"The True First Lady of Racing"

This is tough, emotionally. Louise Smith passed away this past weekend. Southern stock car racing lost a huge piece of its history but gained a permanent marker to its legacy. For Louise Smith was, in my opinion, a true legacy. I don't think Louise ever met a stranger. If she did, they didn't remain strangers for long.

I was about 30 or so when I first met Louise in the late 70's. She was sponsoring a "Baby Grand" car (that's what they called the Ford Pintos and Chevy Vegas that raced back then) driven by Larry Pearson. She loved the Pearsons (David, Helen, and their three sons Larry, Ricky, and Eddie). If she liked you, you were a "friend" for life.

During our involvement, there was a story that points that out. She came to Gaffney for a shrine sponsored race one Saturday night. The events of that evening changed a portion of Nascar history and it was my fault. My Dad had a motorhome at the time and we took it to Gaffney. David, an active shriner at the time, was there to help promote the event with a race against his former boss and friend, Cotton Owens. Larry came over there with him. Louise, living in Greenville, came as well. We all got on top of Daddy's motorhome to watch David and Cotton race. David won (as usual). He had to cut Cotton off to do it, though (haha).

After that, Louise, my dad, myself, Larry, and several dirt track buddies went inside the motorhome. For the rest of the evening, Louise kept us laughing with tons of racing stories. One of which involved her rings. Louise wore a lot of rings. As she told us stories of how she got each one and their value, one of the racing buddies, (I hate it. I can't remember his name.) commented on how the value of just one ring would pay for a whole season with his dirt track car. At that point she admitted that the rings s