Wayne Smith “Losing The Outlaw” In 2015 Sportsman Competition

What is in a nickname?

Six-time Maritime Touring champion Wayne Smith, known to many as “the Oval Outlaw” in regional circuits, will be sporting a new scheme, number and car at tracks in the 2015 season.

Smith, of Timberlea, Nova Scotia and co-owner of Petty International Raceway, has set his sights on Late Model Sportsman racing this season. The car he will campaign is a former Shawn Warren car, purchased by fellow Petty Raceway co-owner Craig McFetridge and is sponsored by Dulux Paints Bayers Lake, CARQUEST, Bonin Auto Body, Finish Line Vinyl Design and Rand Auto Electric.

The team is aiming to have some fun with the project and give back to tracks that have supported them with an extra car in their fields at big races. They have a partial schedule set out for the new adventure, including the three New Brunswick Short Track Challenge races at Speedway 660 (June 6th), Petty Raceway (August 2nd) and Speedway Miramichi (September 19th). They are aiming to be at their “home track” of Scotia Speedworld twice during the 21st Annual Shriners Classic (July 24th) and the Dartmouth Dodge 100 (August 7th), the Highland Home Building Centre 100 at Riverside Speedway on July 17th, the NAPA Sportsman Series event on July 4th at Cape Breton Miners Memorial Speedway and the Irving Oil Blending & Packaging Sportsman 150 at Speedway 660 on September 5th. The 2013 Speedweekend event at Speedway 660 is the last time Smith ran a Late Model Sportsman car.

The car also has a new number too, moving from Smith’s iconic #44 to the #41.

“It’s kind of like Kurt Busch, we’re taking “the Outlaw” out of the driver,” said McFetridge with a chuckle. Busch runs the #41 for Stewart Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

With Wayne Smith’s nephew, “The Bounty Hunter” Russell Smith Jr. expected to run at most tracks the new team will run at and with Russell Jr. running #44 on his car, the team also chose to run the new number as to not conflict with the two-time Petty Raceway and 2012 NAPA Sportsman Series champion.

“The competition in the Sportsman class in this region is so tough. Champions like Brent Roy, Chris Reid and Darren Wallage have really stepped up their game in recent years. We hope to go out and run with the best of them and have some fun doing it.”

You can see the car up close for yourself before it hits the race track at the 41st Annual Castrol Radical Speedsport this weekend at the Moncton Coliseum.