By Jeff Pederson
Pedal Down Promotions
(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) June 2, 2023 – Whether it has been a pavement Super Late Model, Sport Mod, A Modified, stock car on ice, Grand National, 4-Cylinder, Super Stock or Wingless Sprint Car, T.J. Smith of Greenville has not only raced it, but also found a way to make it fast.
After earning nine series and track championships and tallying over 70 A-main victories across 10 different racing divisions, Smith has found yet another new type of race car to conquer as a 2023 rookie in the Plymouth Dirt Track Racing 360 Sprint Car division at The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis.
“My plan this season is to run the full Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Car Series tour this year, which includes all of the 360 Sprint Car races at Plymouth,” Smith said. “As a racer, I always have ambitious goals, but I also have a realistic side. I want to win, whether it is a heat race, B main or A main. I think most racers go out there to win. If you’re not, I don’t know what you’re doing.
“On the realistic side, I want to keep the car under me; put down consistent, smooth laps; finish races clean and I don’t want to be the cause of a caution flag,” he said. “Overall, I’d like to shoot for rookie of the year with the MSA and PDTR 360 Sprint Cars this season.”
Unlike most modern-day race car drivers, the Menasha native did not grow up in a racing family.
“None of my family raced,” Smith said. “My dad and my uncle, Jim, were best friends growing up, and both were gear heads who always made whatever they were doing at the time a competition between them. They always competed at who could go faster, get the newer car or whatever. My uncle had a brain aneurysm and died at a go-kart race one night when I was a kid. About a year or so later, my dad wanted to go to that track and see where it happened. He took me with him, and at the end of the night asked me if I wanted to go back the next week. We went back and he bought us a kart and the rest was history.”
After traveling the country to chase big Modified races for several seasons, Smith has settled into a more local racing schedule in recent years, including regular competition in the Grand National division at Gravity Park Speedway in Chilton on Friday nights.
Smith says racing a 360 Sprint Car at The Plymouth Dirt Track and a Grand National at Gravity Park Speedway in Chilton on a weekly basis gives him the ability to race more economically and closer to home during the 2023 season.
“I made the switch to the 360 Sprint Car this season in part for cost effectiveness and being closer to home,” Smith said. “With the Modified, I loved traveling and doing the tours, big shows and all that stuff, but the price of them started getting out of hand. Guys were spending the kind of money any middle class guy just couldn’t keep up with on those big stages.
“I decided if I was going to spend more money on a race car, I wanted something lighter with more motor and on better tires,” he said. “That’s when I found the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Car division thanks to Jason Cox. I did that for a few years, but their schedule moved more to Wilmot Raceway with less traveling. I figured if I’m going to try and get decent at weekly local racing with a Sprint Car, the 360 was a smarter move for me. Wilmot is almost three hours away, while Plymouth is about an hour away from Greenville.”
Through the first three nights of the 2023 PDTR 360 Sprint Car campaign, Smith sits 13th in the points race with a season-best A-main finish of 11th on May 20.
“I think the season in the Winged 360 Sprint Car is going okay so far,” Smith said. “It’s a lot different. I did okay in the Wingless Sprint Car, but throwing wings on now is kind of like starting a new ball game.
“Whether it is the 360 Sprint Car at Plymouth or with the MSA or the Grand National at Gravity Park or another track, I will continue to do what I’ve always done – keep looking forward, keep grinding and stay hungry because you’re only as good as your last race,” he said.
Smith says racing teaches drivers and racing teams how to learn from defeat, while drawing the best out of themselves.
“I love the math and geometry behind it all and figuring out how to find speed, but mostly I like the fact it’s a losing sport,” he said. “You lose often. Sometimes it feels like you are always losing. That’s what makes it worth it when you win. There’s no participation trophy each week. No one remembers the guy in 11th and no one talks about the guy in fourth. It’s such a damning sport with so much emotion that goes into it. You have to learn how to take the lumps and bad nights or bad finishes and use them for fuel to get better for the next night.”
Smith’s 2023 sponsors include Valley Sealcoat Inc., House of Flooring, Carow Land Surveying, Hank & Karen’s Pub & Grill, Fox City’s Towing, Finish Line Towing, Big Iron Conceptz, Precision Cut Construction. JD’s Drive In, Kutters Landscape & Maintenance, AutoWorx, Competition Specialist Engines, BDRT Mobile Marine, Precision Powder Coating, JSD Home by Bennet, Behling’s, Gomez Guide Service, SBS Plumbing, Good Times Pub & Grill, Hyper Septic Service and Racetech Chassis.
“I would also like to acknowledge my pit crew, which includes my family, Todd Sr., Mike Shaffer, Zach Zimmer and Tim Mitchell,” Smith said. “In particular, I want to thank Mike Shaffer, who owns the Grand National car I race on pavement occasionally at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna and on dirt on a weekly basis at Gravity Park Speedway.”
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Plymouth Dirt Track Racing will host its biggest race of the 2023 season this Saturday, June 3 as the national touring Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint Car Series makes its sixth appearance at the Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth for the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation co-sanctioned event with the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association Sprint Car Series.
Many of the nation’s top 410 Sprint Car drivers are expected to compete in the lucrative race, which is returning to The Plymouth Dirt Track for the first time since 2020 when Kyle Larson earned the $26,000 top prize in his lone career start at the track.
National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Lance Dewease of Fayetteville, Pa., 2022 national 410 Sprint Car A-main victory leader Anthony Macri of Dillsburg, Pa. and 2022 national 410 Sprint leading money winner Brent Marks of Myerstown, Pa. are slated to make their debut appearances at The Plymouth Dirt Track, while fan favorite Rico Abreu of St. Helena, Calif. is also expected to compete at Plymouth for the first time since 2021.
The Plymouth Dirt Track Racing – Midwest Sprint Car Association 360 Sprint Cars will also be on the all-Sprint Car card.
Pit gates open at 2 p.m. followed by spectator gates at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps slated to begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds is located at 229 Fairview Drive in Plymouth, Wis. For more information, visit www.plymouthdtr.com or check out Plymouth Dirt Track Racing on Facebook.
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For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromotions.com or call 920-323-7970.
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