Smokey Mountain

[Mason87]

Thinking about going with my dad and was hoping for some insight, how's the show ran? How's the racing and track conditions? Basically the pros and cons of the place. The YouTube videos look good but was wanting to hear others opinions.

[Dirtking2512]

They have done a lot of work on smokey mountain and it really shows. I personally think the racing has been better this year since they made the track wider

[TerryM]

We were there a couple months ago for their first big show of the year, and my first ever time there. I definitely give it an overall two thumbs up. One thing you have to keep in mind is, it’s a work in progress. Pretty much everything about the place is either already renovated, in the process of being built, or in the planning stages. The facility sits in the mountains, so the parking is a little rough, but the view is beautiful. Very similar to Tazewell in that sense. It looked like every building on the property was brand new or in the rebuilding phase. The stands consist of multiple types of seating — bench, chair back and lawn chair. The stands aren’t brand new, but they are more than adequate. Concessions were good, but there was only one line and it took forever to get through it. That was really the only negative of our night. We’d have made more than one trip to the concession stand, if it didn’t mean missing action on the track. Hopefully they get that issue ironed out. The racing was good, but the track locked down a little towards the end of the super feature. Overall, definitely good racing though.

One of the highlights of the night was a flag stand speech given by owner/promoter Roger Sellers. Listening to his plans for the track was awesome. He asked that fans be patient during the process, but it was obvious he has nothing to worry about, because the place was absolutely packed. If every track was operated by someone with the foresight and determination that Roger possesses, we would rarely hear of tracks closing. Our grandbabies are in Knoxville, so we will be making at least a couple trips a year to SMS during our trips to see the girls. I’m really looking forward to seeing the place continue to transform under Roger Sellers’ leadership.

[One Man Gang]

I been 4 times but before Roger started reworking the place but it has always been one of my favorite tracks to visit. I always planned our yearly Pigeon Forge trip just to go to the Friday night Southern Nationals race but with the schedule change up this year guess we’ll be going to 411. SMS has a beautiful Mountain View especially if you can catch a full moon night it looks as though it’s rising right out of the mountains. I would definitely recommend going if you’ve never been.

[2thextreme]

I haven't been to Smoky Mountain Raceway this year and therefore cannot speak about what their racing is like. But, in years past (as recently as last year), I found it to be primarily a FAST track with high straightaway speeds but it proved primarily to be a choo-choo train track (no passing or very limited passing, minimally, it seemed). The view is beautiful, nestled in the mountains of beautiful East TN. The clay is red and although I live in TN and have been to about every track in TN, Smoky Mountain Raceway is not one of my favorites. Besides that, I like the brown dirt tracks like Eldora, Florence (KY) Brownstown and Portsmouth Raceway Park. It just seems to me that the tracks in the Midwest (those I mentioned) and Portsmouth Raceway Park offer more slicing and dicing for position and usually prove to be anything but a choo-choo train track. Nevertheless, if you want to come to TN, we'd welcome you with southern hospitality and I hope the changes that have been made in the past year have helped (however, the races this year that I've watched on DirtonDirt.com have not proven that to be the case).

[Dlmfan123]

I haven't been to Smoky Mountain Raceway this year and therefore cannot speak about what their racing is like. But, in years past (as recently as last year), I found it to be primarily a FAST track with high straightaway speeds but it proved primarily to be a choo-choo train track (no passing or very limited passing, minimally, it seemed). The view is beautiful, nestled in the mountains of beautiful East TN. The clay is red and although I live in TN and have been to about every track in TN, Smoky Mountain Raceway is not one of my favorites. Besides that, I like the brown dirt tracks like Eldora, Florence (KY) Brownstown and Portsmouth Raceway Park. It just seems to me that the tracks in the Midwest (those I mentioned) and Portsmouth Raceway Park offer more slicing and dicing for position and usually prove to be anything but a choo-choo train track. Nevertheless, if you want to come to TN, we'd welcome you with southern hospitality and I hope the changes that have been made in the past year have helped (however, the races this year that I've watched on DirtonDirt.com have not proven that to be the case).

Watch the spring nationals race from Smokey mountain Overton and wiess raced hard for a while

[zyoung25]

I was down there 2 years ago. I haven't been back since the changes they have done yet, even though id like too. I think before that track was just too fast. It reminded me of a higher banked wvms. From the videos I've seen, it looks to be way more racy than it was when I went. The race track has a very neat setting. I'd probably rank it right up there with 201 as far as setting, I really liked the place.

[Finnfan]

I haven't been to Smoky Mountain Raceway this year and therefore cannot speak about what their racing is like. But, in years past (as recently as last year), I found it to be primarily a FAST track with high straightaway speeds but it proved primarily to be a choo-choo train track (no passing or very limited passing, minimally, it seemed). The view is beautiful, nestled in the mountains of beautiful East TN. The clay is red and although I live in TN and have been to about every track in TN, Smoky Mountain Raceway is not one of my favorites. Besides that, I like the brown dirt tracks like Eldora, Florence (KY) Brownstown and Portsmouth Raceway Park. It just seems to me that the tracks in the Midwest (those I mentioned) and Portsmouth Raceway Park offer more slicing and dicing for position and usually prove to be anything but a choo-choo train track. Nevertheless, if you want to come to TN, we'd welcome you with southern hospitality and I hope the changes that have been made in the past year have helped (however, the races this year that I've watched on DirtonDirt.com have not proven that to be the case).

Thread #3 by TerryM is a spot on review, could not agree more. I don't think you'll be dissapointed at all with a trip to Smoke Mountain. Very fast track and good visibility from almost anywhere you sit.

But I gotta add...Portsmouth is not a choo-choo track????? I completely disagree. I've been there for three DTWS after a 5 hour drive, and ALL 3 TIMES it has completely locked down by lap 50, if not earlier.

[Clayton_Wetter]

Thread #3 by TerryM is a spot on review, could not agree more. I don't think you'll be dissapointed at all with a trip to Smoke Mountain. Very fast track and good visibility from almost anywhere you sit.

But I gotta add...Portsmouth is not a choo-choo track????? I completely disagree. I've been there for three DTWS after a 5 hour drive, and ALL 3 TIMES it has completely locked down by lap 50, if not earlier.

Portsmouth can be really good. But it can also get like what you saw also.