Danny Smith - Straight up legend

He's old school.
Like his Dad.
And his Dad before him.
Does it his way.
Doesn't much care to do it any other way.
He lives life the Danny Smith way.
Has forgotten more than most guys will ever learn or remember.
Humble.
Modest.
Caring.
Thoughtful.
And with a sense of humour that's drier than the midwestern tracks he runs at on a hot summer's night in August.
Smith is good people.
He's part Australian - the BEST part - if you ask any self respecting Aussie race fan.
There'd be a custody battle for sure - between Indiana fan, Ohio fans and Aussies.
He's spent equal parts of his life between those three compass points.
I've wanted to sit down with him for the last three years but I never could make the geography work.
This time I was determined to spend some time - any time - with this living legend of the sport.
It was only half an hour, and a lot of it was shared with Merle Bettenhausen, Mark Bourcier, Dave Darland, Dave Argabright, Jack Hewitt, Steve and Randy Kinser, Rick Ungar and so many other luminaries of midwestern dirt track racing.
But I couldn't divert my focus this time.
This time I needed to pin this guy into the seat - and me into mine - and celebrate just a little bit of this remarkable person.
Australia loves you Danny Smith.
America loves you.
And the rest of the planet just doesn't know how much they're missing out on.
The cool news is that "Danville Dan" wants to bring his car back to the Knoxville Nationals next year and have someone drive it under his watchful eye.
We'll talk more about that later.
For now, he's my chat with Danny Smith.
A champion driver.
A champion person...