Clint Smith
Clint Smith spent numerous years travelling across the highways of America as a contender on national Dirt Late Model circuits such as the World of Outlaws Late Models Series. The Georgia native scored race wins and competed for titles against the top stars in the sport while building a significant following of supporters along the way.
Now, however, the veteran driver stays closer to home as he races primarily at tracks such as Senoia Raceway, Dixie Speedway and Rome Speedway in the Peach State. But just because his travel time has been reduced over the past couple of seasons doesn’t mean Smith’s workload has decreased.
“It’s a lot more work,” Smith said of his current schedule in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “Now I can afford to adjust something every week and try something every week and develop something every week. When you’re on that road all you can do is come out with what you think is the best every night because you don’t have time to experiment with anything.”
Further, the racer known as ‘Cat Daddy’ dedicates much of his time throughout each week to the cause of assisting other drivers.
“I’ve also got about 25 cars that I work on around the house, trying to keep them on top of their game so I’ve got to stay on top of my game because when you’re not on the road racing and somebody comes up with something then you’re kind of left out in the dark,” Smith explained. “I’ve got to steadily develop stuff around my house. My car very seldom runs from week to week with the same setup because I’m in full experimental mode most of the time and that’s where I’ve got to be. I work on several cars at the shop all hours of the day so the workload has been a lot more but it’s a lot more solid money and not gambling so much. It’s a lot better for family life too.”
Unlike when he raced on the road for days or weeks at a time, the type of race day preparation has changed. And according to the driver, that is for the better in some ways, but it also has its drawbacks.
“It’s a major difference because we don’t have to worry about it there(Senoia) at the house because it ain’t but a mile back to the shop,” Smith described. “If we forget something, we just go back and get it. That’s a big drawback to not loading your rig every week because we used to load everything we had in the shop and now we just load the minimum. We actually don’t even load my car, we just take it on an open trailer just to keep from the hassle of loading it into the top of the trailer and having to use the lift gate and all that stuff.”
Cat Daddy(44) racing side-by-side with Morgan Bagley
One thing Smith doesn’t miss about life on the road is…life on the road.
“With the exception of the National 100 and the State race in Phenix City, Alabama for the last two years I’ve been in my house sleeping every night.”
