By T.J. Buffenbarger
(August 14, 2024) — One can make a strong argument that driver Max Stambaugh and car owner Steve Smith have become the sprint car team to beat on the 360-sprint car scene in the state of Michigan. In an era with as many good car owners and teams that are currently participating, the Smith/Stambaugh combination has been on quite a run over the past three years.
So far the duo has two overall Great Lakes Super Sprint titles, a Michigan region championships, and currently leading the tour and Michigan points along with being second in the Ohio series point standings this season on their resume.
While Stambaugh and Smith are having the best season of their tenure in 2024, it would be hard to imagine all this success on the dirt when Smith’s interest in sprint car racing was peaked by helping maintain Bill Heeney’s sprint car in his shop at the very beginning of the modest non-wing pavement sprint car division at Spartan Speedway.
Smith’s Journey from Driver to Sprint Car Owner…
Smith is a lot like other successful sprint car owners that are also unique characters in the sport of sprint car racing. A business owner with a big personality, known for chewing on his trademark cigar that has recently been replaced by gnawing on zip ties at the request of his family, is far from shy when sharing his unusual path to sprint car team ownership.
Prior to going sprint car racing, Smith had won championships in the pavement super late model and modified divisions. After that, the hook was set for Smith to become a sprint car driver.
“I’ve always wanted to run sprint cars, but when I was in the modified and late model world, my dad didn’t really want me to go that direction because of the speed and all that,” said Smith. “The more I was around sprint cars, the more I wanted one and then when I helped Jim Heaney that year, I ended up buying one.”
That was the same year Smith purchased his own car and and managed to squeeze in one start before the following season. It didn’t take long for Smith to dive into non-wing and winged pavement sprint car racing and found victory lane for the first time in a sprint car at Springport Motor Speedway on August 12, 2012.
After finding success with his sprint car, Smith and his wife Michelle started having serious discussions about him stepping out of the driver’s seat.
“At the end of 2013, going into 2014 that’s when me and my wife were talking about me getting out of racing,” said Smith. “I had my two kids in college, I bought a business, and guys get hurt in race cars. I was in my mid 40’s and I decided I’ll just try being an owner.”
As a pavement sprint car owner Smith had several different drivers that found success in his equipment such as JoJo Helberg, Cody Gallogly, and nearly nabbed a winged pavement sprint car win with Dustin Dagget at the wheel.
Once the pavement sprint car racing started to curtail in the area, Smith started to be intrigued by the dirt sprint car scene sparked by Helberg’s interest in following the same path.
“(Helberg) was thinking about heading to the dirt, wanting to go try the World of Outlaws stuff,” said Smith. “I actually flew out to Las Vegas and ran with him for a three-day weekend.”
That trip to Helberg started to get Smith thinking about branching out his operation. Shortly after Smith found himself purchasing one of Bryan Clauson’s old cars from Bob East, who Smith had a relationship with through pavement racing. Before this venture Smith had never owned or driven a sprint car on dirt.
In 2016 Smith called up Brad Lamberson and asked if he wanted to drive his car, which Lamberson enthusiastically accepted. Right out of the gate Lamberson and Smith won the first night they competed together at Butler Motor Speedway. Smith quickly learned it was not going to be as easy of a venture as opening night as Lamberson and Smith went winless the remainder of the season.
There were highlights that year though including Daggett running third to Reutzel and Schroeder in their first appearance at Eldora Speedway that year, and Smith was enjoying the variety of options he had to take his cars racing at any given time.
“I could go race every weekend, somewhere, when I wanted,” said Smith said about the contrast between the options between the dirt and pavement sprint car worlds. “With the pavement schedules, the races can be so far and few between, they don’t race every weekend.”
With the hook set, Smith’s team continued to progress winning features and become focused on dirt sprint car racing. In 2020 Smith put Ryan Ruhl in the driver’s seat, which set up a championship run with the Great Lakes Super Sprints in 2021. After parting ways with Ruhl after that championship season, Smith called up Stambaugh to see if he would be interested in driving for him in 2021.
The Smith/Stambaugh Combination Begins….
After the 2021 season Stambaugh was coming of a solid season driving for Steve Harding along with support from Home Pro Roofing. After some uncertainty about what may happen with that program for the following year, Stambaugh received a call from Smith inquiring about his services for the 2021 season.
Stambaugh was excited about the opportunity to do a full season with Smith after a one-off drive in his equipment in 2020 at the Jim Ford Classic at Fremont Speedway with the All Star Circuit of Champions.
“That was the first time Steve got a hold of me,” Stambaugh said of that outing at Fremont. “I filled in that weekend, won the dash, and finished seventh in the feature.”
From the start Stambaugh has felt comfortable in Smith’s equipment, part of which Stambaugh credits from having parts he is comfortable running with.
“I think being in Maxim race cars, Smith buys a lot of parts at Kistler’s,” said Stambaugh. “Everything that he has kind of fit the other operations that I’ve been a part of. It was a different ride, but at the same time I felt like I was getting into familiar equipment.”
It turned out the comfort level wasn’t just with the equipment. After a short getting to know you period, Smith, Stambaugh, and the rest of the crew gelled and became contenders’ night in and out.
