It would be easy to dismiss Garrett Smith’s victory in the 42nd annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship presented by Optima Batteries at Portsmouth Raceway Park as a fluke, a stroke of good fortune for a young driver who took advantage of his pole position on a track that quickly took rubber and became one-laned.

Starting from the pole, Smith did indeed have the easiest path to victory among the 25 starters. Smith’s mission in the 100-lap, $100,000-to-win event founded and still MORE

Mishaps are part of life. As cliche as it sounds, I believe that it’s how you respond to them that defines the moment. Notice I said that it defines the moment, not that it defines the person. For instance, the way you react to having a flat tire when you are 16 years old is likely much different to the way you react to having a flat tire when you are 52.

For me personally, I’d like to think that, during that 36-year span, my maturity level has grown exponentially, as well as my overall MORE

Good neighbors are hard to find.

Whether it’s a racetrack or a house, having good neighbors — folks who don’t mind occasional noise and a little junk sitting around — is one of the keys to residential bliss. I don’t mean good neighbors like an insurance company (they get paid to be a good neighbor).

When I was looking for a place to move my family 19 years ago, one of the most important things on my list of requirements was having a shop or garage for my race car.

We were living in a very MORE

Ask just about any current Late Model driver from the state of Iowa who comes to mind when talking Dirt Late Model racers from their native Hawkeye State and Brian Birkhofer’s name is bound to work its way into the conversation. And rightly so. The star from Muscatine is a two-time World 100 winner (2002, ’12), has 17 Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series victories, seven World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series wins and is a 12-time winner with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.

He’s a bona fide star MORE

Anyone who has traveled regularly knows all too well the pitfalls that can accompany life on the road. Most well-worn travelers have their favorite yarns to spin, stories of life on the road that seem to grow taller each time they’re told.

My grandfather never missed a chance to tell the tale of the night he and his brother stayed in a sketchy hotel in Kentucky after attending a steam engine show. If I heard the story about the lady’s dirty undergarments found under the bed once, I heard it a MORE