By Pete Walton
Atlanta, GA – December 22, 2020 – USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour competitor Mark Smith from Sunbury, Pennsylvania has been nominated for the 2020 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame ‘Race Team of the Year” award. Smith and his teammate Dale Howard from Byhalia, Mississippi posted 20 victories in USCS competition in addition to the 6 additional Winged-360 sprint car main event wins that Mark Smith also garnered outside of the 27 United Sprint Car Series events he competed in.
As the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour series’ and the Nation’s 360-winged sprint car 2020 wins leader, Mark Smith led the United Sprint Car Series wins column with 14 trips to the www.RockAuto.com USCS victory Lane after feature wins. Additionally, he led the Nation in 360-winged sprint car victories with 20 victories in all competition during the Covid-19 shortened 2020 racing season. As an exclamation point on his successful season, he was also crowned as the Selinsgrove Speedway 360-winged sprint car 2020 season Champion.
Smith’s team-mate Dale Howard won six times in USCS competition and captured the 2020 USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour regional series Championship. Dale Howard also had 17top five and 21 top ten finishes during 2020 in USCS competition.
Mark Smith kicked off his 2020 racing season by Championing the 10-race USCS Winter Heat mini-series during February and March that was shortened by two races due to the Covid-19 shut-down. He then came back in May when the season re-fired to continue a streak of wins that saw him win the first nine out of ten USCS events and eleven of the first fourteen. He then spread three more wins throughout the 2020 season competing with the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour. He competed in a total of 27 USCS events registering 14 wins, 22 top five and 25 top ten finishes in USCS competition.
Mark Smith was the early season favorite to win the USCS National title after the first 15 events and had built a sizeable point lead before tow vehicle and business commitments caused him to miss several mid-season USCS events. He still finished in the sixth position in the USCS national point standings.
He also won a preliminary night main event at East Bay Raceway during the 360 Winter Nationals and both prelim nights during the ASCS event at Missouri’s Lucas Oil Speedway in September plus the wins that led to his 2020 title at Selinsgrove Speedway. Mark Smith accomplished each of these wins in cars he built at his own Mach 1 Chassis Company in Pennsylvania.
Mark Smith and Dale Howard will be honored for his USCS 2020 season accomplishments along with the other top ten USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour, USCS Mid-South Thunder Tour and USCS Southern Thunder Tour drivers at the 2020 USCS Champions Awards Banquet in Fayetteville, Georgia on Saturday, January 9, 2021.
The United Sprint Car Series (USCS) 25th Anniversary and 2021 season kicks off at Hendry County Motorsport Park on Friday and Saturday, February 5th and 6th, 2021. A full schedule of 2021 USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour winged sprint car events is available at the series website. For series rules and other info please visit www.uscsracing.com or call the series office at 770-865-6097.