The Smith family claimed three out of the five features last Wednesday at Buena Vista Raceway. The father, David, won in stock cars at the Alta, Iowa, dirt oval. His sons, Mike, 19, and Will, 14, scored victories in hobby stocks and bombers, respectively.
David comes from a family of racers himself. Five of his six brothers currently race or have raced at some point.
“It has never happened before where the three of us won at the same track on the same night,” David, of Lake City, Iowa, said, of his particular segment of the family. “It hasn’t happened, yet, for my brothers’ families. Their kids are not old enough to race.”
With a family history like that, it’s no wonder why David, Mike, and Will know their way to victory lane. Nevertheless, David wants to keep his kids humble.
“I teach my sons not to brag,” said David. “Bragging will catch up to you in the long run. You will have more fans if you keep quiet. When Mike won the [IMCA Speedway Motors] Super Nationals [at Iowa’s Boone Speedway], he was pretty mellow and not too excited. The announcers had to tell him to act like he was excited when he got out of the car.”
David’s strategy seems to work for Mike. Mike has 32 wins in 2023, and has sat atop the IMCA hobby stock national point standings for most of the year. Currently, he is tied for first with Zach Olmstead, of Overton, Nebraska.
The Smith family maintains their cars on their farm, along with the four cars that David’s brothers race.
“All of my brothers farm hogs,” David said. “We hire no help. We all help each other as needed.”
David imparts that same methodology with his Mike’s and Will’s cars.
“My sons work hard on their cars,” said David. “They pay for 90% of the parts they use on their race cars.”
The Buena Vista Raceway 2023 season concludes on Wednesday, August 23. Both Mike and Will lead the points for their classes. David sits one point out of first place.
“It would be nice for all three of us to win in one night again,” Will said. “This year is the last year we can do it. Two of us will probably be in the same division next year.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
