Stevie Smith HammerDown!

DRIVERS

Stevie Smith

2003 - All HammerDown! Team Member

Stevie Smith wins PA. Speedweek race at Susquehanna - Newberrytown, PA (June 29, 2006) – Susquehanna Speedway Park is becoming a second home for Stevie Smith. Smith of Broken Arrow, Okla., won Thursday night’s Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speed Week feature, his second consecutive at the speedway. Smith passed Jeff Shepard for the lead on lap 28 of the 30-lap main event. Smith won $5,100, which included the posted $5,000 prize and another $100 bonus for being the Hard Charger. Smith started 13th. Shepard jumped into the lead at the start of the main event. Keith Kauffman followed in second, but Fred Rahmer took the position later in the event. Rahmer tried to get the lead from Shepard several times, but he never pulled off the lead pass. Smith charged from fourth to first in a span of three laps. He was running in the fourth spot on lap 25 before getting by Shepard on lap 28. Shepard settled for second followed by Rahmer, Lance Dewease and Kauffman. Greg Hodnett, Blane Heimbach, Doug Esh, Mark Smith and Don Kreitz Jr. filled the top 10. (Read it all)

Tough Sleddin'! Stevie Smith captures the Brad Doty Classic - Attica, OH — July 13, 2005 — By Chris Dolack, World of Outlaws Senior Writer The World of Outlaws Sprint Series drove deep into Ohio sprint car country Wednesday night, and the competition was waiting to pounce in the 17th Annual Brad Doty Classic at Attica Raceway Park. After grabbing the lead with a three-wide maneuver in Turn 1 on Lap 19, it was Stevie Smith, the series’ 1990 top rookie, who held on for the 66th World of Outlaws A-feature victory in his career and his first Outlaws win since June 7, 2002, at Farmer City Raceway. On a night when only two of the current Mean 15 racers — Craig Dollansky and Paul McMahan — and one who is closing in on the elite group — Brooke Tatnell — were able to qualify in the top half of the field for the main event, Smith earned the pole and battled with Tatnell and Dollansky for second while all three trailed Jeff Shepard early on in the 40-lap event. (More)

Stevie Smith, in the always sweet looking Ecowater #71m. (Greg Tyler Photo)

At the Million: 2003 ...Stevie Smith told HammerDown!, "About halfway through (the race), I just decided I was having fun. It really was FUN!" Smith earned $125,000 for second place. The job Smith did was superb to say the least. Coming into the Saturday, September 20, Million feature, Smith's non-wing experience was limited to the 15 lap heat race he ran, and won, 24 hours prior. Smith worked the tiptop of the track to pass Gaines, and also early contenders, Dean Jacobs, and Russ Gamester. We've said it before and we'll say it again. Stevie Smith is as good a sprint car driver as you'll find anywhere. Think about it. In recent years, Smith has been in a mixture of rides that for one reason or another just didn't have the right stuff. When he drove for Dave Helm in the Vivarin #11h, the team was on Goodyear tires when the rest of the fast dudes were on Hoosiers. When Stevie was in the family car, they had an experimental homemade coil-over chassis. When using their own motors in the late 90's, they were good. But that deal didn't work out, so the Smith's, on a budget, had engines built that were designed to last longer. The trade off was maybe a little less compression, and certainly a few horses. Their engines didn't seem to hit as hard as the Gaerte's, Wes-Mars, Kistlers, and Shavers. In the world of winged sprint car racing, on the World of Outlaws tour, if your motor program isn't strong, or your tire brand is wrong, you may as well be racing for 6th or 7th. The point of this rant is just to state the obvious. Stevie Smith, when given the right combo, is the real deal. Neal.

Stevie Smith is back in the family #19 with help from Jack Elden. (Photo by Doug Johnson)

Stevie Smith, (Photo by Ace Duncan)

…Stevie Smith struggled all weekend in the Vivarin #11h. Smith suggested the team will bring down the spare car from the top of the trailer in time for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup on Tuesday at Lernerville.

Early Summer 2002: ...It is a given that Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski are the best in the world right now. Who's third? HammerDown! says Stevie Smith. Right now, Smith is as good as anyone not named Kinser or Lasoski. Smith is more than gelling with his new team. Stevie finished in the top ten in every race in June. He is riding a top-five steak that stands at four races, including a pair of 2nd's at Knoxville. He was the WoO Farmers City, IL. winner earlier this month. Capable of getting hotter in prime time, Smith is a good bet to scrape in big money from the promoters pockets in the coming weeks. Switching from homemade chassis and motors, to homemade chassis with store-bought motors, to a Maxim/RPM, and now to Dave Helm's #11h in 2002, Smith has had to endure lots of "trial and error" in his recent career. The same driver that won the Gold Cup for Al Hamilton in 1993 is still there. In the recent past, either the chassis was good, and the motors weren't, or the motors were good, but the chassis was an experiment. Rarely could Stevie say that his equipment was as good as what the best teams had. Now, Smith has hard hitting Charlie Garrett motors, a fast Maxim, and crew cheif Sonny Kratzer. Kratzer has help too. Justin Krull and Steve Swenson give the Vivarin sponsored team the depth to keep a car fresh for the bank loads of cash that will be passed out in the next six weeks.

Spring 2002 - A Lernerville victory for Goodyear Tires shod, Stevie Smith was also timely for the Vivarin #11h team because it happened in front of Ron Beaman, who s the main cog in keeping Vivarin on the World of Outlaws tour for years. Beaman is a resident of the Pittsburgh area that neighbors, Sarver PA., where Lernerville Speedway is located.

Stevie Smith is Lernerville Hero - By Richard Day SARVER, PA (May 15) - All it took was some Pennsylvania home cooking for Stevie Smith to return to victory lane following a Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series race. Smith, who lives in New Oxford, won his first "A" Feature of the season Wednesday in the rain-delayed Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway, passing new single-lap record holder Joey Saldana early in the seventh lap on his way to claiming the $10,000 first prize. The 1990 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year award winner was more than half a lap ahead of Saldana when he took the checkered flag. (story and summary)

Stevie Smith was the Lernerville World of Outlaws winner, Wednesday night. (Photo By Jim Fleming)

Stevie Smith mashes the Dave Helm owned #11h at Nebraska Raceway Park (Doug Johnson)