Williams Grove’s 33rd Annual Mitch Smith Memorial Set To Go Green This Friday Night

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Williams Grove Speedway will present the biggest race of the 2021 Pennsylvania Speedweek Series this Friday night, July 2 at 7:30 pm when it hosts the RHI Magnesita 33rd annual Mitch Smith Memorial for 410 sprint cars.

Known for decades as The Crown Jewel of Speedweek, the Mitch Smith Memorial will pay a hefty $15,000 to win out of a total purse worth nearly $40,000.

The RHI Magnesita Mitch Smith Memorial honors the late, great Richard “Mitch” Smith of Linglestown who succumbed to a massive heart attack in 1988, some 10 years after retiring.

Smith left the sport in 1978 after a four-decade long career wherein he scored 27 sprint car wins and nine super modified victories at Williams Grove alone to go along with 179 overall checkered flags.

Time trials will set the starting grids for the Friday Smith Memorial with the main event going 30-laps in distance.

The fastest driver in qualifying time trials will earn the $300 Fast Tees Fast Time Award, courtesy of Fast Tees Screenprinting of Thompsontown.

The Smith Memorial will be another race in the 2021 Hoosier Diamond Series at the track.

The special speedweek event will be a stand-alone sprint car program, focusing solely on the speedweek 410 sprint cars.

Fireworks will also be part of the Independence Day holiday weekend show.

Adult general admission for the race is set at $25 with youth ages 13 – 20 admitted for $10. Kids ages 12 and under are always admitted for FREE at Williams Grove Speedway.

RHI Magnesita is the leading global supplier of high-grade refractory products, systems and solutions which are critical for high-temperature processes exceeding 1,200°C in a wide range of industries,

including steel, cement, non-ferrous metals and glass.

With a vertically integrated value chain, from raw materials to refractory products and full performance-based solutions, RHI Magnesita serves customers globally, with around 12,000 employees in 30 main production sites and more than 70 sales offices.

Refractories defy the most hostile conditions to stay strong and stable at temperatures of 1200 °C and much, much higher in order to contain materials safely while they’re burned, melted, blasted, fired, fused, and shaped.

RHI Magnesita tailors the best solutions for customers by making over 120,000 products ranging from bricks and lining mixes to flow control products such as slide gates, nozzles and plugs.

First run in 1989, Stevie Smith won the very first Mitch Smith Memorial before returning for wins again in 2012 and 2014.

No driver owns more wins in the speedweek event than five-time champion Lance Dewease who is the current Williams Grove point leader.

Kyle Larson is the defending Smith Memorial winner.

Among others, previous winners have included Joey Allen, Alan Krimes, Daryn Pittman, Trey Starks, Don Kreitz Jr. Fred Rahmer, Greg Hodnett and Danny Dietrich.