Ryan Smith Battles Outlaw Swing

Ryan Smith Battles Outlaw Swing

Story By: Mandee Pauch/MPR

Photos By: Dan DeMarco & Harry Meeks/RacersGuide.com

Mandee Pauch Relations – May 22, 2019 – Ryan Smith and Heffner Racing had a busy weekend with the World of Outlaws in town. It was an up and down challenge for the No.72 team but they didn’t let it slow them down.

The World of Outlaw Sprint Cars made the trip to the northeast this past week where they opened up Wednesday evening at Lincoln Speedway.

“We started third in the heat race and had a shot at second,” noted Smith. “I was running the top then Jacob Allen, who was running second, moved up right when I went to go by him, so we ended up third.”

Smith’s third-place heat race finish lined him up 12thfor the A-Main.

“That was the best car we had all year,” he said. “We could go anywhere with it. I would have liked to of seen a yellow to see if I could run with the big blue car, but we passed some really good cars on our way through. We had some good speed, so it was a good night.”

Smith battled his way through the field to finish runner-up to Lance Dewease.

Friday and Saturday saw the team back at Williams Grove Speedway for a double-header.

“To sum up the Grove, both nights we timed good, we didn’t have to run any B-Mains, but we just didn’t make the right changes,” added Smith. “Come feature time we can’t get rolling so we’re definitely missing something. We finished where we started both nights.”

Smith collected a 12thand 15thplace finish.

“There were a lot of good cars that didn’t make the show,” he said. “They struggled worse than we did. We just need to get up in the top-five there and get better.”

Tuesday evening saw the Outlaws make their return to Bridgeport Speedway after a 16-year absence. This time they battled it out on the new 3/8-mile.

“It was the same kind of deal as it was all weekend,” Smith said. “We’re good by ourselves and good in clean air but then we put the backup alarm on the rest of the night.”

Smith opened the evening with a heat race win, locking him in to the dash.

Smith finished fifth in the dash, lining him up on the inside of the third row for the main event.

“We ended up eighth,” he said. “We have to figure out what we can do different. We’re doing everything we know to fix but nothings changing. We’re on the fence on what to do but we’re still trying.”

RYAN SMITH SEASON STATS –

19 races– 1 win, 9 top five’s, 14 top 10s