ASHEBORO, N.C. — Modified racing in the South is about to get a fresh start thanks to the rebirth of the Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams organization, better known as the SMART Modified Tour.
The SMART Modified Tour initially launched in 1989 and ran independently until the 2005 season, when NASCAR debuted the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
However, NASCAR officials opted to merge the Southern Modified Tour with the marquee NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2017. That gap in the racing market in the southern states was briefly filled by the Southern Modified Racing Series before that series also disappeared.
Now the SMART Modified Tour is back, with Sunday’s opener at North Carolina’s Caraway Speedway the first of a 10-race schedule that SMART Modified Tour Director Chris Williams believes will mark a successful return for the series.
“To see the passion that everybody has for these ground pounders, these rockets, is pretty impressive,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to this weekend a lot, not just because it’s our first race of the SMART Tour, but to really showcase the drivers and everything we’ve got going on. I think it’s going to be a great show.”
Williams has been around racing his entire life. He grew up in the shadow of Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and began in the motorsports industry at an early age thanks to his father, who worked as general manager at Martinsville Speedway.
As a result, Williams spent many years working behind the scenes in the motorsports industry. He has worked for Action Performance, Fanatics and was even employed for a time by the late Dale Earnhardt, who was a personal friend for more than two decades.
However, through his years working on the marketing and licensing side of the business, he always kept his eyes on the modified division.
“I never lost sight of what I call the foundation of all of racing,” Williams said. “Anytime the modifieds would race with us, I’d be sitting in the grandstand or I’d make sure I had my eyes on it.
“Every time they would even come close to where we were at on the NASCAR tour, I’d go see the modifieds. Whether it was up north or wherever else. I just made it a passion to go see them.”
The opportunity to get involved with the SMART Modified Tour came last year, when several industry stakeholders began discussing the idea of relaunching the series in an effort to give modified competitors more opportunities to race.
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