University of Northwestern Ohio……………..
Brian and Julie Smith, parents and owners of Derek Smith 53 racing, are proud to announce that Derek has been accepted at the University of Northwestern Ohio, located in Lima, Ohio in the High Performance Motor sports Program, this is a two-year associate degree program which when completed is a stepping stone into the highly competitive world of Motor sports, UNOH graduates have moved on into working for ARCA, and NASCAR teams, either on pit road or in there racing shops. Please join us in congratulate Derek on this accomplishment.
Final Week of Racing for 2009……………..
Well we have finally reached the end of our 2009 racing season. We arrive at the track to a Sunny fall afternoon, the temps are chilly and the evenings forecast is for colder weather. We are securely in the top 10 in points and with a shot of finishing 8 overall in the point championship, Derek goes out for Hot laps to see how the truck was going to handle, was turning low 21 second laps but truck was very loose in the rear , I think Derek was preparing to run dirt(more on that later) so before the heat race Dad, Derek and I go to work on trying to tighten up the truck, so we did what we thought was needed for the heat races, and off we go, Derek starts 6 for the first heat, Derek runs a uneventful heat race bringing home a 3rd place finish, still very loose we decide to go another direction to tighten up the looseness for the feature, Derek draws 2nd spot for the 20 lap feature, and at the start the adjustments we did were to no avail the truck adjustments turned out to be all wrong Derek is looser yet and is hanging on to the truck just trying to maintain any kind of finish lap 4 Derek cannot hang onto it anymore in turn 4 spins out with a lot of help from the 61 truck(which Derek is fighting for in the overall points) Derek does a get job of regaining control without any damage, and goes to the rear, (the 61 is also sent to the rear do to the incident) now starting 16 Derek has his work cut out for him to come home with a good finish, and fighting a very loose race truck, Derek slowly starts to pick off the trucks 1 by 1,most of the time the truck is sideways all around the track, lap 15 Derek has moved back into the top ten, lap 16 Derek driving hard, pushes the truck hard into turn 4 and this time he cannot regain control and spins the truck out, sent to the rear again with 4 laps to go, Derek salvages a 12th place finish at the checked Flag, Tired and very disappointed Derek finishes the year in 9th place in the point championship at Adirondack Speedway, Which in our minds was a great accomplishment considering we missed 3 point races doing the year, Derek improved 9 positions in the point standing from the previous year.
We would like to thank all of our great sponsors without there help we would not be able to do this, First is Cannon Advertising out of Boca Raton and Hollywood Florida,(thank you Lynn), next Dr Shrink, from Manistee, Michigan,(thank you Mike and Bart Stenberg), Double B Contracting, New Bremen N.Y.(thank you Gary,Linda,Mark and Jon Bush), Robert S Powis Jr Trucking from Lowville N.Y.(thank you Bob), Kafline’s Rollback and Wrecker Service, Lowville N.Y.(thank you Paul). And Lee Lumber,Lowville N.Y. (thank you Terry).Please support our sponsors who help sponsor us.
Derek and I also want to thank Wayne Smith, Derek’s Grandfather and my Father, for everything you do, and lastly we want to thank Julie Smith, Derek’s mom and my wife, for all the understanding, the greasy clothes and the late nights we spend working on the truck to race, you all make it possible for Derek to follow his dream of racing, words cannot express the gratitude we have for all of you.
Thank you
Derek and Brian Smith 53 lite truck
Check back regularly with news about our 2010 racing season looks be a very exciting season to come
End of summer………………….