“There’s just something about the chemistry between me and him,” said Smith. “I don’t even know what word to use, thankful, blessed, however you want to say it. To be able to have someone like him in my car and to have the success we’ve had, we’ve just meshed well. For us to have as many top fives as we that me and him has had over the last you know, this is third year driving for me, and it’s just, it’s unreal.”
All the success did not come easy though as both Smith and Stambaugh had their moments with each other when deciding what to do with the race car. Smith is a very hands-on owner involved in set-up decisions, fuel system changes, and other items and is very passionate about his level of involvement where Stambaugh was very hands on with the teams he had driven for in the past including his own family owned operation.
“The first few weeks that Max and I ran together it was a struggle to get the car to do what we wanted it to because of the difference between our thoughts on what needed to be done to the car,” said Smith. “Coming into the second year with me and my guys we were learning about him a little more and we started trusting each other more.”
Part of what makes the combination work is Stambaugh enjoying Smith’s passion as a car owner’s, and their relationship has reached the point where Stambaugh is not afraid to get a friendly jab in or two about Smith’s demonstrative words and actions on given evening at the race track while still maintaining respect and admiration.
“Driving for Steve Smith is like having a kid on the eighth-grade basketball team that doesn’t get in the game much,” Stambaugh said playfully when discussing his car owner. “He’s kind of emotional in a ways. Lots of personality. Sometimes I yell or complain when we’re trying to get the car right, but he’s the best car owner I’ve ever had hands down.”
After winning championships with GLSS in 2022 and 2023, Smith and Stambaugh have been on a tear in 2024 with seven feature victories so far this season, doubling their output from each of the previous two season together.
Both Smith and Stambaugh are quick to credit their crew and work put in this past offseason for this success. Stambaugh moved up to Michigan and spent more time in the shop this off season putting in work with the rest of the crew.
“We had a really good game plan going into this year,” said Stambaugh of the off-season work. Our motors run well, and our cars are reliable. We spent a lot of time working on our shocks with Eric Slade as well, and just kind of put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Smith also credits keeping the same crew together throughout his dirt racing adventure with Ty Huttenlocker and Zack Keeler putting in work on the crew.
“Those two guys been with me for eight years,” said Smith. “Zack is, you know, really getting better with the shock program and Ty takes care of almost everything. He goes around the car every night and makes sure all the nuts and bolts are tight, and he helps me run valves and we do fuel system together. He’s just a jack of all trades.”
The tight knit team putting in hours in the shop on Stockbridge, Michigan is like family, figuratively and literally.
“Zack married my daughter and Ty, he has a girlfriend, and I joked with those guys they are spending more time with me than they are with them. They’re at my house at least two to three nights a week, and then we race two nights a week most of the weekends.”
Smith’s wife is also all in on the dirt sprint car program playing an integral role in keeping the operation moving forward.
“Michelle is a huge supporter in my in my race program,” said Smith. “She helps me budget my money and everything that has to do with racing. If something looks like it’s going to rain out, she’s online scrolling to find out where we can go race somewhere. I probably wouldn’t be able to manage and do things the way we do it without her because she keeps a tight rein on me to make sure that I am doing everything properly. I couldn’t do this without her.”
When asked if he feels they are the top team in the area, Stambaugh is quick to point out they are very strong right now, but realized how quickly their fortunes could change.
“One day you’re, you’re on top of the world, and the next, next night, you’re in the back of the B-Main,” said Stambaugh. Would like to say we are the car to beat Michigan right now? I think our stats show that. Do I think we need to push ourselves more? Oh, yeah, you know, I think there’s more out there to get.”
With Smith’s outgoing nature, he tends to turn modest when discussing his race team’s success. Highly respected as a car owner in the area who is willing to help out other teams in times of need, he quickly deflects credit to others on the team for the success of the past three seasons.
“I’m a quiet, keep to yourself kind of guy when it comes to that,” Smith said about the contrast of his outgoing nature without boasting about success. “Because I don’t look at myself being better than anybody else. But this year, we are having a good year, and I just really hope it can continue.”
Other Notes
- This is one of the biggest weeks for the Great Lakes Super Sprints with a $5,000 to win program Friday night at I-96 Speedway from a rainout earlier in the season along with a GLSS/winged 410 sprint car double header Saturday at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Michigan. With the six letter stock car brand at Michigan International Speedway this weekend, it puts GLSS and Butler’s 410’s in a brighter spotlight on Saturday.
- Van Gurley Jr. now has the point lead for the winged 410 sprint cars at Butler Motor Speedway after last Saturday’s podium finish. Gurley now holds a 20 point lead over Alex Aldrich. Gurley is one of a handful of drivers that will attempt double duty on Friday with the Great Lakes Super Sprints and the winged 410 sprint cars at Butler.
- Rhino Racing will be out at the Mancino’s Pizza and Grinders store in Coldwater, Michigan for a customer appreciation day on August 24th from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Fans can check out the race cars up close and hang out with drivers Jason Blonde and Keith Sheffer Jr. during the event.
- John Hotchkiss has secured a third date for the Tri-State Sprints Series on Saturday, September 28th at Auto City Speedway in Clio, Michigan. This will also serve as the last sprint car race of the season inside the State of Michigan.