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SMART Modified Tour

Smart modified tour releases 2024 schedule.

• December 6, 2023

The SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic released their 2024 season schedule Tuesday from its Martinsville, Virginia headquarters. The schedule will consist of 15 races across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for the 600-horsepower open wheeled race cars.

A few surprises are hidden within the 2024 SMART Modified Tour schedule. The first and biggest is how the Tour will end its season, with the championship finale being held at historic North Wilkesboro Speedway (NC) in conjunction with the CARS Tour on October 19. An announcement was made in creative fashion, with a video starring 2023 SMART Mod Champ Burt Myers and zMAX CARS Tour Co-owner and NASCAR Cup Series veteran Kevin Harvick.

“I think it’s a big thing for the SMART Tour to close the season there,” says Myers. “Being a part of the video with Kevin, Chris and (Matthew) Dillner was a lot of fun. The ownership group at the CARS Tour really gets it. From Dale (Earnhardt) Jr, to Kevin, Jeff Burton to Justin Marks, those guys have been there and done that in the sport and know how hard it is to be a Short Track racer. Sometimes you race Saturdays and then you watch on Sundays and can feel forgotten. That ownership group has come together to give back to the Short Tracks. Think about it, maybe five years ago this wouldn’t have happened?  Kevin might not have done that skit. But all of those guys are doing the right things to give back to the sport and the short track community. The same can be said of Chris Williams and the SMART Tour for advancing Mod racing down here. And for Marcus (Smith) and SMI for all they’ve done to get North Wilkesboro back as a premiere Short Track.”

“There is so much history there with all of racing, especially with Modifieds and SMART,” adds SMART Modified driver Brandon Ward.  “I’ve gotten to race on the old surface and am excited to get on the new pavement. To share the stage with another great series like the CARS Tour is another unique opportunity. To settle championships with two great full-fendered divisions and our Tour is a great ticket for any race fan.”

A new twist for the 2024 SMART season is a summer double-header between two-tracks on the coast of North Carolina during Labor Day weekend. The annual Carteret Clash, held at Swansboro, NC’s Carteret County Speedway will now be preceded on Friday night by the Pace-O-Matic 99 at nearby New River All-American Speedway. The Friday-Saturday double will be a first for the modern-era of the SMART Modified Tour. The Beach weekend has family-man Brandon Ward excited.

“We love racing at the beach,” says Ward, a husband and father to an eight-year-old daughter. “The coast of North Carolina is beautiful and we always love when our family can make a vacation around racing. We used to do that with racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway all the time. Now it doubles the reason for us to take a beach vacation with running New River and Carteret back-to-back.

“I’ve raced on a Friday night with SMART and then gone and ran at Bowman Gray on Saturday night in the Modified. That in itself is awesome to do as a racer. To have our Tour do that back-to-back is special. It does have an old school feel where you might have to go to the parking lot of the hotel after Friday night to hammer some body panels or replace a bumper or nerf bar. It can be exciting, challenging or even a disaster if you get caught up in a crash or have an engine failure in the first race. There’s two paths that double-header can take, but one thing is for absolute certain, the excitement level for the drivers, teams and fans will be there no matter what.”

Myers, a three-time SMART Tour Champion, thinks the beach double can be an advantage to a race team.

“Economically it works out for us racers,” explains Myers. “You are already down there, so now running two shows, a Friday and Saturday just 40-mins apart, should help everybody that is going down there make the trip more worthwhile. Racing and a couple of days on the beach isn’t a bad thing.”

Another surprise on the schedule was the spring-race at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway being named “The King of the Modifieds.”  SMART Modified Tour director Chris Williams has been keeping details of the race close to his vest, making most in the Southern Modified scene curious about the March 23rd event.

“I’m intrigued by the King of the Modifieds race,” says Myers. “There’s some talk going around about it already about what Chris is trying to do and it has us excited. We see a lot of big dirt races across the country and you see some of them on FloRacing. That world has so many big money shows with 50 to 60 cars. The idea of Mods potentially being able to do something bigger than normal is cool. It wasn’t long ago that Southern Modified racing was perceived as dying and now it’s become very healthy in a short amount of time.”

