The Farm Truck: Write-Up – Method Race Wheels

At this years NORRA Mexican 1000 many were surprised to see a ’73 F100 leading the pack ahead of the mega dollar trophy trucks and luxury prerunners. Whoop scissors in their full glory slicing their way down the Baja peninsula driven by Baja veteran Craig Smith.

We caught up with Craig and the “Farm Truck” after the race to check out the “knife that won the gunfight” and snapped a few photos while we chatted near his home in Imperial Valley. The truck is a little beat up from 1300+ miles of Baja but she’s still a beauty.

“I’ve owned the truck for about 13 years.” Said Smith. “I saw it at a cruising the pits at a MDR race and fell in love with it. It came up for sale a few months later and I bought it. It was owned by multiple people in the San Diego area before me and rumored to be built by multiple fabricators none of which has ever been verified. Originally it looked to have been built in the mid 90’s. I remodeled most of the truck in my garage over the first few years. Over the last 7 or so years Jimmy Weitzel of Weitzel Motorsport has handled all the fabrication changes on the truck. There have been a number of major changes to the truck since we got the crazy idea to race NORRA. Mostly strengthening the cage and moving weight around to get the truck to handle correctly.”

Model: 1973 Ford F100

Engine: Turn Key Trophy Truck spec motor approximately 535 hp.

Transmission: Culhane Turbo 400

Suspension: Fox shocks serviced and tuned by SDG shocks

Wheels: Method Race Wheels

Tires: BFG Projects

Wiring: Mark the Wire Guy

Axle Housing: Dirt Tech

Hubs: BMS

Rear Links: Scott Baker

Beams: Jimmy Weitzel and Craig Smith

Steering design: Jimmy Weitzel

Radio and intercom: PCI installed and tuned by Wise electronics

Sway bar: Pro Am bar with BMS arms

Fuel Cell: Harmon Racing

Seats: Sparco

“I really want to thank my crew Darren Hardesty, Dan Morales, Eric Ellerman, Troy Hutchinson, Mark Martinez, Chris Hoppe, Robert Kennedy, Jason Wilson, Jeff Dickerson, Dorothy Smith and my Dad Bruce Smith and my navigators on this run, Justin Morgan, Cameron Corfman and my son Dyson.”