Take 5 With TOM BAILEY
Gregarious. Chatty. Loquacious. Voluble. There are a lot of synonyms for “talkative,” and none of them apply to Tom Bailey. It can take three years of knowing the man before you’ll ever hear him say more than “yep” or “nope.” Judging by his accomplishments, he’s put the energy saved on talking into building cars and winning races. Bailey was born in Ohio in 1971, but we associate him with Detroit—where he lives now—and with Detroit iron. He has a half-dozen fast Camaros, and that’s only half his project collection. He’s raced HOT ROD Drag Week 10 times, finished five, and won four—including 2019, where he ran the first-ever 5-second e.t. in competition. His cars have been invited to SEMA, Saudi Arabia, and the NHRA U.S. Nationals. Maybe he’s just too busy to talk. But as we found out, just because he’s quiet, doesn’t mean Bailey has nothing to say.
HRM] Did you grow up involved with cars? Were your folks into it?
TB] Yep.
HRM] We really going to do this?
][Laughs] My dad had Volkswagens. He had Camaros before that, before I was
