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 (1915–1954), 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. The character is well known among car aficionados.[2]

Mr. Horsepower logo on a Corvette engine

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 Indianapolis 500. In 1954, he was killed by a race car that he had helped prepare, while working in the pits on the infield at DuQuoin, Illinois.[3] Clay was one of the early specialist camshaft grinders, and built many race winning engines, for various types of race classes and machines.

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.[4] Today, the Mr. Horsepower logo is commonly seen as a car decal,[5] tattoo,[6] t-shirt logo,[7][8] car mat,[9] or garage clock.[10]

Some people have confused Mr. Horsepower with the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.[6] 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. Mr. Horsepower also has a similar appearance to the Thrush Exhaust logo. The Thrush logo has hot pink feathers, no gaps between the teeth and lacks the cigar.

  • 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.[11]
  • The logo has also appeared in the Coen brothers' Raising Arizona, where the protagonist, H.I., and the antagonist, Leonard Smalls, both had similar tattoos though not identical to that of the Thrush Exhaust bird logo.[12][13]
  • The logo has also appeared in a wide range of movies, including Spider-Man and Gone in 60 Seconds
  • The logo can be seen on countless hot rods and customs.

See also

Notes
  1. "Genuine Hotrod Hardware BACSCC14 - Clay Smith Cams Mr. Horsepower Wall Clocks - Overview". SummitRacing.com. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  2. Dolan, Martin (October 26, 2014). "Cruise on Central hit on all cylinders". The Arizona Republic. p. CL2. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  3. "Clay Smith". www.taurtoisemotorsports.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  4. Official website
  5. "Mr. Horsepower decal at autothing: "Clay Smith Cams - Mr. Horsepower decal"". autothing.com. 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
  6. "Mr Horsepower - Clay Smith Cams". Knink.com. 2009-08-20. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  7. Archived May 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Vintage Clay Smith T-Shirt". Mr-horsepower.com. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  9. ASP, SQL programming: Harriet Maybeck Tolly, site design: Michael Harrison. "Hot Rod Culture". The Hot Rod Company. Archived from the original on 2011-01-09. Retrieved 2011-01-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. "Mr.Horsepower". Wolfgangguitars.com. 1984-03-02. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  12. Raising Arizona Tattoos
  13. Nayman, Adam (2018). The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together. Abrams. p. 39. ISBN 9781683353195.


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