Riverhead Raceway’s only female champion added to track’s ‘Wall of Fame’

With “Dynamite” Dan Turbush behind the wheel, racing champion Peggy Smith rode her last lap around the quarter-mile oval at Riverhead Raceway as a passenger in a golf cart Saturday night, smiling and waving to cheering fans on hand for Old-Timers Night and the induction of Smith and Turbush — along with Paul McElearney — into the raceway’s “Wall of Fame.”

The lap followed ceremonies on the track during which Smith, Turbush and McElearney were honored for their achievements at Riverhead during their racing careers. The track presented Smith and Turbush with “Wall of Fame” plaques; McElearney was not present. The names of all three champions had already been added to the wall.

Smith, 59, is the only woman ever to win a track championship at Riverhead. She won the late model Grand Am in 1981. She went on to race in the street stock and NASCAR modified divisions.

Both her red Chevelle late model and her modified bore the number 21.

The current owner of her modified brought the vehicle to Riverhead from Warwick, Rhode Island Saturday so it could be there for the induction ceremonies. Just for the occasion, the new owner, Jim Williams, renumbered it with Peggy’s “21” and had her name painted on its roof.

He said he had called Smith’s sister to learn something about the history of the car, which he bought about a year ago from the person Smith sold it to. He learned about Saturday night’s event. He immediately decided he had to bring Smith’s car to her for the occasion, Williams said.

“It was not only the right thing to do, it was the only thing to do,” Williams said.

Smith isn’t comfortable with all the attention.

“They keep saying I’m a trailblazer,” Smith said with a shrug and a smile. She noted that she wasn’t the first female driver at Riverhead. “Lolly Turbush raced before me,” she said.

But track host Bob Finian during the ceremonies credited Smith with “blazing the trail for other female drivers at the raceway,” including Erin Solomito, of East Quogue, who currently leads the super truck pro division and has a chance to become the first woman to win a track championship since Smith did it in 1981.

Smith said in an interview she’s happy to see more women in racing, a sports she still follows closely, though Saturday was her first trip to the track in some time.

Smith is battling metastatic breast cancer, a disease she was first diagnosed with in 2007. It’s been a rough road for her over the past year, after the disease recurred and spread to her lungs and brain. She’s been in and out of the hospital, and today has a difficult time walking. Her energy level is low, she said.

“But the worst part is they won’t let me drive,” Smith said.

Smith was reflective as she sat in a chair outside Sapienza’s trailer in the pit area before the races started.

“I made it quite a ways,” Smith said. “I was fine the whole time. This was the first year I got really sick,” she said. 

Smith loved being back at the track, greeted by dozens of old friends and well-wishers. It was like coming home, she said.

“When I heard the first engines start up…” Smith tilted her head back, closed her eyes in reverie and smiled. “What a great sound.”