06/18/2023 – Murrietta, California, native R.K. Smith made two starts in Cup behind the wheel of Dick Midgely’s Pontiacs. Before trying his hand in Cup racing, Smith was a regular competitor in the SCCA and IMSA championships; in 1983 he won the SCCA National Championship Runoffs in the Formula F class.
Smith made his Winston Cup debut in 1991 at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, California, where he drove Midgley’s unsponsored Pontiac. He qualified 36th, but finished last (43rd) after the Pontiac’s engine expired on the second lap of the race. That same year he attempted the race at Phoenix also in Midgley’s Pontiac, but failed to qualify. In 1992, once again at Sonoma and behind the wheel of Midgley’s Pontiac but this time with sponsorship from Racer Magazine, he qualified 29th. He retired in the final stages, finishing 33rd, when the Pontiac’s engine failed. Smith and Midgley teamed up again in a Pontiac for the 1993 Sonoma race, but failed to qualify.
Smith briefly returned to the Cup series – once again – at Sonoma in 1997 where he attempted to qualify (possibly the same, but reskinned) Pontiac this time co-owned by Gary Smith and Dick Midgley under the Smith Racing monniker, but failed to make the race. In 1999 and 2000, Smith was hired by veteran Dave Marcis to drive his RealTree Camouflage Chevrolet at Sonoma (twice) and Watkins Glen (once), but failed to qualify each time. This concluded Smith’s foray in Cup.
Screenshot of RK Smith’s Pontiac going off course at Sonoma, 1992.
Pontiac Racing 