Mark Smith is not a terribly complicated man. There was a time when he dreamed of racing in the Indianapolis 500 and, while that didn‘t materialize, he did race with the NASCAR Truck series on the road course at Daytona and on the dirt at Eldora. He is right to take pride in that. In 2018 he joined his father as an inductee in the York County Racing Club Hall of Fame. His Mach 1 chassis business may never crank out scores of cars but, again, he has approached his business the same way he has conducted his racing life. He does it his way. “It‘s a tough market,” he says. “It is a cutthroat industry. Everyone wants something for nothing, but this stuff doesn‘t show up at my door for nothing. I have to pay for my stuff too. You get what you pay for. What I tell my customers is that what I offer is quality.”
He‘s made it work and has provided a life for his wife Lynne, 11-year-old son Tristan, and soon-to-be 7-year-old Indy. Yes, that‘s right. He may not have made it to the Brickyard (yet), but he loves the Circle City when he visits. There are still goals to pursue and a business to grow. On those lonely drives, he admits, he still thinks about calling his dad and mulling things over. His parents are gone, but it is clear they still guide him today.
His way may not be the easy way, but it is the path he has chosen. His accomplishments are the result of his efforts. He drives a car he assembled and maintains, and gets to the race track. When he points his rig in one of the cardinal directions, his mind is not fogged by unnecessary mental clutter. Nothing matters except getting to this next destination and then doing his job. His philosophy is straight to the point. “I just go to win the race and go home,” he says. And that is a mission Mark Smith accomplishes more than most.