Jerry Lee
06-23-2009, 10:06 AM
It's hard to nail down anyone's lengthy racing career in just two minutes and Darrell Smith's is no exception. I tend to think of Darrell Smith as like one of the Rolling Stones of the local racing scene. He's still out there wheeling it week after week, year after year after year after year after........Oh my!
This mix of 1989, 1992, and 1993 interviews with Darrell still just scratch the surface of a story still writing itself.
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JL: "So what started the guy who started dozens of other guys to start racing? Did I make sense?"
DS: "Hardly. (laughs) I used to own Baltic Auto Wrecking and a guy came down and wanted me to sponsor his car, and I said I didn't want to sponsor one of those old Jalopies. He finally talked me into going out to Englewood at the end of 1964 I believe, and I liked 'em! I got hooked on the Figure 8's, they were exciting! And I built 'em year after year after year."
JL: "That's when owning a salvage yard comes in handy."
DS: "I had guys building cars over there all the time. I sponsored a lot of cars, the cars were so cheap to build then. We'd build a car in 8 hours and have it out to the track the next day."
JL: "Early on you hooked up with Bobby Jackson."
DS: "Bobby Jackson came down to the salvage yard one day with a guy, and Bobby drove for him. The guy had some ol' clunky cars and I talked Bob into driving my Figure 8. Bobby was probably one of the best Figure 8 drivers out there, year after year. He's the only guy at Englewood who won a Figure 8 main, Modified main, and Late Model main. I think Larry Dechant might have done that too."
JL: "I can remember jumping up and down and screaming at our old black and white Zenith as a kid watching Bobby Jackson almost win the World Figure 8 Championship that used to be televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports."
DS: "Yeah, in 1971 on Wide World of Sports we were the "agony of defeat" film clip before they put that skier flopping off the ski jump. We were leading it and Bobby got hit in the X, causing the car to flip. The year before we lead the race from lap 2 to 24. Bobby got hit in the X on the last lap, all we had to do was go twenty more feet and we would have been World Champs. But, it was just one of those things."
JL: "You've won championships with Bob Jackson, Dave Tansey, and Mike Pratt over the years, but not many know that not only were you the 1971 Charger champion at Englewood, but you won a record nine Demolition Derbies out there."
DS: "I ran a lot of Demos out there. One of the tricks was to run motor oil in the radiator instead of water."
JL: "When the subject of having a good time is mentioned, your name comes up a lot."
DS: "Yeah, we used to have some fun after the races. We used to party all night long in the pits, and Codner used to party right along with us. We'd get up and go race again the next day 'cause we ran two nights. I had an old '49 Ford van and we had a tap coming right out the back door. We was sponsored by a liquor store and people you didn't even know would come by after the races, filling their helmets up. But we don't do that drink and drive stuff no more. No more. Those were some good ol' fun days, but yesterday's good ol' fun days. Tomorrow will be next days good ol' fun days. It's just what you make out of it."
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This mix of 1989, 1992, and 1993 interviews with Darrell still just scratch the surface of a story still writing itself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
JL: "So what started the guy who started dozens of other guys to start racing? Did I make sense?"
DS: "Hardly. (laughs) I used to own Baltic Auto Wrecking and a guy came down and wanted me to sponsor his car, and I said I didn't want to sponsor one of those old Jalopies. He finally talked me into going out to Englewood at the end of 1964 I believe, and I liked 'em! I got hooked on the Figure 8's, they were exciting! And I built 'em year after year after year."
JL: "That's when owning a salvage yard comes in handy."
DS: "I had guys building cars over there all the time. I sponsored a lot of cars, the cars were so cheap to build then. We'd build a car in 8 hours and have it out to the track the next day."
JL: "Early on you hooked up with Bobby Jackson."
DS: "Bobby Jackson came down to the salvage yard one day with a guy, and Bobby drove for him. The guy had some ol' clunky cars and I talked Bob into driving my Figure 8. Bobby was probably one of the best Figure 8 drivers out there, year after year. He's the only guy at Englewood who won a Figure 8 main, Modified main, and Late Model main. I think Larry Dechant might have done that too."
JL: "I can remember jumping up and down and screaming at our old black and white Zenith as a kid watching Bobby Jackson almost win the World Figure 8 Championship that used to be televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports."
DS: "Yeah, in 1971 on Wide World of Sports we were the "agony of defeat" film clip before they put that skier flopping off the ski jump. We were leading it and Bobby got hit in the X, causing the car to flip. The year before we lead the race from lap 2 to 24. Bobby got hit in the X on the last lap, all we had to do was go twenty more feet and we would have been World Champs. But, it was just one of those things."
JL: "You've won championships with Bob Jackson, Dave Tansey, and Mike Pratt over the years, but not many know that not only were you the 1971 Charger champion at Englewood, but you won a record nine Demolition Derbies out there."
DS: "I ran a lot of Demos out there. One of the tricks was to run motor oil in the radiator instead of water."
JL: "When the subject of having a good time is mentioned, your name comes up a lot."
DS: "Yeah, we used to have some fun after the races. We used to party all night long in the pits, and Codner used to party right along with us. We'd get up and go race again the next day 'cause we ran two nights. I had an old '49 Ford van and we had a tap coming right out the back door. We was sponsored by a liquor store and people you didn't even know would come by after the races, filling their helmets up. But we don't do that drink and drive stuff no more. No more. Those were some good ol' fun days, but yesterday's good ol' fun days. Tomorrow will be next days good ol' fun days. It's just what you make out of it."
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