David Bryant with BMS driver Donald McIntosh
It has been said that preparation of a dirt track is part science and part art. But David Bryant would also add that there is a great deal of hard work involved in the equation as well. The crew chief for Larry Garner’s Blount Motorsports race team also plays a significant role in getting the surface at Smoky Mountain Speedway in racing shape.
And to get ready for a happening such as this Saturday’s World of Outlaws Late Models event, preparation begins well before race day. Bryant, along with track co-owner Kevin Coffey, will log plenty of hours leading up to the weekend’s activities.
“I actually started last Friday morning when Darrell Lanigan went there and tested,” Bryant pointed out. “As soon as he was done testing, I went out and prepped it back down and tightened it up good – got it good and smooth – and started just putting some water on it. We’ve got it situated enough now so that when you get your dirt in place and get it tightened up you can pretty much maneuver it with just water.”
Waiting until race day to start working on the racing surface is not an option.
“I’ll probably start on Monday evening and go down there every night and add about three loads of water to the top of it and try to get the water bled through the banking,” Bryant explained. “It’s weird, but once you can get it to drink the water, it’s a better surface. If you try to rush it with water, the water runs down and you get slop in the bottom. My method – which nobody taught, it’s just my own doing – is I just try to bleed it through the top and get it to soak all the way through the bottom. If you do that every night with about three or four loads, you might pack it once later in the week, then add some more. There’s a lot to it. That’s a big racetrack to get groomed well.”
The hope is that the racing surface at SMS will be fast and smooth this weekend.
However, there is one factor that can completely change all the rules of track preparation. Mother Nature sometimes has her own plans, and those plans may run contrary to those of the track grooming artist. And getting a feel for what each specific track, and particular parts of that track, needs is key to the success of preparation.
“Weather is a game changer,” Bryant declared. “You can be one load of water from a hero to a zero. Cloud cover and the amount of rain can make a big difference. If it rains, it might suck up water in turn one and nowhere else, so you might have a mess in turn one. It’s all an educated guess.”
There is one instrument that Bryant hopes to employ as little as possible at the facility jointly owned by Coffey, Garner, Roger Sellers and Stanley Best.
“The grader makes a lot of work,” Bryant said. “Of course, if you’ve got holes, you have to grade. But between Kevin and I, we try to keep the grader off of it all we can and just do it kind of like an ironing process with just watering and ironing.”
Filling the grandstands with fans is the ultimate goal of those who prepare the track at SMS.
So what’s the purpose of all this work and preparation?
“It’s all about trying to please the fans,” Bryant emphasized. “You kind of listen to what your fans want. Your goal is to have two grooves of racing and not a lot of dust. I think we’ve produced that between Kevin and me learning how to do it together. It’s really worked out. For a big racetrack, I think their events have been really good.”
