Track Prep with Track Promotor and Racing Series President – Jason Smoot
Kate interviewed Jason Smoot on this episode of the Racing Insiders Podcast, also known as “Mr. Smooth,” and the driving force behind American Racer Modifieds presented by Velocita-USA and BLUE RIDGE Outlaw Late Models.
Jason will be exhibiting at the CARS Racing Show along with American Racer South Modifieds and Blue Ridge Outlaws in Booth 613. You can learn more about the series, as well as ask Jason any questions that weren’t answered in this interview at the show.
Track Prep Advice
The best advice I can give them is the guy that trained me is Peery Brown. He keeps a video up. He’s got a page called Wythe Raceway Track Prep. And when I started doing Ultimate Motorsports Park, when I first started doing it, I’ll tell you I had a cornfield. It was terrible. You know, I did everything I thought it was right. And I finally said you know what, I gotta call somebody. So who do they call Peery and Winky McGee, they the two that taught me and if anybody hadn’t ever done it, they’ll go to that with raceway track prep page. They can learn how to fix a racetrack, but the problem is the dirt’s different on some of them so you got to figure out what the dirt likes and I’ve done four different tracks this year and all four of them you’ve pretty much gotta do a little different. Peery Brown is the man when it comes to fixing a racetrack and showing you how to do it and winning the game. I have to give it to him. They’ve taught me everything I know about it. And I don’t know I just love doing it.
Yeah, me and Peery. We were really good friends. And he has taught me a lot over the years. I say we’ll tell everybody. If you want to know something, go watch his page, you’ll learn a lot. My biggest thing is people want to do too much to a racetrack. That was my problem. I wanted to do too much. When I was doing Friendship. I was doing everything I thought I was what you got to do. This is what you got to do. And Peery, he said you working it too much. You’ve gotta let it sleep- what he called sleep. Bond. So that’s why a lot of people see my videos because I do the videos when I’m thinking the racetrack let them know, you know, I’m fixing this track. I’m doing all I can. And he was just, it was just crazy. Everything that he showed me over, not a lot of time. But I get them on Monday or Tuesday. I do not want to fix a racetrack til Wednesday. It has to sit there and bond, it’s gotta sit to actually combine together. You know, we do a lot on Friday nights and best thing to do is not open that track back up. You let that thing crack open, throw the water to it, she’ll be just fine.
Jason announced a new series, the Southern Wedge Late Model Association (SWLA), during this interview. More information is to come, so be sure to follow the series on Facebook. SWLA will also be at the CARS Racing Show in January 2024.
“This year, I’m really looking forward to the CARS Racing Show, because call me crazy, but I’m starting a new series next year. We’re bringing out the Southern Wedge Late Model Association. Which we’re bringing out the old school wedge cars. And we hope to have one of the cars done and released sitting in the booth at the show, that’s what we’re working on right now getting that together.” – Jason Smoot
Check out the schedules for the series:
