ARCA WEST: Last place finally catches up to a resilient David Smith in a DNF-free return to Tri-City
by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
Smith on track at Shasta two weeks before Saturday’s race at Tri-City (PHOTO: David Smith/Facebook)
David Smith picked up the 1st last-place finish of his ARCA Menards Series West career in Saturday’s NAPA Auto Care 150 at Tri-City Raceway when his No. 05 Toyota finished 15th after completing 134 of 150 laps.
The finish came in Smith’s 23rd career West Series start.
Few drivers embody the spirit of the ARCA Menards Series platform better than David Smith. The 74-year-old British Columbia native has been involved in racing for half a century. Smith’s NASCAR career started as a chassis builder in the 1970s before making a move to the driver’s seat over 20 years later. In 2011, he was inducted into the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame.
Smith’s life then took a turn for the worse, however, when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. In his 2020 documentary Before I’m Gone, Smith explains how serious the disease became: “I went and had all of my tests done … I said, ‘I know I’ve got an aggressive disease,’ and the oncologist said, ‘No, no, Mr. Smith, you don’t have an aggressive cancer, you have full-blown cancer. You need to be realistic, and you need to make plans. We’re not even going to bother to treat you at this point. We’re going to just put you in palliative care.’”
Unfazed by the prognosis, Smith called Dr. Charles Myers in Virginia, who offered him, in Smith’s words, “a second chance of life.”
“When you were diagnosed,” Myers recalled to Smith, “our understanding of prostate cancer was undergoing a major transition. The new idea that was coming out at that point was that prostate cancer actually moves in stages. They had not heard of it.”
Smith replied, “Yeah, they said it was untreatable, basically. I [went from being] diagnosed in Canada that you got cancer and you’re gonna die within the next few years, and there’s nothing you can do about it, to coming down to the United States, getting treated for cancer, having it go away, and it’s [been] five years now.”
Four years later, Smith finds himself in great health as the oldest full-time competitor in ARCA West. He first hinted at pursuing an ARCA career in a 2020 article in Victoria News, with the goal of becoming the oldest driver to win Rookie of the Year in ARCA history. After making three starts in 2022, Smith went full-time in the West Series in 2023, completing the full schedule and finishing tenth in the final standings with a best race finish of tenth at Irwindale.
This season - save for a crash in the season-opener at Phoenix - Smith has finished under power in every other race. He tied his career-best finish with another tenth-place run at Shasta two weeks ago and is currently on track to maintain his tenth-place rank in the 2024 drivers’ standings.
Smith was one of 15 entries for Saturday’s race, the first at Tri-City Raceway for the West Series since May 2003. Among those on the entry list were series debutants Jess Havens and Kasey Kleyn, making their debuts in Jerry Pitts and Brian Weis’ No. 6 and Mike Naake’s No. 88 cars respectively. Also returning to the series for the first time since 1996 was 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Greg Biffle, who finished ninth for Sigma Performance Services in their No. 23 Chevrolet despite a spin on Lap 115.
Following Smith up the running order was Danica Dart, whose return to the Kennealy Keller Motorsports No. 11 Chevrolet saw her match her season-best of 14th place as she completed 148 laps. That lap total was matched by the rest of the Bottom Five, as Eric Johnson, Jr., Rick Redig-Tackman, and Takmua Koga finished 13th, 12th, and 11th respectively.
At the front of the field, Tyler Reif and Sean Hingorani finished 1-2 for the second consecutive race, allowing Reif to extend his slight advantage in the championship standings to seven points over Hingorani.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
15) #05-David Smith / 134 laps / running
14) #11-Danica Dart / 148 laps / running
13) #19-Eric Johnson Jr. / 148 laps / running
12) #31-Rick Redig-Tackman / 148 laps / running
11) #7-Takuma Koga / 148 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 8 of 12)
1st) Fierce Creature Racing, Kennealy Keller Motorsports (2)
2nd) Nascimento Motorsports, Central Coast Racing, Jerry Pitts Racing, Shockwave Motorsports (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 8 of 12)
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (4)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE throughout the 2024 ARCA season to view the full drivers’ standings for both the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West divisions. You can also find the manufacturers’ and owners’ standings for all three series HERE.
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 8 of 12)
