A month-long springtime break from World of Outlaws Late Model Series action hasn’t been uneventful for Clint Smith. Last Friday he split with his chief mechanic Brad Baum, ending a relationship that began in 2010.
While in-season driver/crewman breakups are never easy, this one was done on good terms. Both men Tweeted complimentary words about the other after Baum made known his decision to depart.
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| Clint Smith (r) and Brad Baum. |
“Parted ways with Clint Smith Racing,” Baum wrote on his Twitter feed (@thedirtone) on April 13. “I have to thank Clint, Kim and Jenna for everything. Couldn’t ask for a better family and team to be with. Wish CSR luck as we move on.”
Smith announced the news first on his Twitter account (@clintsmith44): “Brad Baum has moved on from Clint Smith Racing. Headed back North. Good luck to Brad on his new journey.”
The 36-year-old Baum, who has worked in the dirt Late Model industry for most of the past 13 years, won the 2007 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year Award while employed by Chub Frank. He joined Smith’s operation in 2010, relocating from his native Sherman, N.Y., to Senoia, Ga., to serve as a second CSR crewman alongside Darrell (‘Don Vito’) Cooper. Baum and Cooper soon became known in the WoO LMS pit area as Cat Daddy’s ‘Stray Cats,’ but Cooper left the team during the 2011 season and Baum assumed the role of Smith’s primary mechanic.
“I had a great time working for Clint,” said Baum. “Clint and his family really did take good care of me. They’re great people. It was just time for me to go and do something different, and now we’ll see what the future holds for both of us.”
Baum’s next racing gig is with a former employer, chassis builder Bob Pierce, who has hired Baum to work with his son Bobby, a 15-year-old dirt Late Model talent who just two weeks ago turned heads with a career-best WoO LMS finish of eighth in the Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway. Baum previously served as a mechanic for the elder Pierce in 2002.
Baum is currently back at his family’s home in New York and spending the week doing some work for regional dirt Late Model racer Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, who shares a shop in Bear Lake, Pa., with his cousin Chub Frank. Baum plans to head to the Midwest on Friday and meet up with the Pierce team at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway on Saturday night. He’ll live in an apartment near the Pierce shop in Oakwood, Ill., and spend the 2012 season on a barnstorming tour with Bobby, who plans to enter more than 70 events, including the month-long DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
Smith, meanwhile, has enlisted the mechanical assistance of Georgia dirt Late Model driver Duane Treadwell to support his continued WoO LMS efforts. Treadwell helped Tim Fuller during February’s racing in Florida and during the Illini 100 at Farmer City and has also been working with Smith this year.
“Duane Treadwell is gonna back off his racing just a little bit to help me on the road and we’ll form a teammate-type deal to race around the house here,” said Smith, 47. “He needs a trailer and I need a crew guy, so we’re gonna join forces to help each other. We’ll work out of my trailer when we race together around the house, and he’ll come out on the road with me to help out (starting with the WoO LMS doubleheader on April 27 at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia and April 28 at Tennessee’s Tazewell Speedway).”
Smith went racing on April 14 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., with a family member listed as his crew chief: his 19-year-old daughter Jenna.
“She done pretty good,” said Smith, who finished fifth in Dixie’s ‘Spring Championship’ event. “We didn’t run too good – too much motor for the site we were at – but we had a good time. She gave me hand signals (during the race) and helped me out in the pits.”
But did Jenna give dear old Dad any setup suggestions during the night?
“No,” laughed Smith. “None of that.”
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