Bruton Smith are close friends and fathers with daughters who want to drive race cars didn’t hurt.

Hawk stressed that they were in no particular hurry to get the deal done, saying “Our motto is that we are going to go slow so we can go fast.”

Hill and Hawk are in the process of vetting sponsors, buying the necessary equipment and Ms. Smith who works at SMI Charlotte for her brother Marcus Smith is honing her driving skills.

Ms. Smith is an accomplished equestrian, having competed world-wide for the last 10 years of her life riding jumping horses. She got introduced to drag racing at the opening event of her dad’s new zMAX Dragway in September.

“I was hooked after I watched the first Top Fuel car from the starter’s box,” she told Burk “Now I’m mad because I didn’t know about this sport before now. I can’t wait to drive a Top Fuel car.”

DRO has been promised her first official interview and Burk will journey to Charlotte in the near future to sit down with Ms. Smith and her father. It should be a very interesting interview.   (Jeff Burk photo) [11/10/2008]