Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By CHRIS KING SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
At an age when most people are collecting Social Security checks and wondering about their next scheduled tee time, the 68-year old Smith is still circling New River Valley Speedway on Saturday nights hoping to find victory lane.
Smith has outlasted dirt tracks in racing hotbeds such as Hillsville and Floyd during a career that began in 1952 at the urging of a former employer. Smith began racing in a 1937 Ford Coupe with a flathead engine he built himself.
"I used to race everywhere there was a race," Smith said. The tracks were in West Virginia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Though Smith did not immediately enjoy success, it finally came. He entered the Modified Class in 1961 and experienced his most successful season three years later, when he won seven out of the 12 races he entered and finished second in the other five.
Smith, a Newport resident, fondly recalls the glory days of his career. After winning one race at a track in Floyd, track officials dismantled his car in search of illegal parts. Smith's car passed the inspection with flying colors.
The old track, however, has since been torn down.
"I did real good in my modified days," said Smith who currently drives the purple No. 10 car in the Limited Sportsman Class.
Due to personal and financial reasons, Smith ended an 18-year run in the stock racing world and returned to a life that did not include racing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He stayed away from the sport he loved for 19 years before crawling back into the cockpit of a race car.
"I stayed away from racetracks but then one year I started going back [to the races]," said Smith. "The next year I had a car. The only way I could quit was to stay away from the tracks."
Upon his return to the racing community Smith was greeted by an entirely different breed of driver. Stock car racing was no longer a collection of good ol' Southern boys driving around a track running into each other. The sport was beginning its ascension into mainstream America. Racing had become sophisticated.
The world Smith re-entered in 1987 included not only paved ovals and banked corners, but big-money sponsors to help absorb the rising cost of fielding a race car. The sport was infinitely more expensive and competitive than when Smith last raced.
"It didn't cost much to race back then, $3,000 and you had a good car," said Smith who said $3,000 will not even cover the cost of tires during the course of the season for most successful drivers. "Now it cost $30,000 dollars [to field a car capable of winning every week in the Limited Class]."
Now in the eighth year of his comeback, Smith is attempting to perform the racing equivalent of bear hunting with a switch. He is fielding a car with only one sponsor - a radiator shop in West Virginia - and the money he gets from a Social Security check and a part-time job as a truck driver. Once a week Smith makes a 1,000-mile round trip in his rig to help cover his cost of racing and living.
"He is a good driver, but it takes the financial backing to get the job done," said Charlie Miles, the points leader this season in Limited Class at NRVS. "He does real well with what he has got."
In addition to the financial burden Smith must endure, he receives little assistance in preparing his car for each week's race, a task that requires 20 hours a week. Smith has only his longtime girlfriend to count on for help and she has only recently ended a three-week stay in the hospital.
"I would like to get a good sponsor and make a run at it," said Smith. "It's not like I feel like I still can't run a good race."
Smith feels his driving skills are still good. The first time Smith raced at NRVS, he sat on the outside of the front row, but was halted by engine problems. He also reminds people that Paul Radford won the track championship last year at the ripe young age of 62.
Though he would like to finish closer to the front of the pack when the checkered flag falls, Smith worries only about being the best driver he can be.
"When I go racing that is all I have on my mind," Smith said. "It don't feel good running in the back of the pack, but there is nothing I can do about it."
Smith hopes his racing career doesn't come to a screeching halt anytime soon.
"As long as I can crawl through the window, I would like to race," he said. "But if I can't get help it won't be much longer. I wouldn't be quitting because I want to."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB