DAVE SMITH 2007 INDUCTEE

Watching a Demo Derby at the Vancouver PNE at the age of eight was the spark that lit the fire of Dave Smith’s interest in Auto Racing. By 1972 at the age seventeen, he began building Demo Cars to run at competitions held at the Chemainus gravel pit. The following year he entered derbies around Vancouver Island at Courtenay, Nanaimo, Chemainus, Lake Cowichan, Duncan and Victoria. He then joined the newly-formed Hit to Pass class of racing at Western Speedway and in 1979 won the Championship as well as being voted Driver of the Year.

In 1980, Dave was part of a three car team which competed at the PNE and in 1982 and ’83 they won the Championship in that event. The following year he moved to driving a 1934 Ford sedan with the Old Time Racers Association (OTRA) and subsequently ran this car throughout the Pacific Northwest winning many events including the final race held at Nanaimo’s Grandview Bowl oval.. During this time period he also entered a two hundred lap Enduro race in 1985 at Western which saw him the winner in a field of one hundred and twenty cars.

Following the closure of the Nanaimo oval, Dave became involved along with Fraser Carmichael and Joe Pullen in the creation of Cassidy Speedway where he was the winner of that track’s Old Timer’s Dirt Cup race. He made the move from OTRA to Sprintcars at Cassidy and came first in many races including Championship wins from 1995 to 1997 as well as being the holder of Cassidy’s track record at 12.84. From Cassidy he transitioned back to pavement and began running the NSSRA circuit for two partial seasons followed by a full one. In 1998 he finished their season third in points and won the Most Outstanding Effort award.

Stepping away from behind the wheel, Dave then took to behind-the-scenes racing activities which included mentoring young racecar drivers like Dave Emmerson, Britt Gillett, Randy Makowski and Tod Heikes as well as being a chassis fabricator and an engine builder. When the WILROC series was formed in 2000, Dave joined it and owned cars until 2006, claiming the inaugural WILROC Championship in 2000 with driver Dave Emmerson. At this time, he ran cars in two classes – a 360 dirt Sprintcar at Washington’s Skagit Speedway and an asphalt car with WILROC. In 2001 with driver Todd Heikes, they won the 360 Sprintcar Championship at Skagit Speedway, becoming the first Canadians to accomplish this feat.