Over the past two decades, Myrtle Beach Speedway has quietly grown into one of the most prestigious tracks in the country for Late Model Stock Car drivers to compete on. Although it has not hosted a major NASCAR event since 2000, the track has continued to attract fans and competitors through its weekly racing series, which includes a Late Model Stock Car division that concludes every season with the lucrative Myrtle Beach 400 in November.
After an eventful 2017 season that saw Late Model Stock Car veteran Lee Pulliam win 75 percent of the races in the track’s Late Model vision, Myrtle Beach Speedway will kick off the 2018 season with the Icebreaker on February 10th. The event is expected to attract several notable Late Model drivers along the east coast, including Burlington, North Carolina native R.D. Smith, who hopes to learn from his teammate Pulliam’s success and bring his #16 Late Model to victory lane next weekend.
“Lee’s been a big help, and I’ve definitely learned a lot from him,” Smith said. “I’m going to try and put his advice to good use, and nobody has had more success down there recently than him. I’m sure he’s going to give me a great car for next week, but it’s just a matter of me going down there and getting it done.”
Smith began his auto racing career in Ace Speedway’s weekly Super Stock division during the late 1990s before moving up to the track’s Late Model division in 1998, where h picked up one victory and 11 Top 5’s, which allowed him to finish 28th overall in the Atlantic Seaboard Region of the overall NASCAR Weekly Racing Series standings. Smith’s success at Ace allowed him to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Fairgrounds Speedway the following season, where Smith managed to qualify 16th with his family-owned team but finished 43rd after being involved in an accident in the early laps.
After failing to qualify his next six Xfinity attempts, Smith shifted his focus to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but would only qualify for two of six attempts, earning a career-best finish of 26th at Martinsville in 2000. Smith was able to find some success in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series in the early 2000s, where he scored an average finish of 23.5 over 16 career starts before his team folded at the end of the 2001 season.
Smith was unable to secure another ride in one of the top three divisions of NASCAR and elected to return to Late Model competition along the east coast, where he was able to find his stride as a driver. During his career, Smith has visited victory lane several times at Hickory Motor Speedway, as well as his home track of Ace Speedway, where he has two track championships and a victory in the Rodney Cook Classic in 2015.
Smith has also made frequent appearances at Myrtle Beach Speedway in recent years but has struggled in most of his starts at the half-mile short track. Although Smith acknowledged that Myrtle Beach is far from his best track, he remains optimistic that he will have a car strong enough to contend for the win in the Icebreaker.
“Myrtle Beach has really been the toughest track for me,” Smith said. “We finished 3rd last year in the Icebreaker, but I went back in the fall for the Myrtle Beach 400 and I actually missed the race. It’s really been a thorn in my side, and I just want to go down there and focus and try to compete for a win and see if I can improve down there.”
The usual group of Myrtle Beach regulars are all expected to file entries for the season-opening event, including Brian Vause, Chad McCumbee and former ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Tommy Lemons Jr. However, one driver that will not be competing in the Icebreaker will be the defending Myrtle Beach Late Model track champion Lee Pulliam, who announced in early February that he would be stepping away from full-time racing in order to focus on his family and his driver development program.
Having raced against Pulliam several times throughout his career, Smith stated that his teammate’s semi-retirement is bittersweet, but added that he believes Pulliam made a smart decision and wishes his friend the best of luck in his future endeavors.
“I think that running at the level that he was at is extremely tough,” Smith said. “Lee’s got a young family, and he has himself a great business. Lee can be successful regardless of what he does. He’s a very sharp young man, and I think he’s making the best decision for him and his family. I do think you’ll see him back out on the track going for another national championship one day.”
Pulliam’s absence on the track will leave the 3rd annual Icebreaker wide open for all drivers, but Smith understands that drivers will have to avoid being aggressive early on in order to have a chance at taking the checkered flag first. There will be no mandatory pit stops for Late Model competitors, which will make tire conservation in the 125-lap main event all the more important as drivers battle for position on Myrtle Beach’s rough track surface.
As for Smith’s plans following the Icebreaker, he intends to take his schedule one race at a time, with his main goal being to claim another Late Model track championship at Ace Speedway. However, the Late Model veteran is also aiming to go to victory lane at several other prestigious short tracks, including Martinsville and South Boston.
“I would definitely like to win at some tracks that I haven’t been able to win at yet,” Smith said. “Myrtle Beach is definitely one of those tracks, but I think we’ll bounce around several different tracks, since Ace’s schedule is about 10 races, and I think it will be a good goal to try to get a few more wins in the win column.”
The Icebreaker will not only mark the beginning of Myrtle Beach’s new season but will also serve as the first race of the season for many of its competitors. Late Model drivers will share the track with Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Vintage cars on Friday and Saturday, with the 125-lap Late Model feature set to conclude the weekend’s events at approximately 4:00 on Saturday evening.
