Ominous clouds covered Toyota Speedway at Irwindale throughout May 14th, 2011, but the lurking weather did little to chill Kenny Smith’s outlooks for the night. After having made some major changes to his King Taco Super Truck, Smith was preparing to be extra competitive during the night’s competition.
Practice for the #43 truck was spent feeling out the new changes and setting up for a good qualifying run. A fast time trial speed is vital in this division because the proximity of all the competition makes it an effort to pass even one. This is one of the reasons the King Taco Super Trucks are known as one of the most exciting divisions to watch! Kenny Smith pulled off a time of 19.956 in qualifying, which translates to about 90.2 mph average around the half-mile. Slotting in at 9th fastest, Kenny was prepared to duel it out and work his way up in the main event.
The green flag fell at 7:45pm with cool and breezy conditions for the 40 lap event. For the first half of the race, Kenny was able to gather what already needed changes for the next race. “The truck gets too loose, I couldn’t get on the gas pedal out of the corner early enough” Smith explained, “when I did, it was like dirt-tracking!” After an all-green flag 20 laps, the caution fell early on the second half of the race, which bunched all of the trucks right back together. Kenny Smith concentrated on working his way up the pack, as well as avoiding multiple incidents happening all around him. After successfully maneuvering his truck to the 6th position during multiple late race restarts, the checkered flag flew.
“The competition was absolutely perfect” Smith said excitedly after the race, “The trucks I had around me had the same problem as me, so I had to wait for them to make a mistake. Patience was key!” The excitement could be seen in the long time racer’s eyes. “I’ve been racing for 40 years, and this is the most competitive field I’ve ever driven in. 98% of the drivers I’m racing with are so good, that we can race side by side lap after lap and we don’t even touch.” Smith has race at many tracks in Southern California, and in many divisions, outlined in framed memories inside his trailer. “My hats are off to all the racecar drivers in this class. We give each other a 1/8 inch and never touch!”
Kenny plans on taking his notes from the night and working on improving his truck even more for the next event. Smith will be back on track May 28th to tackle round 4 of the truck season, but the week before, May 21st, Smiths’ granddaughter will be on track in her Mini Stock! For more up-to-date information on Quick Pick Motorsports and Kenny Smith, please visit www.quickpickmotorsports.com and follow the team on facebook.com/quickpickmotorsports and twitter.com/quickpickmotor.
