Southern Roots

Jack Smith with the Paul Trammell Jewelry car that he started his career in. Smith and Jack Etheridge both drove the car to several victories.

I asked Jack a few brief questions about himself and racing.  The most obvious thing was that he was born in Illinois but moved to Georgia when he was two, so for all purposes he is a Southerner.

His family lived in Roswell and Sandy Springs, Georgia before leaving for Spartanburg in the early sixties to be more in the center of the racing communities.

“If you’re racing mostly in the Carolinas, it makes no sense living in Atlanta, even though in the forties that city was the hub of racing,” Smith said.

Which is where Jack’s first race was, at Thomaston, Georgia in 1946.

He explained, “I used to watch those guys before the war out at Lakewood and knew I could do that.  When I got old enough, I entered a race in Thomaston.  I qualified second to defending national champion Roy Hall, but after the race started, I spun out a whole bunch, so I knew I had some learning ahead of me.”

In 1947 he started driving for Atlanta jeweler Paul Trammell and won quite a few races.  From there he was on his way.

“Paul hated for us to race at Daytona’s road and beach course,” said Jack.  “He felt that place was not a track and all you would do is tear up your car, so usually we would go run at Richmond, Virginia instead.”