Ashley Smith Makes Racing History

Wes Vork-NSO

July 17

Wes Vork-NSO

Having the opportunity to be a part of making history is something that usually comes once in a lifetime, if at all, for most people. By hard work and dedication to her sport, Ashley Smith of South Range, Wisconsin put herself in a position to take advantage of that opportunity. On Wednesday night Smith became the first ever female feature winner at Amsoil Speedway in Superior.

“It was really exciting, for the next three days, I’m like, Dad, I’m a part of history. It was like it didn’t register for a while.” Smith told Northland Sports Online. “She didn’t get a lot of sleep that night, one of her Facebook posts was at 4:10 AM,” added her father Jeff Smith.

To put in perspective just how significant Smith’s win was, one needs to look at the history of the speedway, which will celebrate its 50th year of organized racing next season. Started as a 5/8 mile oval, the track hosted races during the fair days in the 40’s and 50’s. “They used to race Model T Fords over there, so that tells you how far back it (the speedway) goes,” stated longtime area
race organizer Crash Carlson. In 1962 regular racing was organized and the track was called “Tri-State Speedway”. Later the name was changed to Superior Speedway and this season re-named Amsoil Speedway, after its main sponsor.

The track has seen several female drivers compete over the years, including some famous ones. Erin Crocker, the wife of one time NASCAR owner Ray Evernham, led for a few laps during an IRA Sprint car stop-over in 2009, but ended up finishing third. Through all of the years of changes and racing at the speedway, the one thing that remained constant was that no female driver made an appearance in victory lane.

Amsoil speedway was the last remaining area track to not have a female win a feature race. LeRae Ralidak of Meadowlands has won at Proctor, Grand Rapids, and Hibbing while Chanda Fjorden-Nord of Luck Wisconsin made her way to victory lane in Ashland.

Smith changed all
that on Wednesday night when she won both her heat and feature races in the Pure Stock division. Though only 21 years old, Smith is anything but a rookie, 2011 marks her sixth year of Pure Stock Racing, coupled with three years of high speed go-carts before that makes her a nine year veteran of the sport. “I started (Pure Stocks) when I was 15. It was kind of funny that I was
racing before I had drivers ed in school,” mentioned Smith.

Although the first year or so was a bit rough, Smith is doing just fine now and having a great year, mostly at Amsoil Speedway in Superior. “It was a little tough at first, it probably took a year and a half to get the car dialed in and me being comfortable in the car,” Smith commented. Those days of learning are paying off for her now. As of July 18, she is leading the ultra competitive Pure Stock division at Amsoil Speedway by 8 points.

Although she is the driver of the #23 car, Smith was quick to point out that it takes a total team effort and credited her father Jeff and pitman Jim Cooper for helping create what has been a very successful season so far. Smith also mentioned that without all of her generous sponsors, fielding a competitive car would be much harder to do.

Racing in Proctor for the first time this season on Sunday, Smith finished fourth in her heat race and fifth in the featue on Sunday.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com