Progress & Momentum - Russell Smith Jr’s Story (Interview)

Photo of fellow Late Model Sportsman graduates Russell Smith Jr & Jordan Veinotte - Tanya Everett Photography

February 26th, 2024,

Introduction

Russell Smith Jr. of Lakeside, Nova Scotia is a name synonymous with grit and glory. He’s embarked on a racing journey characterized by sheer determination, skill, and an unwavering pursuit of victory. His career, marked by significant achievements, illustrates a narrative of a racer who was not just content with participating but was driven to dominate.

Early Success (2006 - 2010)

Some of Smith Jr's earliest racing success began at Scotia Speedworld, where in 2006, he clinched the track championship in the Lightning division, signalling the arrival of a new contender. His subsequent years: 2008 and 2009, were characterized by steadfast performance, securing the 2nd place position in the Lightning division and setting the stage for his future future. Still turning heads, he did what any competitor does, and turned those runner-up placements into fuel for his fire. In 2010 Smith Jr. reclaimed his top spot in the Lightning division at Scotia Speedworld.

Stepping Up to the Sportsman Division (2011 - 2014)

2011 marked a significant year for Smith Jr., as he raced to an impressive 2nd place in Scotia Speedworld track division standings in a competitive Late Model Sportsman division, seeing some of the biggest fields from then until now.

The period from 2013 to 2015 saw Smith Jr. solidify his reputation as a dominant figure in the Dartmouth Dodge 100 Sportsman race at Scotia Speedworld, achieving a hat-trick of victories 3 consecutive victories. In 2014, he added another feather to his cap by winning the prestigious NAPA/CMAX Sportsman (Jones Auto Body 100 – a River Glade International event) at Petty International Raceway, showcasing his aptitude for top of his division competition.

The Pinnacle of Regional Sportsman Success (2015 - 2016)

In 2015 clinched the Sportsman championship at Scotia Speedworld, outpacing his closest rival, Phil Barkhouse Jr., by a significant 52-point margin.

The same year, he also claimed victory in the NAPA Sportsman (Touring) Series, further cementing his status as a marquee racer in the Maritime Sportsman world. In 2016, his strategy shone brightly at the Napa Sportsman Series (NSS) Highland Building Centres 100 at Riverside International Speedway. Leading the most crucial laps, including the final one, Smith Jr. added another impressive win to his already well stocked trophy case.

Interview

In this interview, we will delve into his Pro Stock Tour side of the story.

You started select Pro Stock Tour races going back to 2011
In 2011 you were in the #33 for 2 races
In 2012 you were in the #94 for a start
In 2013 you made your first start in the #44
Then after a 3 year hiatus (2016), you started 4 races in the #66
In 2017 you had 2 starts in the #66, and raced for Craig Slaunwhite in the #99 once
It seems like you settled into the #44 for part time seasons, and one near-full time season from 2018-2020 (with a start in Cole Butcher's #53 once in 2018 when he had a race in the US)
Since 2021 you've been in the #88, and full-time for 2022 and 2023
Are you planning to run full-time in 2024? Will you be back in the #88?

Can you walk us through your journey to getting to where you are now, ride-wise. How did the #44 and #66 deals come together? Was the #44 your own equipment? I know that’s the number you ran in the Sportsman division.
The #88 is part of a team with Donald Chisholm's #89, yeah? How did that come together?

Although you've had some pretty impressive years - like in 2017 in your 3 races, you were 6th in the Scotia 250, and 3rd in 200 lappers at Petty & Scotia, and in 2022 you finished 2nd in the championship points, I actually felt 2023 was your best season so far. You finished 3rd in the points, and you were very consistent. There was 1 race where you ran 148 out of 150 laps, but besides that, you completed every lap last year, and you had an average finishing position of 5.18

You were 3rd at the IWK 250, 2nd in your 3rd start in a Pro Late Model at Oyster Bed (last year in your first start there you led 67 laps out of 151 - you seem strong there) and 4th in 3 of the last 4 races of the season - including 4th in both the Scotia 250, and the Scotia 200 lap finale.

