A Talk With Jack Smith


Beach Controversy

Jack Smith slides through the turn at Macon in the '40s.

Jack Smith slides through the turn at Macon in the '40s.

I asked him about the controversial win at Daytona Beach in 1952 when Tim Flock was disqualified over his protests to Flock’s wooden roll bar deal, and hence gave the win to Smith.

“Well, Tim raced someone’s car that day that they had brought down from North Carolina that they never really intended on racing, so that is where the roll bar story started.  The point is the race was already in progress when he finished building his roll bars and got in the event, so there were two laps never counted against him.  I’m sorry it happened but the scorers messed up.”

“I have no problems with the roll bar theory, but it was the missing laps and not the missing roll bars,” Smith concluded.

While we were talking about Daytona, Jack also noted the real money was made days before the race.

“After 1956 they put an end to it,” Jack said.  “But before that, many of the drivers and especially the big money men would have their cars race up and down the beach at night.  They had their own flagmen and announcers.  A bunch of money was passing hands back then.”

Roy Bishop, Ed "Jughead" Williams and Smith pose in front of Jack's car #2B at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway before the race on June 11, 1950, the day of Skimp Hersey's fatal accident.

Roy Bishop, Ed "Jughead" Williams and Smith pose in front of Jack's car #2B at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway before the race on June 11, 1950, the day of Skimp Hersey's fatal accident.

Speaking of big money, I asked Jack about the guys that drove for Raymond Parks, such as Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, Bill France, Bob and Fonty Flock and Norman Wrigley, as to who was the best and if he wished he had driven for Mr. Parks.

“Well,” he said, “it would be hard to pick because they had such good equipment with Red Vogt working on the cars.  Personally, a lot of drivers would have won under those circumstances, but I’d say Bob Flock was the best of the group.

“Anyway, I was driving for Bob Richards and Ed “Jughead” Williams around that time under the E&S Racing Team, so I didn’t want to change carts in mid-stream.  I knew what I had was good.  I drove for those guys for a few years.  Both Ed Samples and Fonty Flock drove a few races with them in 1947 before I got with them.”

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