A LITTLE TRACK HISTORY

The slogan used in the advertisements promises "Dirt track racing at it's best." It is a tradition that goes back many years to the inception of Smoky Mountain Speedway. More than thirty years ago, the fields of the old Orr family farm on Brick Mill Rd were plowed up and Smoky Mountain Speedway was born. While the track has gone through numerous transformations it is now back were it began as a dirt track where local drivers can hone their skills in front of a cheering crowd on Saturday nights. According to public information director, Billy Loope, not long after its creation the 1/2 mile dirt track was operating under Nascar sanctions and filling its lineups with such legends as David Pearson and Cale Yarborough driving on the old Grand National Circuit. Following the trend set by other big time Nascar tracks, Smoky Mountain paved over the old dirt with a half mile ribbon of smooth asphalt, attracting even larger fields of well known drivers. Harry Gant, Darrel Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Dave Marcis, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons, and Wendell Scott all put in an appearance at Smoky Mountain at one time or another. In fact, Bobby Allison was once in such a hurry to get to the Mountain he landed his Cessna in the field right behind the present grandstand. In another incident of note, Buddy Baker found himself riding across the track strapped down on an ambulance stretcher in the middle of a race! Buddy Baker was involved in a crash that required a trip to Blount Memorial Hospital to be checked out. The substitute ambulance crew comprising of locals Max Hill and Eli Fields were in such a hurry to go, they forgot to latch the stretcher's wheels to the ambulance floor. As they started on their way, the stretcher rolled back, hit the door release and Buddy Baker rolled right on out and across the racing surface! Every once in a while, you can still hear Buddy joke about this incident during one of the W.C. race telecasts. Long before he was The King, "Rapid Richard" Petty won one of his 200 wins at the Mountain. Actually, Petty won more than one race at the Mountain, but they didn't count towards his record 200 wins because they were classified as Sportsman and not Grand National events. In the early 70's, the track was bought by a group in North Carolina which let things decay, losing the Nascar sanctioning. Eventually, the owners of Corbin Raceway in Kentucky bought it and contemplated adding a dirt track inside the asphalt oval to draw additional drivers and fans, but instead, shut it down. When it reopened, the asphalt was torn up and replaced with the more locally popular dirt surface. Since then everything has raced there, from motorcycles, to three wheelers, tractor pulls, and even record setting Go-carts. Things went pretty well for several years until the competition from other local tracks began to take its toll on attendance. Five years ago the ailing raceway was purchased by an association of six local men; Fred Houser, Ken Cook, Charlie Hill, Billy Loope, nephew John Loope, and brother-in-law Mike Harrison. After first struggling with a not so popular Friday night program they decided to take a big risk and go head to head with the other tracks and run a Saturday program. Though it took a while to catch on, it proved to be the right decision as attendance has steadily grown, and the track regularly draws over 125 race cars for each show! The steady growth is management's reward for having made a commitment to provide a safe environment for family entertainment. Each year sees changes and improvements based on input from the drivers and fans.Over the winter the track was repurchased by the Varnells who have run it for various periods over the last 10 years or so. Planned improvements include tier parking on the backstretch were you can watch the races from a lawn chair in the bed of your pickup or the front seat of your sedan. It promises to be a year of exciting racing at The Mountain where you can see Dirt Track Racing at it's Best and the race cars are still rolling off of the same pit row that King Richard once used.
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