“Mods in the south need a crown jewel event and something new,” says Brandon Ward. “It’s time for something new because every so often, you have to do something different and not get too habitual. This new event, a big event, whatever it is, has me excited. Maybe it attracts some more northern Modified teams? It’s the perfect place to do it because you can race hard at South Boston. The track is big enough and pit road is big enough. Knowing something is coming down the pipeline, and something bigger is being efforted, should have everybody in the sport excited.”

Hey @CARSTour and @KevinHarvick ! Y'all got room for the @SMARTMods_ at @NWBSpeedway on October 19? pic.twitter.com/VqtCp7ej0R — FloRacing (@FloRacing) December 5, 2023

There are several highlights on the schedule for SMART. The newly improved Tri-County Speedway in Granite Falls, NC, with its state-of-the-art lighting system, moves from a fall event to the spring with the Cardinal 99 on March 30. Also moving to the spring season is Orange County Speedway’s “Rumble in Rougemont” which will take place on Saturday April 6 in Rougemont, NC. The third annual Hickory Hundred carries on the long-time legacy of Modified racing at historic Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on April 13. Traditional Southern Mod staple Franklin County Speedway (VA) runs the Kenny Minter Classic on May 24. The Inaugural Mod Squad Nationals will be held on Wednesday night September 18, before Bristol’s NASCAR weekend kicks off, at Virginia’s Lonesome Pine Speedway. On the schedule to be the penultimate race of the season is a 99-lapper at Little Rockingham Speedway behind the historic Rockingham Speedway (NC).

Caraway Speedway will hold three races on the SMART Tour. The Warrior 100 is the second race of the SMART season on Sunday March 10. The Independence weekend tradition of the Revolutionary 99 continues on Saturday July 6. The additional date comes with the move of the Robert Jeffreys Memorial to the Sophia, NC half-mile speedplant on September 7.

Another event will move locations in 2024 with the “Flying VA Classic,” honoring Southern Modified great Ray Hendrick, sliding north from South Boston to the ultra-modern Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia on September 14.

“Ray Hendrick is one of the greatest to ever race a Modified and he’s from Richmond,” says Myers. “Dominion is  one of my favorite tracks. Years ago, I was a keynote speaker at their banquet. When I saw the place for the first time that day and then turned some laps in a Late Model, this was a pure Modified track. It’s made for Modified racing. I want to take that victory lap with the Ray Hendrick Flying 11 and get the SMARTY from Roy Hendrick. At Franklin County I got to take a victory lap alongside Gerald Compton’s car and that was a cool experience. Things like that and the title-belt for the Rumble in Rougemont at Orange County makes you motivated even more to win a race.”

“I think what we’ve done to honor Ray Hendrick is special,” says Ward, who has finished second in SMART Modified Tour points for the last two-seasons. “That victory lap with his Flying 11 is iconic and makes you want to win that race. The creativity behind that concept and all the things that SMART does to make these races special is amazing.”

All 15-races for the SMART Modified Tour will be broadcast live on FloRacing.

“It’s big for us to be on FloRacing,” explains Brandon Ward. “For example: Take Bowman Gray Stadium (Brandon Ward is the 2023 Modified Division Track Champion at Stadium) and they race weekly in front of the same fans every week. Now, you put it on Flo and the whole country knows about it.  You take our platform with SMART and expose it to more people and that is a big thing for the drivers, sponsors, and teams.

“My family loves it.  My little girl loves Flo because she gets to watch every race she can not attend. Streaming in general has a huge advantage. It doesn’t keep people from attending events. It makes it easy to follow a Tour and gets them to want to come to more events. The fans that live too far away to attend get to watch it and are exposed to the SMART Modified Tour.”

2024 SMART Modified Tour Schedule

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Young Racer Luke Baldwin Tops the King of the Modifieds Smart Modified Tour Field

• Asphalt Modified Series
• SMART Modified Tour
• South Boston Speedway

Phil Cavali Photo from Smart Modified Facebook

(South Boston, VA) The youth movement on the SMART Modified Tour this season continued Sunday afternoon at South Boston Speedway as 17- year- old Luke Baldwin held off veteran Matt Hirshman to win the King of the Modified race.