I wouldn't say you looked like a challenger for the win on a nightly basis last season, but you were always noticeable/close to the front, and consistently knocking on the door of challenging for the win. If you're back in a consistent ride for another full-time season in 2024, I won't be surprised at all to see you have some break-through races. How are you feeling about your 2023 season, and moving forward?

2011 was the first year that I raced in a Pro Stock, it was a second car my uncle Wayne (Smith) had. I remember when Wayne asked if I wanted to try the second car he had, I thought at the time he was kidding. I believe at this time I was racing Sportsman at Scotia full time, so jumping in a Pro Stock was an incredible opportunity. I can’t remember if we tested before the first attempt at a race, but I do remember working on the car: getting it decaled, scaled, and ready, realizing this is actually happening. The car I raced was a Port City car with a built Chev engine which had almost double the horse power of anything I’d previously driven. This part had me worried a bit: at that first race I remember we took the head rest off of the seat, which my father (Russell Sr.) said was a bad idea. We made 67 laps before i had to pull off the track because I couldn’t hold my head up from the G force, so that ended our day. I believe we finished 26th of 30 cars back then. In the second race the head rest was back on, I believe we started 16th in the last race of the season and the car was good, or I was getting more comfortable through the race. I remember late in the race catching my uncle Wayne for I believe 9th at the time, but just before I could try passing him I was coming out of turn four and the car just spun around. I had no idea why, ‘till the car wouldn’t move and I got out to see what was wrong before the tow truck got there. I found the rr trailing arm broke off of the frame, which ended the night. That was the how I got in the 33 car. 

In 2012 I got in the 94 car which was a car my father drove that him and my other uncle Randy Jollimore owned together. Randy really wanted me to race the car so we found a couple small sponsors to attempt to race the IWK 250. That IWK 250 was one that I won’t forget, we had 3 cars there with me in the 94, my father in the 33 and Wayne in the 44. That was the night Wayne and Darren (MacKinnon) got together causing a huge confrontation, but before all of that I believe I only completed 60 or 70 laps, because all day we were having overheating issues. We actually made a second start that year at Wayne’s track in Peticodiac (Petty) but the engine expired not too long into that race, which ended the 94 ride. That car still runs today as a vintage car Cy Harvey has. [That is very neat! I love the Hot Rod Vintage Series, and it’s neat to learn the origin of some those cars]

I’m gonna be honest, I can’t remember the first start in the 44 in 2013, but I do remember switching drivers through the IWK 250 one year when Wayne was getting heat exhaustion, and he talked about me racing his car full time after he retired. Wayne had gotten too busy with having part ownership of Petty at the time.

I do remember the 2016 year when Daryl Mahar had broken his wrist at the time, and they asked if I could race his car for sponsor commitments. The first race was at Scotia, it was a 150 (lap race), I remember starting 10th and the car was really good as the race went. I remember Daryl coming across the radio telling me to run the same line as #13 Cassius Clark - at that time/on that day, that was the fastest way around the track. At the end of that race I said to Daryl: I wish we had another 50 laps, I felt the car was a winning car, we caught (Shawn) Turple on the last lap, but it was too late to try for second place. It was one of the funnest races I had over the years of racing, the crew was excited, which made me feel like I could race with the Pro Stock guys. I also raced the 66 in Antigonish (Riverside International Speedway) a couple of times, but had no success like we did at Scotia, but I can’t thank Daryl and his crew enough for those opportunities.

