Louise Smith was ‘first lady of stock car racing’

Bless her heart. Louise Duvall Smith was a “natural” as stock car racer…but she was prone to crash a lot.

 

Born in Barnesville, Ga., Louise went on to be a barnstormer for a newly formed racing organization that became the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Louise was recruited to become a driver by Bill France Sr., who was the mastermind of the organization.

 

She got her start when the Duvalls relocated to Greenville, S.C. Louise was 7 years old when she cranked up her father’s Model T Ford and began driving it around in the backyard. 

Louise once told Sandra McKee of The Baltimore Sun: “I drove around in circles and then I ran right into the chicken house. That’s the only way I could get stopped.” 

Her confession: “The chicken house was destroyed, and the car didn’t look so good either. My father tanned me good.” 

Louise married Noah Smith, who operated an auto parts business and junkyard in Greenville. 

France had been eager to sign a “crazy female driver “who could handle the challenges of the track and hopefully bring more women out to the races.” Greenville locals suggested Louise Smith, because “she’s the craziest woman we’ve got, and she’s been outrunning lawmen for years.” 

In 1946, France entered Smith in a local race driving a modified 1939 Ford coupe as a bit of a test run. She recalled: “They told me if I saw a red flag to stop. They didn’t say anything about a checkered flag.” 

“I’m out there at the end just flyin’ around the track all alone. Finally, somebody remembered…so they gave me a red flag, and I stopped.” She finished third in that race. 

Louise was hooked. One racing storyteller said: “To observe the big Daytona Beach race in 1947, she took off for Florida in her husband’s brand-new Ford to watch the cars run on the beach, but when she got there, she popped the trunk open. Mechanics installed a ‘special engine’ that Louise had stashed away.” 

“When I got to the ‘north turn,’ seven cars were piled up. I hit the back of one of them, went up in the air, cut a flip and landed on my top. Some police officers turned the car back over, and I finished 13th.” 

She took a bus back to Greenville and told her husband the Ford broke down on the side of the road in Augusta, Ga. “What she didn’t realize was that a photo of her spectacular crash at Daytona had made its way onto the front pages of newspapers across the country, including the Greenville News.”

 

Noah Smith was Louise’s first racing sponsor. Her No. 94 car was emblazoned with the words: “Smith’s Auto Parts.” Later, she picked up Leslie Motor Co. of Greenville, S.C., the local Nash dealer and went racing in a 1950 Nash Ambassador model.

 

Although Louise Smith was dubbed the “first lady of stock car racing,” there were other females pioneers, including Ethel Flock Mobley of Fort Payne, Ala. She was named after the type of gasoline her father used to fuel up his taxi – “ethyl.” 

She was one of the “flying Flocks,” joining brothers Tim, Fonty and Bob Flock as fearsome racecar drivers.

 

 

Spirit of Occoneechee lives on through ‘Cars 3’ film

 Racecar driver Louise Smith had her photograph on the cover of the souvenir race program for the 1950 NASCAR event at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsborough, N.C. You can barely see her, though, as she’s squished up inside the crumpled wreck that used to be her ride. 

The photograph must have been a “reenactment,” shot as a publicity picture, because a close-up view shows Louise smiling with spectators all around posing for the camera.

 

Smith had a doozy of a wreck during a practice run at the 1949 race at Occoneechee. She lost control on a turn, and her car barreled into the woods. She got banged up pretty seriously; her injuries required surgery. 

Louise Smith was quite good at crashing…and also at winning. She claimed 38 titles in four different racing divisions during a 10-year racing career.

 

“Occoneechee Speedway was perhaps the toughest track of all,” wrote racing historian Matt McLaughlin. “The length of the (one-mile) dirt track made for high speeds, while the nature of the place made for deep ruts that tore cars’ undercarriages to shreds, and when it rained, mud deep enough to swallow a Jeep CJ5 whole.” 

They raced at Occoneechee for 20 years, and McLaughlin said the last one on Sept. 15, 1968, was something special. 

“Richard Petty and David Pearson closed things out in style for the tough old track. The two winningest drivers on the circuit that year waged an epic, fender crunching, bumper banging, paint swapping war out on the track,” McLaughlin said. 

“Both cars were badly bent up, and Pearson finally lost an engine on lap 120 (of 167). That allowed Richard to take the win by a remarkable seven-lap margin over James Hylton.” 

That 1968 race was Richard Petty’s third win at Occoneechee between 1958-68, matching the record of his father, Lee Petty, who won three races on the same track between 1949-60. 

Modern-day NASCAR fans can get a feel for the flavor of Occoneechee by watching the 2017 Disney Pixar animated film “Cars 3.” The fictional Thomasville Speedway displays characteristics of Occoneechee. 

Four new characters are introduced in Cars 3. A sub-plot revolves around “Smokey,” a 1946 Hudson pick-up truck, painted reddish-orange. The character is patterned after Henry “Smokey” Yunick of Neshaminy Falls, Pa., an early NASCAR mechanic and crew chief. 

In the film, Smokey hosts three of the “legends” of racing at his favorite tavern. 

One of those guests, inspired by Louise Smith, is “Louise ‘Barnstormer’ Nash.” She’s a 1950 Nash Ambassador, beige with a pink roof. Louise has whitewall tires and No. 94 on her doors.

 

Another is “River Scott,” who is described as a 1938 Dirt Track Racer, dark gray and wearing No. 34. He’s modeled after racer Wendell Scott of Danville, Va., who was the first African-American driver to win a premier NASCAR event in 1961.

 

The last of the legends is “Junior ‘Midnight’ Moon,” who depicts Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. of Ronda, N.C. He was known as Junior Johnson around the track. In the film, Junior is shown as a black 1940 Ford coupe, old No. 11.

 

Back to reality: Both Wendell Scott and Junior Johnson raced at Occoneechee. Scott made 12 starts between 1961-68, and his best finish was fourth in 1964. 

Johnson had 14 starts between 1955-66. He won the race in 1963, and actress Jayne Mansfield presented him with the winner’s trophy…and a “big kiss” in victory lane.

 

It was reported that “farm boy Junior Johnson enjoyed the moment.”