Beaver Dam Raceway
Wisconsin driver ready for home-state WoO event
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Brady Smith
What a relief it is for Brady Smith to have the World of Outlaws Late Model Series stop at Charter Raceway Park in his home state. A resident of Solon Springs, Wis., Smith has been traipsing all over the country in his first season as a WoO regular. Now he finally gets an event in his backyard on May 24.
Well, Sunday's event at Charter Raceway Park is at least relatively close to Smith's home.
“We still have about a four-and-a-half drive to get down there,” said Smith, who hails from the far Northwest corner of Wisconsin. “But that's nothing compared to how far we've had to drive to all these other tracks this year.”
Indeed, Smith, who turns 32 on May 31, has to relish a WoO show that's roughly 300 miles from his doorstep. Of the nine tracks he's visited so far this season with the WoO, six were more than 1,000 miles from his home (speedways in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia); one was nearly 900 miles away (in Pennsylvania); and two were just over 500 miles away (both in central Illinois).
“I'm looking forward to it,” Smith said of Charter's 40-lap, $7,000-to-win program that closes a three-state holiday-weekend tripleheader for the WoO. “Being on the road so much is tough because it takes you away from your family, so it's gonna be nice to race pretty close to home. My wife (Jenni) and kids (daughters Mariah and Rowan, son Travis) are coming to the race (they haven't seen Smith in action together since they traveled to Florida in February for a few events), and I'm sure I'll have some family and friends there too.”
Smith just wishes he had a true home-track advantage at Charter. He has one career start at the third-mile oval, a 14th-place finish on May 12, 2007, in the track's only previous WoO event.
“Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience (at Charter) even though it's close to my house,” said Smith, who cut his Dirt Late Model teeth competing at tracks in the northern part of the state. “I didn't run very well there in '07, but that was very early in our days with these Bloomquist cars. I was inexperienced with them, and I made a mistake putting the wrong right-front shock on and left it on too long.”
Smith's lone appearance at Charter Raceway Park certainly impressed him, though.
“It's absolutely a beautiful track,” raved Smith, who operates his own race team with primary support from Big Red Motorsports and Mid-State Equipment Hydraulics. “It's a real nice facility, and the racetrack seemed real racy. (Dennis) Erb started back (in the 11th spot) and came up through to win that night, so that tells you it's a good racetrack.”
Smith is hopeful that this weekend's Tri-State Late Model Challenge — a three-race swing that also includes events on Friday at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., and Saturday at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa – will get him back on track along the Outlaws trail. He's struggled since finishing second on Feb. 14 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and fourth on March 13 at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala.
“We haven't been running terrible,” said Smith, who ranks ninth in the WoO points standings entering this weekend's action. “We just need to start running better.
“Obviously doing this Outlaw deal is a big step up for us, a very big commitment. We're still a fairly young team, so we knew coming in that we'd have some tough stretches. I'm just taking the advice I've heard and keeping my head up. When I get in a slump, I just have to dig deep within myself and find some encouragement from the people who are important to me.”
A winner of back-to-back WoO events last year at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Estevan (Sask.) Motor Speedway, Smith knows he can get the job done against the tour's big stars. He just needs to find his rhythm on the road over the long haul.
“If you want to make a living in racing, you have to make the commitment to do a national tour like this,” said Smith, who has built a new Bloomquist Race Car with his crew this month and expects to debut it this weekend. “It seems like all the guys who won big races last year were touring drivers at one time or another. Experience-wise, this is the best thing for us.”