With the season lastly coming to a end, and the unofficial end of summer, we head to the track for the second to last point race, a nice sunny day, with the rain out last weekend we did some changes to get the truck free-up. With Dad and Cousin Charlie again in the pits we ready the truck for hot laps, was a interesting hot lap session with 18 trucks, looked like a feature race, lots of side by side and a lot of loose race trucks, the 51 spin out in turn 4 and Derek did a great save not to broadside him in the driver side door, 3 laps later into the session Derek looses and turns his truck around also in turn 4, saving it and keeping it off the inside wall, no worse for were we bring in the truck, Derek is complaining the truck is too loose, this is something new to us, since it has always been too tight, the changes we have done has gotten us to were we wanted just too far, so we do some slight adjustments, since we are learning a new avenue, ready for the heat race Derek starts 6 out of 9 trucks, Derek runs a pretty uneventful race moving up to 4 when on lap 6 looses the handle again and turns it around again in turn 4, keeping the truck running and not bringing the caution out Derek gets going again dropping back to 7th position with 2 to go, he passes the 44 truck to come home in 6th place. Between the heat and the feature we decide to tighten up the truck even more since Derek says it is still way to loose, Derek starts 2 outside pole for the feature , at the drop of the green flag Derek drives into turn 1 and is able to get around the pole-sitter, on lap 3 caution is out for a spin, during the radio, saying the motor is skipping, at the start Derek is able to maintain his lead but only briefly , the motor keeps skipping and seems to be loosing power, and the truck seems to be slipping, first the 72 gets by then the 17b then the 22 , lap 11 there is another caution Derek is in 4th , at the start that’s when the second problem arises on the restart Derek looses 3rd gear , which is death in this class, Derek drops all the way back to 8 , first the 22, then the 67, 5 and 12 trucks, lap 14 another caution for oil on the track the 22 is sent to the pits for a oil leak, with the 3rd gear broke and the motor not running right Derek has his work cut out for him to maintain 7th position on the restart Derek is passed by the 44, (hard to maintain your speed going from 2ndgear to 4th gear , so drops back to 8th, and slowly starts to real in the 44 by lap 17 make the pass on the 44 for 7th , and maintains that closing in on the 12, white flag lap the 22 have moved up from the rear to challenge Derek for the 7th position coming to the checked flag they rub , and Derek beats him to the line by 3 feet coming home with another well deserved top ten(7th place), we have now moved into the 9th place in the overall point standings with 1 point race to go, well we are off this weekend next race is September 19, at 6.30 which will be the last point race of the year.
See ya at the races
53 lite truck
Week 9
Well the weatherman was right with the forecast, called for showers late Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, got the hot lap session in and the rains came canceling the nights activities at the speedway, with 2 points races left we will have to see if we are going to make it up with a double point night Next up this Saturday September 5, If you see Dad (Wayne) this week make sure you wish him a Happy 67th Birthday on Wednesday September 2.
See ya at the races
Week 8
Head out for another night at Adirondack Speedway, with the season lastly coming to a end, with 4 more point races left and 5 total races left, we are feeling optimistic on our season so far, With Dad back this week and with Derek’s cousin Charlie Bush in the pits with us, we settle in and prepare for the nights racing action. Derek draws the 4 place starting position for the first heat of the night, looking over the heat line-up Derek has his work cut out to have a strong finish due to most of the top running trucks are in the heat race. At the drop of the green Derek try’s to get the jump but for some reason the 69 truck does not go , which causes Derek to be held up, and cannot get around till the traffic clears by the time the dust settles Derek drops back to 8th and the lead pack has gotten a huge lead, Derek passes 2 trucks and gets back to position 6, with the lead pack having such a huge lead, and with the heat race running caution free Derek is able to cut the lead but runs out of laps to mount any kind of challenge to the lead pack and comes home 6th in the heat. During intermission we discussed the handling of the truck and decided to make a few adjustments to try and free up the truck to turn better in the corners. Feature Time Derek is placed in the 3rd starting position, but when the feature goes out the pole sitter, Ray Richter decides to go to the rear , putting Derek at the point, Derek brings the 16 truck field around to the green flag, and at the drop of the flag Derek takes the lead, and is leading the field for the first 5 laps with lots of company, the adjustments we did to the truck do not help, the truck still will not turn in the corners, so Derek keeps fighting first with the 12 truck , till finally he loses the position, then the 17b, and the 22 , yellow flag fly’s at lap 9 and Derek is running in the 4th position, going back to green will be a double file restart, at the drop of the green flags Derek fights to keep the 4th position but by lap 14 he losses the position to the 72 truck and for the last 6 laps he has one heck of a race with the 14 truck, trying to pass Derek to the outside then to the inside, the 14 truck tries to set Derek up to cut down to the inside coming out of the corners but to no avail , Derek is able to bring the 53 home with a 5th place finish. Derek has now broken into the top ten in points for the first time this year, he is 2points out of 9th place, and 24 points out of 8th place, as I have previous indicated in the weekly updates, this is a major victory since we have not made 3 races this year. Don’t forget to wish Derek a Happy Birthday this week; he turns 18 on August 27.
See ya at the races
Week 7
Hot Night at the races………
Head out for another week of racing at Adirondack, the temperature is 90 degrees out, and very humid, arrived at track a little later because of the heat, another week without Dad (Wayne) gone camping again, so we unload and prepare for the nights action, things start out bad and will get worse as the night continues, Derek lines up for hot laps, everything seems o.k. by the second lap truck will not go, keeps shutting down, so Derek brings it in and we go to work at the problem, first thought was plugged fuel line, so we clean the filters and refire the motor and we think we have it fixed, was allowed to go back out to check and the truck runs better, still acts like it is starving for fuel, so we go to work and change the fuel pump<(second time this year). Now ready for the nights action, Derek starts 4th in heat race, at the start of the heat Derek gets a good jump and moves to 2nd place , and maintains it to lap 4 well the rear-end of the truck explodes cause a quick fire out of the rear which immediately goes out, Brought in on the hook, looking over the damage, rear-end destroyed, driveshaft bent, we thought might as well load it for the night, we are done, that when I decided to ask Matt Larivee 12 truck if he had a rear-end at home, since I thought we could change it and be close to ready by feature time, and by luck he did, so off I go to get the rear-end, and spare driveshaft I have at home, leaving Derek to remove the broken rear-end, by the time I got back (30minutes) Derek with the help of the Vantassel Team(1,14), Don Worthington(23) Derek had the old one out ready for the replacement, we get it all installed and ready before the Super Stocks lined up for there feature, so we did some adjustments and took a well deserved break before feature time. Derek draws the 3 starting position for the feature, starting right behind the 44x (which from previous week, has had issues with) Feature time 20 truck field and at the start of feature Derek pulls up into 2nd place , and drops back and is running 4th place in the lead pack till caution comes out on lap 10, halfway trucks line-up single file, Derek is in 4 and at the green flag Derek misses a shift, which in turn cause him to get freight trained falling all the way back to 14th before he gets it going again, with lots of work to do and short on time Derek goes to work and with a couple more cautions Derek has moved up to 8th place when the last caution of the night comes of for the 747 of Greg Mayer for blown engine, so the race is going to end with a green/white/checkered finish, Derek now has the 44x lined up behind him. So the green flag drops and the race is on for the final 2 laps, Derek is running the low side and sticking there the 44x decides to try and move Derek up the truck by bumping him all the way around the track, Derek does a super job hanging on to the truck in turn 4 coming to the checkered flag the 44x recklessly turns Derek sideways trying to get the position. Derek keeps his foot into the gas and crosses the finish line sideways and saves it from hitting the wall, we come home in 8th place which with the way are night has been was a great effort on Derek’s part.
See ya at the races
Week 6
Well, been a interesting couple of weeks for the 53 team, with the week off before the NASCAR weekend, we decided to change motors and to put in a fresh motor into the truck, we thought that we would have plenty of time to change out and get the new motor in and work out all the bugs, well we were wrong, had major problems and figured out Friday morning that there was no way we were going to be able to race that evening with the new motor without some rework, so with major disappointment we were not able to run the NASCAR weekend, So we decide to work out the bugs in the new motor to run this pass weekend, again we kept running into road blocks, so on Friday morning it was decided to take out the new motor and replace it back with the old motor, With Dad away for the weekend, and me having to work Friday night also, taking out the motor fell on Derek to remove, by 9.00 pm Derek with some help of his friend Josh Rhone, (thanks Josh) had the motor out of the truck, for me on Saturday morning, well same problem Saturday, Derek had to work till 12.00 noon at the local Napa store, so I went into installing the motor by myself till Derek got home, well by 12.30 when Derek got home had motor in and was installing the intake, by 3.00 we were ready to fire, that’s when more problems occurred , had water leak, and water temp gauge was not working , by 4.15 we had everything completed and loaded on the trailer to head to the track. We arrive at the track at 4.55pm with more to due, had to adjust the timing, and check all the nuts and bolts to ensure we got everything tight, well finished everything just in time for hot laps, Both Derek and I relieved ready for the night’s action.
