David got his start in racing in the mid ‘60’s hanging around Digger Odell’s after school. He could sometimes be a nuisance and was often summoned to do any dirty job required. One of his first jobs was cleaning out Harvey Chipper’s tool box. He helped Harvey on a ’55 Chev stock car for Roy Haslam, and they built a ’55 Chev Super Stock that Gary Kershaw drove. In 1970 they built a ’65 Chevelle in a one bay shop on Atkins road. They took the car to Riverside California where he burnt his hands while fueling the car. They went back the next year winning the Permatex 200 race, a first for a Canadian. One night while heading to practice, he and Harvey were broadsided by a speeding car. Recovering in the hospital he read all the literature he could get his hands on about chassis design and race car technology.
This experience clearly changed his life and he was ready to take on the race car world with a new focus. He went down south to work with Ralph Moody and a short time later returned to Sidney to continue honing his skills. Along with Harvey, Jim Tweedhope and countless others he continued building race cars. David helped build the race car driven by Gary Kershaw which won 21 main events in a row. A bounty was put out for any one that could beat it. He worked with Roy Smith winning the Winston West Championship. They broke the track record in a Camaro at Westwood road course and in 1983 raced at the Riverside 500 qualifying 6th beside Bill Elliot. Elliot won the race. David’s cars had many track records and wins across the North West. Some car owners he worked with were Richie Graham, John Woods, Bill Zebiak, John Edgett, Bob Beadle and Dick Midgley. Some other drivers he worked with were Rick O’Dell, George Stuart, Hershal McGriff, Janet Guthrie, Mo Willits, Harvey Brown and Rockie Collins. He started Professional Components building race car parts, Zodiac boats, ambulances and now is a very successful manufacturer of Scoremaster products. They also make Shock Wave high performance seats and chassis for off shore boats. A lot of the past racing technology is still used today in the products that Professional Components manufacture. He was always known to be a little eccentric, a little wild, but there were not many people in the race car world that could design or build a race car like David Smith.
