The Scoop
“I REALIZED I WAS A (RACING) ADDICT AND NEEDED A RACE CAR IN MY LIFE” – T.J. SMITH
Posted on: Friday January 8, 2021
T.J. Smith up on the wheel in his WingLESS sprinter (photo courtesy of RC Custom Designs)
It’s hard not to like T.J. Smith.
The always-smiling, likeable 27-year-old from Greenville, Wisconsin always seems to carry with him a positive, upbeat attitude. He’s a racetrack promoter’s dream. Smith seldom bitches or complains about much of anything at the track – even if he’s having a bad night.
But even a young man who’s raced every division under the sun since he was seven years old has his breaking point.
Smith hit his breaking point in the summer of 2019.
Running an IMCA modified for a few seasons had begun to lighten Smith’s wallet. “We ran into some bad luck too that summer and decided to sell all of my modified equipment,” Smith said. I was in the process of a house remodel and was super busy. I don’t normally hit burnout but the modified got to be so touchy with the setups and required so much maintenance. It was getting tougher to get crew help that summer for a lot of reasons. My friends were buying houses and starting families. I totally get it. But I had to get out.”
Smith’s respite from oval track racing didn’t last long.
“I was watching a buddy of mine Jason Cox race his WINGLESS sprint car at 141 Speedway (Francis Creek) one night,” Smith said. “I quickly realized that I was an addict and needed a race car in my life.”
Smith immediately got on the horn and went over to Cox’s home with a notebook and began badgering his friend and learning everything he could about these WINGLESS sprint cars. “I found out Jason’s Dad Tim Cox was a champion in the division and those guys have been doing that class for most of their lives,” Smith admitted.
The Cox’s steered Smith towards a mutual friend in Indiana who owned a sprint car team and were selling some equipment. “I wound up buying a leftover sprint car this USAC team had,” Smith explained. “The car only had five or six nights of racing on it.”
Keep in mind the sprint car thing was totally foreign to Smith. He had started out racing go karts and was an ice racing champion, and also won track titles on the dirt in grand national sportsman (at 141 and Oshkosh Speedzone). Smith was the last modified champion ever at Speedzone before the track was closed by Winnebago County in 2017. Smith has also won the modified title at Gravity Park USA in Chilton.
The Menasha native even wheeled an asphalt super late model for Bruce and Renee Conard for a couple of seasons at Wisconsin International Raceway for their “Thursday Night Thunder” program.
And in 2020 Smith could now add WingLESS sprint car driver to his resume.
“Now with this sprint car I had a driveshaft between my legs and fuel lines are running near the cockpit so it was a bit unnerving at first,” Smith admitted. “I honestly think though that if you ask any racer though they’d love the chance to climb behind the wheel of one of these sprint cars at some point in their career.”
Jason Cox wound up being a mentor to Smith as he embarked on this new project. “If I wasn’t at his house I was on the phone bugging him about this and that,” Smith admitted. “I had built a shop on a four acre farm I bought with my wife Tasia. We built that sprint car in that shop.”
The Wisconsin WingLESS Sprint Series runs as a support division on occasion with the IRA Outlaw sprint car series. That means a lot of traveling. “The travel part of that didn’t bother me because I always enjoy going to other tracks in different states,” Smith said.
Evidence of that was in 2014 when Smith raced a total of 87 nights between WIR on Thursday nights on the pavement and slinging his modified on the dirt Friday through Sunday nights. “With specials we’d sometimes run four or five nights a week and we wound up second IMCA’s state points that year,” Smith said. “I remember we ran Gravity Park on a Friday night to run the Dakota Mod Tour. We drove through the night and started out in South Dakota. We blew up our semi hauler trying to make it to the next show. I wanted to be the underdog of the modified series out there I guess.”
Smith’s maiden voyage in his sprint car took place at Wilmot (WI) Raceway. “They qualify what they call “Grand Prix” style in groups,” Smith said. “We were fast but I wound up going through a B main. They have a lot of cars that follow that series. There were close to 40 of them at Wilmot. Steve Sinclair does a good job promoting this series along with the IRA. He’s always looking for ways to get more money for his drivers.”
While passing for a transfer spot Smith tangled with another racer and wound up on his lid. “I learned real quickly with these sprint cars is they either go back on the trailer flawless or it becomes a yard sale operation,” Smith chuckled. “We brought it back to the shop and found out we had bent a front axle. We put it back together and two weeks later managed a fourth place finish at 141.”
The WingLESS sprint series has brought Smith to tracks like Dodge County Fairgrounds (Beaver Dam, Wisconsin) on it’s big half-mile as well as the oval at Jackson, Minnesota and many places in between. “Truth is I never met a race track I didn’t like,” Smith quipped.
The quarter-mile oval at Francis Creek is the closest thing to a “home game” for Smith in the sprint car world. “Up until a couple of years ago I had probably as many laps around that place so I think I know that track pretty well,” Smith confessed. “I sort of put a little pressure on myself whenever I went to 141 because you always want to run well in your own backyard. We get there a few times a year and I always look forward to those shows.”
Cost-wise Smith said it’s much affordable (if you don’t wreck) to run his WingLESS sprinter than it was his IMCA modified. “There are competitive used cars you can put on the track for about $10,000,” Smith said. “That’s pretty affordable. There really isn’t any pounding out dents with these cars. The series uses the 604 Chevy crate motors, so I was able to save my modified motor and use that. So that worked out well.”
When he’s not racing Smith pours his time into his business The Floor Smith. “I had been doing flooring since I was 16-years-old and I started my own business when I was 19,” Smith said. “My parents cried when I told them I was dropping out of college. But it’s working out well so far.”
In addition to his wife Tasia other loyal crew members who’ve been helping Smith over the years include his brother-in-law Juan Trejo, D.J. LaBarge, Beau Villeneuve and David Villagomez. “I couldn’t do this without my wife,” Smith pointed out.
Smith’s fleet of sponsors includes House of Flooring of Appleton, BDRT Marine Services of Appleton, Hank & Karen’s Pub in Appleton, JD’s Hamburgers of Appleton, Finish Line Towing, Fox Cities Towing of Greenville, Tri-City Home Improvements of Greenville, Performance Motorsports of Whitelaw and Badger Race Wraps of Black Creek. “Some of these sponsors have been with me for close to 20 years and I appreciate every one of them,” Smith pointed out.
Smith is looking forward to 2021. “I’ve got some new parts ordered for our sprinter and I’m looking forward to this year,” Smith said. “The reality checks I got in 2020 were good for me. Luckily, I’ve been pretty good at handling the lumps that come my way throughout my career. I really want to beat Tim Cox this year. He and Jason are my mentors and truth is you won’t find a nicer family. I’d like to beat him fair and square once this year. And I’d love to see more dates at tracks up in my neck of woods down the road. I feel like a fish out of water sometimes having a sprint car in northeast Wisconsin. But I’m having fun with it.”