Mr. Horsepower
Mr. Horsepower is the cartoon mascot and logo of Clay Smith Cams, an auto shop established in 1931. He is a sneering, cigar-smoking bird with red feathers and a yellow beak. The image is a caricature of legendary hot rod guru Clay Smith (1921-1954), well known for his red hair.[1] Mr. Horsepower is rarely without a cigar, but when he is, he has a "cigar replacement" - such as a candy cane for the holidays.
Origins
The origins of Clay Smith Cams can be traced back to the 1930s, when Kansas racing driver Pete Bertrand opened a car tuning shop at Long Beach. Clay Smith, just a boy at the time, was employed by Bertrand until the latter's death from pneumonia in 1942. Smith, himself a racing enthusiast, took over the company and continued producing precision engine parts, especially camshafts. In 1952, Smith teamed with Troy Ruttman to win the Indianopolis 500. Smith continued racing both cars and boats until 1954, when he was killed in an crash with Roger Ward at DuQuoin.[2] Clay Smith Racing carries on as his grandson, Eric Clayton Smith of Indianapolis, races offroad trophy trucks. Following a serious accident in 2011 (where his truck flipped while racing in the Las Vegas stadium truck class) Eric stopped racing and began to focus on the business.
Originally a mascot painted on Clay Smith's boats and race cars, Mr. Horsepower became the company logo as the reputation of Smith's fine-tuned auto parts spread.[3] Today, the Mr. Horsepower logo is commonly seen as a car decal,[4] tattoo,[5] t-shirt logo,[6][7] car mat,[8] or garage clock.[9]
Some people have confused Mr. Horsepower with the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.[5] The notable points of contrast are that Woody Woodpecker's beak is curved but smooth on top and bottom, and his head-feathers form a well-contained "V" shape in early iterations or a sprout of sorts in newer iterations.
Popular culture
- The logo has appeared in video games, most prominently perhaps in Sega GT 2002 for the Xbox video game console.
- The logo decorates the guitar of Mike Ness of Social Distortion.
- The guitar of Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel is decorated with Mr. Horsepower on the body and also on the headstock.[10]
- The logo has also appeared in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona, where the main character, H.I., and his antithesis, Leonard Smalls, both had tattoos very similar though not identical to that of the Thrush Exhaust bird logo.[11]
- The logo has also appeared in a wide range of movies including Spider-Man, Gone in 60 Seconds
- The logo can be seen on countless hot rods and customs.
Notes
- ↑ "Genuine Hotrod Hardware BACSCC14 - Clay Smith Cams Mr. Horsepower Wall Clocks - Overview". SummitRacing.com. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑ Clay Smith
- ↑ Official website
- ↑ "Mr. Horsepower decal at autothing: "Clay Smith Cams - Mr. Horsepower decal"". autothing.com. 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
- 1 2 "Mr Horsepower - Clay Smith Cams". Knink.com. 2009-08-20. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑ Archived May 29, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Vintage Clay Smith T-Shirt". Mr-horsepower.com. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑ ASP, SQL programming: Harriet Maybeck Tolly, site design: Michael Harrison. "Hot Rod Culture". The Hot Rod Company. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑
- ↑ "Mr.Horsepower". Wolfgangguitars.com. 1984-03-02. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
- ↑ Raising Arizona Tattoos
