At age 90, Tommy C. Smith has been called many things, but “Chicken Willie” is probably the best-known. 

Smith — born at Route 3, Box 132, Beat 5, Lincoln County, in 1934 — still lives in the same spot where he was raised. His grandpa built the house in 1905, and his family lived there ever since. He is a familiar face and name around Lincoln County, though not to be confused with another hot rod enthusiast named Tommy Smith (T. Tommy). The nickname helps differentiate the two to the otherwise unknowing.

As he sits next to his rare 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible — which is painted in cashmere blue with an arctic white soft top — Smith recounts how he bought his first car at age 14 (a 1928 Ford Model A) and how ever since it’s been “all I’ve ever been interested in.” When he graduated Brookhaven High in 1953, he sold the car and bought a 1941 Ford Convertible and began to hot rod it by putting a 1950 Mercury engine in it. 

Smith’s a big fan of drag racing, and a former racer himself. He’s been involved with the Natchez Street Rod Association since 1980, serving many years as a state representative for the group, and was an NSRA official from 1993 until February of this year, when he decided to step away from those responsibilities. 

But many years earlier, just after high school, Smith went to Mississippi State University for two years and became a proud Bulldog for life. Then he decided to sign up for the United States Air Force. 

“I joined to see the world, and spent four years in Texas,” he said. 

He worked in Laredo as a hangar mechanic 1955-1958, maintaining, breaking down and reassembling T33 jet engines for pilots in training. 

“I wouldn’t take nothing for it,” he says of the experience.

Then it was off to work in the oil fields. Smith retired after 35 years, having worked for Shell Oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, Saudi Arabia, and consulting “here and there.”

In the summer of 1961, Smith had gone to Mexico on a job for Shell, where someone asked where he was from. The man had never heard of Brookhaven, but he’d heard of Lincoln County. More specifically, he knew of an old juke joint named “Chicken Willie’s,” so that’s what he began calling Smith. The nickname stuck, and Tommy Smith became “Chicken Willie” to most of his friends in rodding.

In all his years, as much as possible, Smith has been involved in the world of racing and hot rods. He’s driven his cars all over the U.S.

“I’ve been from Canada to Tampa Bay, from Sacramento, California, to Burlington, Vermont,” he said, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles to and from car shows.

Now, to celebrate his 90th birthday (which is Thursday, July 25), friends are coming from Oklahoma, Illinois, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and multiple other locations to spend the day this Saturday with their friend. Smith is expecting approximately 300 people to show up at his home, weather permitting. He’s grateful for his daughter Salena Williams and son-in-law David for organizing and hosting the event.

“All of us are old hot rodders, and we’re getting old,” he said. “Most are in their 70s and 80s, some with later-model cars like Camaros, GTOs, Chevelles and Corvettes.”

Those friends are what Smith loves the most about his years in the car world.

“It’s going to shows and meeting friends. I know people all over the U.S. The joy is meeting friends and talking cars,” said Smith. “I encourage a lot of people to get involved in it. We’ve got a lot of people here in Brookhaven into it. Get involved in shows and just enjoy the cars.”

Today, Smith’s personal small fleet of cars includes a 1940 Ford Coupe in luxurious red, a black 1935 Chevrolet Coupe, a 1957 Chevrolet 210 Station Wagon, and the ’58 Impala he bought from his cousin in 1959. It’s all original, fully restored, with all matching numbers. A true rarity in the automotive world. 

But above his interest in cars and the associated friendships is one other relationship Smith began way back in 1945. 

“I was baptized in the creek in 1945 at Macedonia Baptist Church,” he said, and Smith still attends Macedonia. “It’s the Lord’s will I’ve lived this long. I give it all to the power of God. I don’t know why He let me live, but it’s all in God’s hands.”