Entrepreneur, owner, sponsor, preservationist

Lincoln, NE native D. William Smith founded Speedway Motors, “America’s Oldest Speed Shop®,” in 1952. It became one of the world’s largest. “Bill loved the speed shop and hot rodding,” noted his Lincoln Journal Star obituary, “but racing was his passion.” From 1948-80, he hired over 90 drivers and competed in everything from sprint cars and stock cars to Indy cars and dragsters. In the ‘50s, Smith fielded a Pontiac in NASCAR for Tiny Lund. Closer to home, stock cars driven by Lloyd Beckman and Gordon Woolley captured the 1960 and ’61 Tri-State Championship. In 1969, Smith put a young Jan Opperman in a Speedway Motors sprint car; they captured the 1969 and ‘75 Big Car Racing Association (BCRA) driver’s and owner’s titles and the 1976 Hulman Classic. Later, Doug Wolfgang won 26 features and the 1978 Knoxville Nationals for Smith. In 1992, Smith opened the “Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed.” Smith was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 1984 and National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2000.