In 1988, Wayne Smozanek met his future wife, Wendy. The two fell in love and started a life together that would grow a business, a family, and, ultimately, a racing career. In 2022, though, Wayne tragically lost his life due to complications from Covid-19; he left Wendy and their son, Will Race, behind to carry on his memory and to campaign his car on the “Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings” circuit.
Like many others, Wayne had been into drag racing since he was in high school; he didn’t graduate but had plenty of street smarts to help him succeed in life. He often street raced, both with his 1969 Chevrolet El Camino and his 1979 Chevy Camaro Z28, among other vehicles. Wendy wasn’t into racing when the couple first crossed paths in their early 20s, but she was supportive of her man’s dreams and aspirations and grew to love the sport, too.
Photo by Courtney Paulshock
“We were together for less than a year when he told me he was going to own a monster truck,” recalled Wendy tearfully. “I thought he was crazy, but, by the end of 1989, he bought one and named it ‘Tropical Thunder’ in honor of where we live.”
Based in Jupiter, Florida, Wayne and Wendy spent years developing their shop, Performance Center Auto Repair, while Wayne also followed the monster truck circuit. The two were married in 1994, but prior to that, Wayne had decided to focus on the business instead. “It evolved from auto repair to high performance and us building custom street rods, hot rods, and bikes,” Wendy noted of the family’s business which she had to unexpectedly take over after Wayne’s passing.
Despite calling it quits with Tropical Thunder – a 1990 Chevrolet Silverado – Wayne couldn’t stay away from racing entirely. He picked up a 1996 Chevy Corvette in a trade and regularly raced it in Outlaw Pro Mod categories at big class racing heads-up events.
“It got to where we knew we wanted to do “No Prep Kings,” but the Corvette wasn’t legal and was too long of a chassis,” said Wendy of how the couple’s racing plans changed trajectory. So, together as a team, they began searching for a replacement that they could use to reskin the ‘Vette with instead.
It wasn’t long before Wayne stumbled upon a deal that seemed too good to be true: a 1997 Ford Probe that had originally been commissioned by Ford and built by Jerry Haas Race Cars for Bob Glidden during the 1990s. Ford had changed direction so Glidden never took delivery of the ride, but it…
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