Scott "Smitty" Smith
City: Santa Cruz, CA
Home State: New Jersey
Favorite Books: Racing in the Rain and The Princess Bride
Current Roles: Speed SF’s Competition Director and driving coach; private driving coach; National Auto Sport Association (NASA) licensed racer; GrandPrix Originals (USA) Ambassador.
2024: NASA: 2nd place overall with 12 podiums and 3 race wins in the Spec Miata class.
2023: NASA: 1st place overall with 13 podiums and 8 race wins in the Super Touring 6 class; 3rd place overall in Spec Miata with 2 podiums.
2022: NASA: 6th place overall and 1st place driver over 40 years old out of 106 competitors in the Spec Miata class.
SCCA: 2 podiums with one win in SCCA’s ITA and SMT classes
2021: NASA: 8th place overall out of 93 competitors in the Spec Miata class.
SCCA: 4 podiums and 9 top 10s in SCCA’s ITA and SMT classes
2020: SCCA: 2nd place overall in both ITA and SMT Miata classes, with 5 race wins and 15 podiums
2019: SCCA: 4th place overall in both the ITA and SMT Miata classes, with one podium
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018: Won SpeedSF’s S4 class in a 99’ Mazda Miata
2014: Earned 2nd place in SpeedSF's S4 Time Attack class with entries in an 03' Z, an 07' Z, and a 99' Miata.
2013: Won NASA's SpecZ class in a 2003 Nissan 350Z.
2012: Earned SCCA and NASA Competition Licenses. Competed and won the inaugural season of NASA's SpecZ class in a 2003 Nissan 350Z.
2011 - 2018: Competed in various NorCal and SoCal 24 Hours of Lemons and ChumpCar Racing, with a best finish of 11th overall out of 181, 2nd in class, and top place in a car from the 70s in a Datsun 240Z.
2007 - present: Driver instructor and coach for NASA, SpeedSF, ClubZ, Trackmasters, and NorCal UFO
2002 - 2011: Won 8 autocross championships between NorCal UFO and LMSSC.
2002-2007: Sought and received instruction by some of the best in the business in Craig Christy (Spec7), Jack Olsen (Porsche 911 Cup), John Morton (240Z/510), and Stillen’s Found and CEO Steve Millen while attending 62 open track days. Steve Millen offered me an engineering job at his Costa Mesa location in 2004, which I painfully turned down (we are still in touch!).
2002: First track day at Thunderhill Raceway in Nissan 300ZX twin-turbo (Z32); also began autocrossing.
1993-2000: Drifted 3rd-gen Celica, Mark III Supra, and FC RX7; received many speeding tickets.
Pre-1993: Rode and raced dirt bike cycles.