In 2017 I also raced the #66 twice for Daryl, because he had a couple of broken ribs. It was early in the season, and I honestly can’t remember how we ran, or where we ran at the time - just enjoyed the opportunity. That year I also had a phone call from Craig Slaunwhite asking me to run his car at Petty, as he went to the Oxford 250 to race a car with Gary Crooks. Of course I said yes, with Slaunwhite dominating every time they went to petty, I felt I had a good chance of a top 3. I remember Craig telling me: ‘hey bud, all you gotta do is come down, sit in the car; we scale it, you show up to the track with your helmet and suit’, some of his crew stayed to help with the car. I was happy with the car all day, it was a day where it called for rain and we were running 4th, I can’t remember the lap, but I do remember spinning the #91 of (Dylan) Gosbee out of turn 2, and had to rally back from the rear to 4th again, but after post race tech they DQ’d (disqualified) the #67 (Dylan Blenkhorn), so we ended up finishing 3rd, which was a good day for us. 

The #44 car that we had for a few seasons was a car bought by Vernon Kynock, at the time he wanted to own and run a car with his name on it with Vernon’s Thunderbird Diner & Kynocks resources both out of Hammonds Plains (Nova Scotia). I believe Bob Riley was the guy to get the deal all together - he called me, and said him and Vernon wanna have a meeting with me. So we had a meeting at the diner, talked over what we were gonna do, and went forward. We bought a former Wayne Smith car from Gerry Stattford in Mirimachi (New Brunswick) which was completely race ready, and we sent it to Mike MacKenzie for setup. Our first race was the IWK 250, and we finished 10th. That year we raced a hand full of times to keep the rookie status with the #44. I also had the chance of racing Cole Butcher’s #53 car for him, the same as I did for Slaunwhite the previous year, as Butcher went to race at the Oxford 250. In his car I believe I finished 10th that day, and I was happy for the opportunity to race his car.

2019 was our first almost full time year, where we only missed 2 races at Oysterbed Speedway (Prince Edward Island) because we weren’t running as good as I thought we should, so we took the opportunity to test run at Scotia Speedworld on those days, to try having better success at our home track. In the #44 car our best finish was a 2nd to Cole at Scotia, and that was in 2018 in the last race of the (Pro Stock Tour) season. At the end of 2019, Vernon and I both decided that we didn’t want to go any further with the Pro Stock racing, as it takes a lot of money and resources for the (competitive) technology that we didn’t have, so we sold the car to Stacey Clements, who then turn it into a unique Junior Hanley car. [Again, very cool - I love that #72 Vintage Hotrod car, I didn’t realize where it came from]

That was all in the ‘COVID’ years of 2020-2021. I ended up running my old sportsman car of Dennis Nickerson’s, as he had a medical operation. We had 1 win in Antigonish, and on that same weekend there was rumours floating around of Nova Racing wanting to put me back in a Pro Stock. At the time, I kept it under my hat because I wasn’t sure if it was true. At the end of the night I stopped over and talked with Donald (Chisholm) at his trailer, and I asked if I could talk to him for a minute. I told him a few people had talked to me during the day, telling me that Donald and George (Koszkulics) were interested in putting me in a car for a couple of races. He said yeah, they talked about it, and were think of putting a clean driver in a car for the tour. After a little conversation, we both went our ways. I was at Petty on a weekend vacation the next weekend, and I got a phone call from Chris Ewing who said to call George Koszkulics, telling me that he wanted to talk to me. I got right off of the phone with him and called Geroge, and when he answered, he said ‘how’s it going skipper’, I said ‘not too bad, how are you?’ just like anyone would. He asked ‘how would you like to run the #88 Nova Racing Ford at Antigonish in the next race?’, I said that I’d love to race a Nova Car with the iconic #88 on the side. So we made a deal, and I got a sponsor for that race to buy tires (Dulux Paints, Bayers Lake [Halifax]).

We showed up at the Nova Shop and the car was decaled, so all we had to do was scale, we did all of that, then we went testing the car, which was bad to the bone, as George says. On race day the car was fast at Antigonish, we ended up finishing 4th at the end of the night, and they asked if I wanted to race the next race at Scotia - same thing, who’s gonna say no to a Nova Race Car? so I found a couple more sponsors for tires again (Nickerson Auto Salvage & Morse industrial Equipment). We went to Scotia, tested, and left there happy on a Wednesday night, showed up Saturday, and the car was fast again. We started the feature 1 & 2 on the front row - #89 & #88, Chris came on the radio and asked if I was gonna let the boss man (Donald Chisholm) lead some laps: I said ‘xxxx no’, we took the green and led 80 laps ‘till a caution came out. The car was so good that day that I wasn’t even using it all, but when we took the green something happened, so I spun the car out and got them to push me off the track. I knew what happened before I got to the pits, but it ended our night. We broke our left side axel, but we won enough lap money to race the next race. Donald said from there on, I’ve been racing for Donald Chisholm. It’s a great team of great people to work with.

