– First SDW 200 Victory For Smith; Sixth For Crew Chief Scott Jeffrey –
Darren Smith Charges From 16th In Five Laps To Win SDW 200 With Final-Corner Pass

By LEN SAMMONS
In an incredible late-race charge, Darren Smith gambled on fresh tires with just five laps remaining in Saturday night’s Super DIRT Week 200 at Oswego Speedway. Restarting 16th, Smith charged through the field and made a last-corner pass of Mat Williamson to steal the victory at the finish line, sending the stunned crowd into a frenzy.
“Holy cow, I can’t believe it. This is just so wild, so awesome,” said a shocked Smith among a group of well-wishers in his pit area after hoisting the winning Buzzie Trophy in victory lane.
Named in honor of “Buzzie” Reutimann, who won the first two Super DIRT Week races in 1972 and 1973, the trophy was the perfect prize for Smith, who captured his first Super DIRT Week 200 victory in the prestigious 56th running of the event.
It was also his first career win on the Super DIRTcar Big Block Modified Series. The victory was the sixth in the 200 for veteran crew chief Scott Jeffrey.
“This is incredible. I’ve never even won a series race, no less one at Super DIRT Week,” said Smith.
“Come on, I can’t believe this. So many people have put so much hard work into this. Everyone says that, but there is so much truth to it.”
It appeared as if Matt Sheppard would be the race hero, not Smith. Pressing Williamson for the lead, Sheppard set off a wild series of circumstances that would decide the winner with 10 laps remaining, when he suffered a right-rear flat tire.
Sheppard headed to the pits for new rear tires, followed by Stewart Friesen, who was hopelessly riding in 18th. Felix Roy also stopped for tires, but was the only one of the three who wisely took fuel as well.
Despite being lined up single-file on the restart, with the latched-down inside lane the dominant choice through the corners for the last 70 laps, Sheppard went to the top and, on new Hoosier tires, quickly drove from 26th to fourth before the yellow returned with five laps to go.
“Matt went by me in a couple of laps. I thought to myself, he’s going to win this thing,” said Smith.
“I was 15th with 10 laps to go, and Sheppard came in and got tires, and he couldn’t pass cars fast enough after that.”
Seeing what new tires had done for Sheppard, a gaggle of cars outside the top 10 quickly decided to pit for new rear tires, including Smith.
“When that caution came out, I knew I had to do what Sheppard just did, so I came in. I knew I had to go get new ones,” said Smith.
“We have that never-quit attitude and always give it our best shot for the best finish.”
With radio communication between driver and crew no longer permitted during the race, Smith made the decision on his own to come to the pit area.
“When I pulled in, those boys were scrambling for tires and putting their helmets on,” said Smith with a laugh.
Up front, Williamson, Alex Yankowski, Alex Payne, Larry Wight, Mike Maresca and Jimmy Phelps were sitting ducks. Unwilling to give up track position to replace their rear tires, which had 99 laps on them, they stayed on the track.
When the green flag returned, Sheppard went from fourth to second in Turns 1 and 2 on the restart and momentarily took the lead before Justin Stone ran out of fuel. Under the caution, Sheppard also ran out of fuel, pulled into the pits, and did not return, with four laps remaining. Wight had seen enough. After riding for laps with a front flat, he pitted for rear tires as well.
Under this caution, Friesen was moved back two spots for jumping the previous restart, advancing Smith in front of him into ninth spot. Before the yellow, he had passed Roy.
“I was riding around under caution, and I thought to myself, I’m the only one ahead with fresh tires. I might just win this thing,” said Smith.
“It was all about the tires. If you had a spanked right rear, you were not getting out of the rubber.”
While the top three cars up front that had not pitted for new rear tires stayed in the latched-down inside lane and hugged the rail in the corners on the restart as he expected, Phelps took a chance on the outside lane, blocking the lane for the surging Smith.
When Phelps raced alongside Yankowski, Smith split them off at Turn 2, went three-wide up the middle down the backstretch, and passed them both before Turn 3.
“I really didn’t know if we would have been good enough to roll around all those guys,” said Jeffrey.
“But I knew we were better off putting on the tires. Phelps held us up a couple of laps before we fed the middle between them. That might have been the winning move.”
Only Williamson stood between Smith and the biggest win of his career when the white flag waved.
“Talk about a dogfight with me, Yankowski and Jimmy for second. I finally split them, then I had my eyes on Mat. All I can remember is going down the backstretch that last lap and going as hard as I could,” Smith recalled.