The win was the 1st of Baldwin’s career in only his 3rd start on the SMART Tour and netted him a $20,000 payday.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” the young racer said after edging “Big Money” Matt Hirschman by .415-seconds in a 17-lap sprint to the finish following the last of the race’s six caution periods.

“Matt Hirschman is the guy to beat in Tour-Type Modified competition. To put my name above his and guys like Doug Coby, Woody Pitkat, Burt Myers and Ryan Newman, it’s unbelievable. It means so much to bring this home for the Sadler-Stanley Racing Team, everybody at Pace-O-Matic, and team owners Hermie (Sadler) and Senator (Bill) Stanley were here as well. I’m just super glad to bring one home for those guys.”

Baldwin, the son of longtime Modified team owner and former Cup Series crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., took the lead from Hirschman on lap 99 and led the final 27 circuits on the .4-mile oval. In qualifying, Baldwin showed his speed by setting a new track record for the SMART Modified Tour with a lap of 13.610 seconds and 105.805 mile-per-hour.

A late-race adjustment by his crew chief was a big key to Baldwin’s victory. “This thing was an absolute rocket ship,” Baldwin remarked. “Neal Cantor played a 90 percent role in winning this race with a great late-race adjustment coming off of pit road with about 50 (laps) to go that made the car really good on the short run.”

His father was exceptionally proud.

“He put on a clinic. … For a 17-year-old to have that much speed and talent. He passed Hirschman twice. Ninety-five percent of the racing Modified world has never passed Matt Hirschman. He passed him twice.”

“It has been a whirlwind the last couple of months with everything going on,” Baldwin Jr said in victory lane.  “For him getting called to drive that car and I didn’t have anything to do with it. They called and asked for him to drive. Yeah ok, …right out of the box he was fast. I knew he was going to be good, just not this good.”

Hirschman, who led a total of 95 laps, had a tough outing, yet he still was able to challenge for the win before having to settle for second place and the $10,000 runner-up prize.

First, following a caution period on lap 40 involving Doug Coby, Coby accidentally backed into Hirschman’s car and banged into Hirschman’s left front tire.

Later, Hirschman was involved in a multi-car incident on lap 107 that appeared to start when Hirshman made contact with Jake Crum while battling for 2nd place 

“I didn’t have quite enough to win,” Hirschman pointed out. “I had some things throughout the race, some unfortunate things that happened, some maybe that I take responsibility for. Other things happened like I got a little front-end damage that shouldn’t have happened. Then there was a big wreck on the backstretch where I misjudged. I thought I was clear coming up off the (corner) and when that call was made it was too late. I believe that put the 12 (Jake Crum) into the wall and got other guys wrecked, so, it was not the day we wanted to have.”

Despite that, Hirschman remained in contention at the end. “He (Baldwin) slipped a couple of times, and I was kind of there,” noted Hirschman. “If I thought we had enough 

to win, I would have tried to get the job done. I think it played out the way it probably should have.”

Finishing 3rd in the race was six- time Whelen Modified Champion Doug Coby-piloting the Tommy Baldwin owned 7NY- who battled back from two incidents that could have ended his day early.                                                                                                                                          

” This was pretty wild,” Coby said. “This track is so fun and so fast but man when they all check up on the backstretch you really can’t do anything. Two wrecks there …Came home third, I’d like to say the car is in one piece, we’ll give it like seven/eights of a piece

Rounding out the top- five in the 125- lap race was Jonathon Cash in the second Sadler -Stanley entry and Anthony Bello driving for long time modified campaigner Hillbilly Racing.

The next event for the SMART modified tour will be the Cardinal 99 this Saturday March 30th, at Tri-County Speedway in Granite Falls, NC.

               SMART Tour King of the Modifieds South Boston Speedway               March 24 2024-Unofficial Results

• Luke Baldwin
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• Ryan Newman
• Austin Kochenash
• Andrew Krause
• Stephen Kopcik
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• Jimmy Blewett

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Castrol floracing at spoon river, short track super series at delaware, castrol floracing at lincoln, thursday night thunder at marshalltown, mwdrs throwdown in t-town, spring sizzler make-up at stafford, usac sprints at bloomington, thunder on the thruway at utica-rome, kubota high limit racing at 34 raceway, lucas oil late models at farmer city, 360 sprints at silver dollar, nascar weekly racing at riverhead, weekly racing at south boston, nascar weekly racing at berlin, smart modified tour king of the modifieds event gets even richer, the inaugural king of the modifieds event at south boston speedway for the smart modified tour has become one of the richest races in division history..