2022 was a up and down year, I felt like it was gonna be a big year, but 3 races in, and we found ourselves headed to Michigan to have a front clip put on after an incident at Riverside with Craig Slaunwhite & Dylan Blenkhorn. We had some good finishes, and a few not so good; Oysterbed Speedway has been a shocker to me, as we have run really good there every time we’ve went. The Summer Clash (250 @ Scotia Speedworld) was a close one with the strategy we played, it put us up at the front with the #2 car (Ashton Tucker, eventual winner) on the last restart. We were outside, and raced hard for those last 3 laps, we actually had him beat until #54 Jarrett Butcher drove us 3 wide in turn 3, and we ended up 3rd with a torn up car. It was still a fun race overall; that year was a struggle, but we finished 2nd in the points to Slaunwhite.

What a party at the banquet that was. 2023 was gonna be the year I thought our first win was gonna come, like you said we were never rocket ship fast, but always seemed to be there at the end for a good finishing position. The highlights of 2023 were the IWK 250 working with Zack and Carson (Hocevar) to make the cars better, which we did. Carson had a rocket ship with his driver style, and we had a top 5 car ourselves that race. It was a last ‘till the end kind of race, just like most - in order to win, you must first finish the race. That race was one that you had to keep your head in the game, the last restart: we were 3rd, racing the #29 (Greg Proude) car, I only got him by inches as Greg is always good there, but it was a fun race, and the best finish for me at that track. PEI was another good race for us, finishing second with a good car. The same as the IWK 250, I just paced myself behind the #01 (Troy Burke) and #18 (Darren MacKinnon) for 100 laps, until they got together on the back stretch, and me and Jarrett got by. We end up finishing 2nd to Jarrett on his break out year. At the end of 2023 we ended up 3rd in the points - we’re happy, but still looking for more, like any racer would. 

I’m excited for 2024, with the progress we made last year, I go to the race track to win. I’m hoping it’s 2024 that changes everything. I said to Donald: Nova Racing is a team that should be winning, we gotta work harder yet to get there. The team I have helping me every weekend is just as hungry as I am for that first win, and I believe when it comes, the next one will be easier; we are just missing a small piece. From 2023, I believe we are gonna be stronger in 2024, hoping for a break through.

Any sponsors you'd like to shout out? People? A business you'd like to plug or anything? This is your space.

All of this opportunity wouldn’t be possible without my better half and my kids, and the other people who helped over all of the years, from Lightning Racing to Sportsman Racing, my biggest help has been my father over the years. He doesn’t get enough credit with the numerous hours of thought and work on the cars we’ve had, our sportsman car was a threat to win every where. I used to enjoy going to the tracks knowing i had to beat Colby smith, Frankie Fraser, Aaron Boutilier, Chris & Kyle Reid - there were a lot of good cars, and really good races over the years. The crew that helps me today, and the people who helped me before: I’m thankful for all the help. All of the sponsors that helped me to get to where I am today, and the people who believed that I could do it. My current sponsors that help me get to the track: Nova Racing, Nova Construction, Francis Fisheries, Keltic Ford, Microtel, Phoenix Petroleum, Signs by Chris, RJD Automotive - without all of these people, it wouldn’t be possible to go racing. The biggest thanks goes to Donald Chisholm  & his family, they are great people to talk to & hang out with, they just feel at home. Also George & Liz are a big part of making the wheels go around everyone, they put their blood, sweat, and tears into it at Nova Racing: it’s time for us to show we can do it.