SMART Modified Tour Website 

SOUTHERN MODIFIED TOURS

By John Nelson

January 31, 2026

Beginning in 1989, five touring series for Northeast-style Modifieds have raced on paved tracks in the Southeastern United States. The first was Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART), which over time became closely affiliated with NASCAR. In 2005 NASCAR took over the series under the title of NASCAR Southern Modified Tour. In 2014 the Southern Modified Race Tour (SMRT) came onto the scene and ran concurrent with NASCAR for three seasons, although SMRT held only two events in 2016. NASCAR also discontinued its southern tour in 2016. The Southern Modified Racing Series (SMRS) arose to take its place, but lasted only three seasons. In 2020, a new SMART organization, Southern Modified Auto Racing Tours,  picked up the southern Modified touring baton. 

As background, Southeastern speedways began phasing out Modifieds in favor of Late Model stock cars during the middle 1960s. NASCAR pushed the process in 1968 when it replaced its open-wheel Sportsman Division with Late Model Sportsman cars, and there was talk of dropping the Modifieds as well. By the mid 1970s nearly all the Southeastern tracks had switched to Late Models, leaving Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina the only Modified hold-out. The last Southeastern driver to earn a top ten in NASCAR National Modified point standings before the advent of the Modified Tour was North Carolina’s Alfred Hill in 1980. When the Tour started up the only regular Southern dates were at Martinsville and occasional races at Richmond and South Boston (VA) and Orange County (NC); more recently Bristol (TN). The lone regional regular on the tour was Paul Radford of Rocky Mount, VA, who earned top-10s in point standings for 1990-1993 and 1995. 

Racing people recognized interest in a modest Southern Modified tour to supplement the weekly action at Bowman Gray. Large payouts were out of the question, but a schedule that limited traveling and kept costs low was needed. All of this action revolved around paved tracks and meshed, to some degree, with NASCAR’s Modified Tour. Success of the Tours has prompted some Southeastern speedway promoters to include Modifieds in their weekly programs. Thus far an insufficient number of local cars has precluded a season-long Southern series for dirt-track Northeast-style Modifieds. However, inroads at several dirt ovals in Louisiana and East Texas enabled the Short Track Super Series, a Northeastern dirt Modified organization, to pull off a late-fall “Cajun Swing” in 2021 and 2022. 

SMART. As Todd Drew wrote in Trackside for 4/15/94, longtime Modified racer Melvin “Puddin” Swisher wanted a larger role for Modifieds in the Southeast. Conversations during a rain-out at Myrtle Beach in 1988 led to the formation of Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART) with Randy Myers its first president. Bowman Gray management and NASCAR were opposed, thinking SMART would draw cars away from their venues. Thus, SMART built its schedule around early spring and fall dates that did not conflict with Bowman Gray’s weekly program. Starting with a modest 7-race schedule in 1989, SMART grew to a 10- to 12- race schedule, concentrating in the Carolinas and Virginia. Participation grew from 20 teams in 1989 to about 35 in 1994. SMART was closely tied to NASCAR, which handled such matters as point funds, entry forms, and mailings. This arrangement led to NASCAR taking sole control of the southern tour.  

NASCAR Southern Modified Tour. In 2005, SMART became NASCAR’s Southern Modified Tour (SMT), sponsored for most of its run by Whelen Industries, which still (as of 2026) is title sponsor for the regular NASCAR Modified Tour. Most SMT races carried a purse of about $25,000, paying $2,000 to win and $300 to start. As on the Whelen Modified Tour, starting positions were determined by time trials, with no heats or consolation races. Most races were 150 or 200 laps in length. At the close of the 2016 season NASCAR discontinued the Southern Modified Tour, while adding (at least temporarily) a few Southeastern dates to the Whelen Modified Tour. 

Southern Modified Race Tour (SMRT). Also known as the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series, this tour comprised eight races each in 2014 and 2015. The SMRT overlapped with the last three years of the NASCAR SMT and many drivers raced in both series. SMRT races were 125 laps in length and paid at least $2,900 to the winner. When sponsorship fell through in 2016, SMRT held only two events and then folded its tent. 

Southern Modified Racing Series (SMRS). The demise of NASCAR’s Southern Modified Tour and of the SMRT at the end of the 2016 season created  a vacancy. The Southern Modified Racing Series arose in 2017 and continued through 2019.

Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART). In 2020 a new organization, PRA Tours, resurrected the Southern Modified Auto Racing Tours. The timing was unfortunate, as COVID restrictions reduced the season to four events. For 2021, SMART rolled out a 14-event schedule, including several tracks where Northeastern Modifieds have not raced previously. Going forward, the club has gained stature with the $20,000-to-win “King of the Modifieds” at South Boston and the $10,000-to-win season finale on the big stage at North Wilkesboro.