“It was just wild. Got alongside of Williamson and showed my nose. He got out of the rubber, so I crossed him up coming out of four. Oh my God, it was wild.”
Jeffrey and the crew held their breath during the final lap as Smith drove to the lead.
“I really didn’t know if we would have been good enough to roll around all those guys,” said Jeffrey.
“But I knew we were better off putting on the tires. He drove it in really hard into three that last lap and said he just hoped it stuck. When Mat slid up, he turned down, crossed him and went underneath him. It was so boring until those last five laps. Now everyone was excited.”
At the finish line, it was Smith who drove by starter Dave Farney’s double checkered flags first, much to the joy of the crowd, which rose in excitement.
“I was pretty sure I beat him to the line. I couldn’t believe it. Honestly, I’m not sure if I would have beaten him had he stayed in the rubber,” said Smith.
“But he came up to block, and I crossed him over. That was just wild. My dad said the people were going nuts.”
After crossing the scales to make weight, Smith returned to the track for a burnout in front of the huge backstretch crowd before heading to victory lane on the frontstretch, where he met his dad, Jeffrey, and team.
“When I got out of the car, the place just erupted. It was so freaking awesome,” said Smith.
“This is what you live for.”
While Sheppard and a few others ran out of fuel, Smith had enough to drive back from victory lane to his hauler.
“The last 100 laps, I rode around at like half throttle in the rubber. I had hoped we had plenty of fuel left because we didn’t put any in when we pitted again,” said Smith.
“That was boring from 120 to 190, but after that it got awesome.”
Although Smith scaled back from full-time competition on the series this season, he has enjoyed a banner year. The Super DIRT Week triumph, by far the biggest victory of his career, capped a career-best season that also included track championships at Brewerton and Thunder Mountain speedways.
“I definitely enjoyed racing more this year, not having to go out on some weekdays to race, then have to get up to work the next morning. We didn’t just race to race; we picked our own battles and had a successful year,” said Smith.
“To win this race is just awesome. We didn’t have the best car today, but we never gave up, and that’s what it takes. Had a good big-block and small-block car all weekend, but when it came to feature time, we just didn’t have the same speed, but we still won it.”
Jeffrey won his first of four SDW 200s with longtime teammate Billy Decker driving on the Syracuse mile, then won with Larry Wight at Oswego Speedway.
Jeffrey later left Wight’s Gypsum Express team to join Jeremy Smith Racing, reuniting with Decker, who had previously departed the team. The two-car operation has since found success with brothers Darren and Matt Smith at its two weekly tracks.
“Oh my gosh, that was probably the most exciting of all my wins, just because of how it happened, played out at the end,” said Jeffrey on Sunday morning by phone.
“When the caution came out, we were all standing around talking, and all of a sudden he pulled up, said grab tires and let’s go, and we did,” said Jeffrey.
“We had a set ready and threw them on, but no fuel. Didn’t think we needed it. Once the track took rubber after the halfway break, he was just riding and saving his tires. He wasn’t pushing the guy in front of him, so we really had a lot of tire left when we changed it. Still had six gallons in it afterward.”
Following their tire change, Jeffrey knew he had just three cars in front of him that had stopped as they did and had new rear tires: Sheppard, Friesen and Roy.
“They put Friesen behind us for pulling out of line on the restart before, and we passed Felix right away. Then Sheppard ran out of gas. Several cars dropped out, so that helped too, but going 16th to first was unbelievable,” said Jeffrey.
“Our tire was about 3/4 worn. It wasn’t like it was ready to blow like the other guys, but fresh tires are huge here.”
Afterward, the team celebrated the win on the grounds for hours after passing tech and being paid $56,000 for the victory.
“He definitely made it exciting. Despite all the race car noise, standing in the infield, we could hear the people in the grandstands yelling. What a tremendous season. We have not done a lot of traveling, but he’s had great results at both home tracks and some of the traveling we’ve done. He’s come so far as a driver,” said Jeffrey.
Because extended track preparation was done in advance of the 200-lap race to ensure a good racing surface, the feature started an hour late and finished after 11 p.m. In the end, the finish made the wait worthwhile.
“The track was good all week, worth the wait,” said Jeffrey.
“We stayed up for quite a while at the hauler once I was through tech and then went down to Friesen’s camper and stayed there for a while too.”