Jack Thomas Smith (May 24, 1924 – October 17, 2001) was an American stock car racer. He raced in the first NASCAR race, in 1949, and is a member of the NMPA Hall of Fame in Darlington, South Carolina.

Biography Smith was born in Metropolis, Illinois and then moved to Georgia when he was two years old, settling in Roswell, Georgia. Jack got his start in the automotive industry by working in his fathers shop at a young age. Jack worked at a service station in the 1940's near Roswell. He began racing against local bootleggers on rough dirt tracks and asphalt superspeedways, and across fields. He began racing in 1947 after building a car.

Smith made his debut in NASCAR's first race, in 1949 at the Charlotte Speedway, and finished 13th. At the 1958 Southern 500 at Darlington, Jack trailed a car blowing up and getting caught in the oil, his car started to tumble, flipping his car five times and rolling into the parking lot, after a doctor checked him out, he came out un-injured and drove home that night. He won the NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award in 1959; although he tied Junior Johnson in the initial voting, a second ballot was opened that Smith won. Jack was known in his early days to run mainly Pontiac's. As a result during a time when teams started to get a stranglehold in the sport, engineer Ray Nichols approached Jack to run his car in select races in 1960.

In the 1960s, Smith and team owner Bud Moore became the first to communicate in a race via two-way radio. Smith was known for his racing superstitions of no green cars among other things. After his racing career ended, he focused on his transmission business, He died from congestive heart failure on October 17, 2001.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

Grand National Series NASCAR Grand National Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 Pts Ref 1949 Bishop Brothers 52 Ford CLT 13 DAB HBO LAN HAM MAR HEI NWS 58th 12 1950 25 Olds DAB 27 CLT LAN MAR CAN VER DSP MCF CLT HBO DSP HAM 32nd 180 19 Olds DAR 29 LAN Bishop Brothers Plymouth NWS 2 VER MAR WIN HBO 1951 Hubert Westmoreland 2-B Plymouth DAB 29 CLT NMO GAR HBO ASF NWS MAR CAN CLS CLB DSP GAR GRS BAI HEI 39th 360.5 98 Plymouth AWS 13 MCF ALS B. J. Dantone 44 Plymouth MSF 37 FMS MOR ABS Wally Marks 57 Olds DAR 48 CLB CCS LAN CLT DSP WIL HBO TPN PGS MAR OAK NWS HMS Jack Smith 44 Hudson JSP 2 NMO 22 44X ATL 3 GAR 1952 44 PBS 20 34th 729 Harold Mays 77 Chrysler DAB 31 JSP NWS MAR CLB 9 Perry Smith 23 Studebaker ATL 19 CCS 16* LAN 8 Studebaker DAR 17 DSP CAN HAY FMS HBO CLT MSF NIF OSW MON MOR PPS MCF AWS Ted Chester 9 Hudson DAR 11 CCS LAN DSP WIL HBO MAR NWS Walt Chapman 120 Hudson ATL 6 PBS 1954 Jack Smith 122 Olds PBS DAB 6 JSP ATL 24 OSP 19 OAK NWS HBO CCS 22 LAN WIL MAR SHA RSP CLT GAR CLB 64th 376 14 Plymouth LND 23 HCY MCF WGS PIF AWS SFS GRS 141 Ford MOR 17 OAK CLT SAN COR DAR CCS CLT LAN MAS MAR NWS 1955 1 Chevy TCS PBS JSP DAB OSP CLB HBO NWS MGY LAN CLT HCY ASF TUS MAR RCH NCF FOR LIN MCF FON AIR CLT PIF CLB AWS MOR ALS NYF SAN CLT FOR MAS RSP DAR DNQ MGY 6 LAN RSP GPS 8 MAS CLB MAR LVP NWS HBO 141st – 1956 Joe Jones 999 Ford HCY CLT WSS PBS ASF DAB 70 PBS 23 WIL 14 ATL NWS LAN RCH CLB CON GPS HCY HBO 21st 2320 Ted Chester 91 Chevy MAR 9 LIN MAS 10 CLT MCF POR AWS 29 RSP 10 PIF CSF CHI CCF MGY 7 OKL ROA OBS SAN NOR PIF MYB POR DAR 27 CSH 11 CLT LAN POR CLB HBO NWP CLT A. L. Bumgarner 55 Pontiac CLT 9 POR EUR NYF MER DePaolo Engineering 296 Ford CCF 18 Carl Kiekhaefer 502 Dodge MAR 1* 500 HCY 18 WIL 14 1957 Ted Chester 610 Chevy WSS CON 20 TIC 5th 8464 Hugh Babb 47 Chevy DAB 34 CON 1* WIL 10 HBO 3 AWS 4 NWS 18 LAN 7 CLT 15 PIF 12 GBF 2 POR CCF 5 RCH 14 MAR 6 POR EUR LIN 6 LCS 6 ASP Jack Smith NWP 4 CLB 1 CPS PIF 5 JAC 5 RSP 17 CLT 13* MAS 13* POR HCY 1 NOR 5 LCS 12 GLN KPC LIN 18 OBS 5 MYB 8 DAR 10 NYF 17 AWS 5 CSF SCF LAN 38 CLB 13 CCF CLT 9 MAR 7 NBR 3 CON 5 NWS 1 GBF 4 1958 FAY 7* CON 6 FAY 25 WIL 4 HBO 12 FAY 27 CLB 2 PIF 2 ATL 13 CLT 2 ODS 2 OBS 6 GPS 1 GBF 19 STR 8 NWS 2 TRN 33 CLB 6* NBS 4 REF 21 LIN 20 HCY 4 AWS 25 MCC 5 SLS TOR BUF MCF 17 BEL 5 BRR 1** CLB NSV 8 BIR 12 CSF GAF RCH HBO SAS 5th 7666 Pontiac DAB 3 MAR 21 RSD 3 RSP 32 DAR 31 CLT 48 Chevy BGS 22 Shorty Rollins 99 Ford AWS 31 BGS MBS Gene White 25 Chevy MAR 13 Buck Baker Racing 86 Chevy NWS 5 8 Chevy ATL 28 1959 Jack Smith 47 Chevy FAY DAY 27 DAY 7* HBO CON ATL 21 WIL BGS CLB 1 NWS 2 REF HCY MAR TRN CLT 10 NSV ASP PIF 1 GPS 20 ATL 7 CLB WIL RCH BGS AWS DAY 4 HEI CLT 1 MBS CLT NSV AWS 3 BGS DAR 28 HCY 13 RCH 16 CSF HBO 16* MAR 29 AWS 3 NWS 11 CON 1* 8th 6150 Gerald Duke 92 Ford GPS 4 CLB 1960 Jack Smith 47 Chevy CLT 1 CLB 2 DAY 14th 6944 Pontiac DAY 1** DAY 23 CLT NWS PHO CLB MAR DNQ HCY WIL BGS GPS AWS 17 DAR PIF 18 HBO 3 RCH HMS CLT 12* BGS DAY 1* HEI MAB MBS ATL 3 BIR NSV AWS 5 PIF CLB SBO BGS DAR HCY CSF GSP HBO MAR NWS CLT 44 RCH ATL 26 1961 CLT JSP DAY 3 DAY DAY 6 PIF AWS HMS ATL 21 GPS 19 HBO BGS MAR NWS CLB 21 HCY 13 RCH MAR DAR CLT PIF 9 GPS 1 BGS NOR HAS 2 STR CLB 18 MBS 20 AWS 9 RCH SBO DAR HCY 2 RCH CSF ATL 4 MAR CLT 37 7th 15186 46 CLT 3 RSD ASP CLT 7 BIR 3 DAY 3 ATL 5 BRI 1* NSV 15 BGS NWS 24 BRI 21 GPS 14 HBO 1962 CON 1* AWS 4 4th 22870 47 DAY 2 DAY DAY 4 CON 4 AWS 5 SVH 1* HBO 4 RCH 14 CLB 3 NWS 9 GPS 13 MBS 1 MAR 7 BGS 2 BRI 3 RCH 2 HCY 1** CON 4 DAR 4 PIF 7 CLT 24 ATL 13 BGS 10 AUG 12 RCH 8 SBO 2* DAY 4 CLB 3 ASH 1* GPS 2 AUG 14 SVH 18 MBS 3 BRI 21 CHT 10 NSV 18 HUN 6 AWS 5 STR 5 BGS 2* PIF 3 VAL 11 DAR 34 HCY 23 RCH 29 DTS AUG 12 MAR 4 NWS 13 CLT 24 17 ATL 9 1963 47 BIR 6 GGS THS RSD 24th 8218 Chrysler DAY 25 DAY DAY 44 PIF AWS HBO Plymouth ATL 29 HCY 21 BRI 29 AUG RCH 12 GPS SBO BGS MAR 10 NWS 10 CLB 5 THS DAR ODS RCH CLT 41 BIR 5 ATL 24 DAY 32 MBS BRI 24 AWS 6 PIF BGS ONA 17 DAR HCY 19 RCH 12 MAR 9 DTS NWS 24 THS CLT 15 SBO 21 HBO RSD 6 48 SVH 4 DTS BGS 5 ASH 14 OBS BRR CLB 7 Dodge GPS 20 NSV 1964 Plymouth CON 21 81st 932 Archie Smith 47 AUG 32 JSP 3 SVH 2 RSD DAY DAY DAY RCH BRI GPS BGS ATL AWS HBO PIF CLB NWS MAR SVH DAR LGY HCY SBO CLT GPS ASH ATL CON NSV CHT BIR VAL PIF DAY ODS OBS BRR ISP GLN LIN BRI NSV MBS AWS DTS ONA CLB BGS STR DAR HCY RCH ODS HBO MAR SVH NWS CLT HAR AUG JAC