Derek went out for hot laps , with the same set-up from 2 weeks ago feature just to get laps in, comes in complaining of truck would not turn, so we go at doing some changes trying to “free up” the truck for the heat race, Heat race Derek draws position 8 in heat #1 with a lot of work to do , Derek runs a action-filled close side by side race with 4 trucks 2wide bumper to bumper for 5 laps of the heat race, and comes home in 3rd place, happy with the finish but still complaining truck would not turn, now it’s feature time, Derek is placed in the 4th starting position, drop of the green flag Derek is left to the outside trying to get to the bottom, by the time he gets there drops back to 8th position, first 10 laps run pretty uneventful , then the first of the cautions start and the craziness that this division brings at times, Derek restarts in 7 position, and we have another caution for a spin, Derek is in line under caution waiting to be told were he is to start, and the 44x takes exception to the position and decides to spin out Derek under caution, which in turn causes the 44x to be black flagged for the night, no worse for wear Derek restarts and turning very good lap times and moves into position 5 with 2 laps to go, when coming out of turn 4 he moves up the track allowing the 171 to jump to the inside at the white flag lap, not wanting to push the issue at hand Derek falls back and brings home a 6th place finish at the checkered flag. So another top 10 finish in all 5 starts this year, happy tried we load the truck to go get some well deserved sleep. Derek and I would like to thank our cousin Crystal Smith for coming into the pits to give us a hand, since Dad (Wayne) was away,
Next Race is August 15 at 6.30pm; it is Fan Appreciation Night $8.00 admission, and also the big “Got Good Cheese 500” for the Super Stocks. See ya at the races.
Week 5
Well the 53 truck arrived at the speedway Saturday afternoon to Sunny sky’s the first in awhile that there was no threatening rain clouds, we unloaded and prepared for the nights action, and hoping for another good night, well Derek prepares to line-up to go out for the hot lap session the truck quits on pit road? (2 weeks in a roll we are not able to go out during the session due to mechanical issues, we roll the truck back to our pit to dissect the problem, we found that the electric fuel pump is shot, so we go at changing it and fire up the truck to make sure the problem is solved. Now ready for the heat races, Derek starts 4 outside for the heat race, run a pretty uneventfully heat race has a nice race within the race with the 12 truck swapping back in forth , Derek complaining of truck would not turn, brings home a 4th place finish in it. So now off to the feature decide to due a few slight adjustments for the feature to try to get the truck to turn in the corner, (did air pressure and a slight sway bar adjustment), Now ready Derek starts 6th outside for the Feature, Feature goes pretty much green flag for the first 13 laps with Derek running about 7th position, when there is a incident in front of him involving the 17 and 22 truck brings the field under caution , Derek is now up to 5th place with 7 laps to go, on the restart Derek make a mistake going into turn 1 by drifting up the track opening up the bottom lane which in turn allows him to get passed by a couple of trucks, now in the lead pack of trucks with a lot of action going on with lots of passing happening Derek comes home with a 8th place finish at the checkered flag, well wanting a better finish Derek still maintain his streak of 4 straight top ten finishes in his first 4 feature finishes of the year, with Derek not running the first 2 races of the year, he have slowly creep up in the point standing(with less races) to just out of the top ten, which in itself is a major victory for us. Well no races this week(July 25) due to the Lewis County Fair, the next race will be the Big NASCAR weekend with Derek racing on Friday night July 31 at 7.00pm, and the NASCAR Camping World east show scheduled for 150 laps on Saturday August 1 at 6.30 pm. Derek is scheduled to have his truck on display Friday July 31 from 7am – 3pm at the Napa Store on Utica Blvd. Lowville , so be sure to stop by and check it out. See ya at the races.