A chance to be crowned King of the Modifieds is incentive enough for most teams in America to compete in the inaugural event on Saturday, March 23, at South Boston Speedway in Virginia. Now, thanks to recent sponsorships from Dominion Energy, Vista Installations and the Stanley Law Group, the purse will increase for the crown jewel event for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic.

2024 SMART Modified Tour King of the Modifieds at South Boston Speedway

The Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds is now one of the richest purses in Modified racing. In addition to the $20,000 first place prize, it was announced today that the second-place finisher will score $10,000. If you are one of the 36 starters for the event, you will be guaranteed to take home at least $1,200.

“I am excited to add Dominion Energy to the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds. This will make the event the true crown jewel we were hoping it would be,” said Chris Williams, Series Director for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic. “Pace-O-Matic powers the series and Dominion Energy now makes this an event for the ages. We can’t thank these sponsors and Senator Stanley enough, for all they do for our series, as well as Virginia short tracks and local businesses. They have helped build this historical event at South Boston Speedway to the magnitude that it is.”

Vista Installations, a family-owned window and door installation company for more than 50 years, is one of the companies helping build the purse to its historic mark. Stanley Law Group of Virginia is the title sponsor of “The King's Court,” which will be the area in which the winning team and the top-three finishers celebrate at the conclusion of the event.

A total of 32 cars will lock in from qualifying on Saturday, March 23, at South Boston Speedway. The tally will be made up of the top-18 in current SMART Tour points that have participated in the first two events of the season, as well as 14 other starters from time trials. That group will be lined up via their qualifying time for the starting order of the race. An additional four cars will earn their way through a last-chance race, which will bring the total to 36 starters. The series reserves the right of an optional provisional starting spot.

The schedule of the event weekend has also been released. A tech day for teams will occur on Friday, March 22. Registration will open at 10am. There will be no practice for SMART Modifieds on Friday. Race day, on Saturday, March 23, will see registration open at 7am, qualifying at approximately Noon and the Dominion Energy Last Chance Race for SMART Modifieds to begin shortly after 2pm ET.

Discounted tickets for the Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds are available though the South Boston Speedway website. General admission tickets are available now for $17. That price will be $20 on race day, Saturday, March 23. Children 12 and under are free for this event. The Sentara Health Late Models and the VSP HEAT Hornets will also be in action.

In 2024, SMART fans will be treated to 15 races at 13 different facilities in the tri-state region of North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia. 15 year-old Carson Loftin won the first event of the season, the Peanut Patch 99, on Saturday, March 2, at Florence Motor Speedway in South Carolina.

The season continues when the 600-horsepower Modifieds tackle the Warrior 100 at Caraway Speedway in Sophia, NC on Sunday, March 10.

The season commences at the famed North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, October 19.

All races can also be seen on FloRacing, the official streaming broadcast partner of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic

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• South Boston Speedway

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SMART Modified Tour Operator Chris Williams On The Latest Unmuffled

On Episode 147 of Unmuffled we catch up with Chris Williams, operator of the SMART Modified Tour, which kicked off its 2024 season Saturday in Florence, S.C. Before we jump in with Chris we’ll also take a look back at some recent news locally.

Episode 147 of Unmuffled is presented by our Patreon marketing partners from New England Racing Fuel , Swanson Buick/GMC ,  LifeCare Family Chiropractic , Mid-State Site Development , Monaco Ford , SAFCO Foam , Tick Mike’s Organic Tick & Mosquito Spray , Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series , Hoosier Tire East , Casagrande Builders , Falmouth Ready Mix , Wheelers Auto , Worldband Technical Consultants , Sign Pro , North End Auto Parts ,  Magna Steel Sales , United Stone & Site ,  Riverhead Raceway , Stafford Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway .

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