A Racer Named Louise
Louise Smith is the first woman to be inducted in the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame. A native of Greenville, South Carolina, this lady got her Talladega race in 1945 when Bill France Sr. visited Greenville looking for a racer with exceptional talent. Smith who was 29 then was the Gold Bill France found with her series of Police out running.
“Childhood memories become our dreams as we grow older,” she said during a 1996 telephone interview. “Racing was the desire of my heart, but some of my fondest memories were during childhood.”
Louise and her family were originally from Barnesville, Ga. And moved to South Carolina in 1920.
“It was one Christmas right after the family moved to South Carolina that stands out in my mind,” she continued. “Santa Claus brought me a wonderful gift. It was a doll, but not just an ordinary doll. It was much more than that.
“She was a ‘china doll.’ Her face, hands and feet were made of porcelain china, but her body was soft, and she had on a long, beige embroidered dress. I can still recall her face with the pouting lips. She looked like a queen with reddened cheeks and lips, and curly locks.
“Looking into her eyes was like peering into someone with a living soul.
“Remembering the love I felt holding her, is still with me. As we grow older, we become afraid to love and touch. I think that’s a shame.
“My life has been so rewarding. I’ve gotten to live out a life most people only dream about. Many of my days were like diamonds. The highs really outweighed the lows.
“We never know in advance what form an angel might take. Don’t be afraid to give, or love. And don’t be afraid to hold on to what’s dear to your heart.”
In 1947, Smith made it to Daytona to test if she could conquer the international tracks after her success in local races. She used her husband’s new Ford which of course doesn't have an Acura Integra Axle Assembly and hid a special engine in the trunk and drove it in the beach course.
“I hit the back end of one of them, went up in the air, cut a tire and landed on my top,” she said. “The cops were standing next to an old wooden grandstand, and they ran over, turned the car back on its wheels, and I finished the race 13th.
“I couldn’t take the car back home in that condition, so I drove it as far north as Augusta, Ga., and left it at a garage for repairs.”
After the seven car pile-up, Smith went home in a Greyhound bus. When the racer faced her husband, her explanation to where the car did not convince him. He pulled out the local newspaper of Greenville that reads “Louise Smith Wrecks in Daytona” on the front page.
Her husband was not one of her fans and he even didn’t want a wife on the race track. However, he supported her with help waiting at the track in the form of a couple of his mechanics in from his auto business.
“I won a lot of races, crashed a lot too, and broke just about every bone in my body,” she continued. “But I gave it all I had.”
Smith’s career bloomed from 1945-1956, with 38 wins over the next 11 years, often competing against the true legends of early stock car racing. Richard Petty, Buck Baker, Tim and Fonty Flock, and more, all came to respect her talent for driving, even dubbing her the “Good Ol’ Gal.” Smith retired in 1956 but remained active in the racing community with her affiliations in the Living Legends Club in Dacytona and The Old Timers racing club in North Carolina.
Louise Smith died last year at the age of 86.