Week 4
Well the weekend started out like most of this years weekends Rain! So Saturday’s racing was cancelled and moved till Sunday afternoon, and what a beautiful Sunday we had, the Sun was out, so off to the track we go, prepared for another week, we decided to try some changes to the race truck, for the heat races, Derek draws the 6 position for his heat, and runs a uneventful heat race bringing home a 4th place finish, the experiment that we tried did not seem to help it made us a tick slow so we decide to make changes back to our previous set-up for the feature. Feature time Derek draws the 10 starting spot, out of 19 truck field at the drop of the green flag, Derek works the truck to the low line into turn 1, the 22 truck decides to force the issue the first lap and does not give causing Derek and him to spin out, no worse for wear Derek re fires and is given back his starting spot and the 22 goes to the pits for repairs, on the restart Derek is starting to pick his way up moving up to 8th then on lap 4 Derek is running in the pack with a lot of action going on coming into turn 3 Derek is the Third truck outside, as in previous years Derek has learn that this is no place to be, so he lifts to get back in line putting him back to 13th place, and the race is on Derek is on the 9x bumper for the next 8-10 laps trying the outside then trying the inside, and each time does not have enough position to make the pass cleanly so he falls back in line, on lap 13 the 9x pushes up coming out of turn 4 allowing Derek enough room to make the pass cleanly going into turn 1, now Derek in some free air trying to make up some time lap 15 caution out for a incident in turn 3, Derek restarts in the 11 position, on the start is single file start with lots of work to do with 6 laps to go, working on the back of the 07 truck waiting for a opening to come. Lap 17 caution again for a spin in front of Derek, now with 3 laps to go Derek sitting in 10th position it is go time; the leader decides to slow the field to a crawl coming to the green. Derek decides to go high and makes a bold move at the drop of the green flag, Derek passed 5 trucks going into turn 1 moving up to 5 position unfortunately taking to much speed into the corner could not hold the position down leaving room on the bottom and losses some ground and at the checkered flag Derek comes home in 7thplace finish, another top 10 in the first 3 races, so hopefully and with some luck the finishes will keep coming better and better. See ya at the Races - 53 Lite Truck
Week 3
Well with the celebration of our nation this past Saturday, we head to the track for another action pack night and with a meet n greet and fireworks on the schedule at Adirondack Speedway, the weather for the day was on and off rain showers, we unload with threaten rain clouds, all the divisions got in there hot lap sessions before the start of the nights action, during the drivers pit meeting the rains came , and not just a light rain a downpour for 15-20 minutes, then it stops with the track totally soak, the track crew and drivers went out and tried to dry the track, what a great effort by all trying to dry the track for 2 hours the track just would not dry, so mother nature wins again the nights races are cancelled and reschedule till next weekend, what a disappointment for all, the 53 race team would like to thank all the great fans that hung in there waiting, hope you did enjoy the meet n greet and the fireworks show that they decided to have, (wish it would have been darker to really enjoy the fireworks) Thanks again for waiting it out, you truly are diehard fans that only want the best for the track and drivers.
Week 2
Well another week in the books, a good night of racing and another good hard fight to the finish, Derek came home in the feature with a 6th place finish out of a 19 truck field.
Week 1
Well after 2 weeks of rain outs, we were finally got to the track on Fathers day, Derek drew the 2nd heat in the lucky 7 position, things started out slow, but by lap 6 of the 8 lap heat race Derek had moved up to 2nd place, but the leader had moved out to far from Derek to him to mount any kind of challenge, so he brought the truck home in 2nd place finish, we were presently surprised and happy, Derek complained of a push in the truck and we went to work in trying to loosen up the push in the truck(Push in racing is truck will not turn in the corner under power, truck wants to Push or go up the track) So Dad and I went to work and try to get the truck better before the feature, Derek starts 4 outside for the feature, out of 16 truck field. Right off the green flag Derek jumps to the low side and moves up to 3rd place, by lap 2 , then the push we had hope we had removed showed up again, Derek stayed low on the track to protect the bottom. And forced anyone that wanted to pass him to pull him on the outside , Derek fought with the handle of the truck for the next 18 laps of the feature and was able to hold on for a 5th place finish, tried and disappointed that he did not finish higher, we were all very happy that he did as well as he did with the handling of the truck. Will go back to work on trying to improve the handling for next week. See ya at the races.