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 1959 Jack Smith Chevrolet 41 7 1960 2 23 1961 Pontiac 5 6 1962 3 4 1963 Chrysler 38 44

Convertible Division NASCAR Convertible Division results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Pts Ref 1956 Schwam Motors 99 Ford DAB CLT HBO FAY PCH MGY HCY LCS GBF OBS RSP LAN STR CLB LKS TUL TFT KSF MOF NOR WIL CHI FRS NYF TOR BUF BEL LIN FWS BGS CLB HCY CLT FRS MCF HEI RSP GPS ATL 23 MCC CHI MAS CCF MAR PIF AWS HBO – – 1957 Hugh Babb 46 Chevy JAC DAB FAY GBF ODS HBO RCH GPS WIL HCY 3 BGS NOR LAN DAR 6 CLT MCC PIF NYF OBS AWS 33rd 976 Bob Welborn 8 Chevy PCH 2 MCF BGS CON PHI CHI CLB Jack Smith 46 Chevy RSP 30 NOR 14 MAR 5 FAY CLT NWS NOR WIL CLB 1958 47 Pontiac DAB NWS RCH BGS AWS HCY CLB WIL DAR 8 39th 588 Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford CLT 20 ATL MAR BIR CLB GPS MBS CLT WIL SAS 1959 Bud Moore Engineering 47 Chevy DAY FAY RCH HCY MRL CLT 28 HBO 2 DAR 30 CLB 28 AWS 24 BGS MAR CLB 2 GPS 12 CLT 44th 552

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