David Smith Bio
David Smith (born March 28, 1950) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver who last competed full-time in the ARCA Menards Series West. He drives the No. 05 Toyota for Shockwave Motorsports, a small team he helped build around a longtime sponsor. Smith came to stock car racing later than most, after two decades working behind the scenes as a chassis builder for several well-known NASCAR teams.
Outside the cockpit, Smith is the president of SHOCKWAVE Marine Suspension Seats, a marine seating company that has backed his racing program for years. His career arc, from shop floor to driver, makes him one of the more unusual late-blooming drivers in American stock car racing.
Early Life and Background
David Smith was born on March 28, 1950, in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada, a small Vancouver Island community near Victoria. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s and 1960s placed him close to a vibrant local racing scene that included both stock cars and open-wheel events. That environment helped shape his lifelong interest in mechanical work and competition.
Smith’s early exposure to motorsports came through the garage rather than the racetrack. He developed a strong understanding of chassis setup, fabrication, and race car preparation, skills that would define his career for the next two decades. The combination of hands-on technical training and a passion for speed set the foundation for everything that followed.
Path to NASCAR
Smith’s path into NASCAR ran through the workshop. In the 1970s he began working as a chassis builder for several well-known teams and owners, including Ralph Moody, Gary Kershaw, Roy Smith, and Hershel McGriff. Those years gave him a working knowledge of stock car preparation at a time when the sport was rapidly expanding across the United States.
He continued in that chassis-building role for roughly twenty years, contributing to race programs without ever climbing into a stock car himself. Recognition for his years of service arrived in 2011, when Smith was inducted into the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame. The honor marked a turning point, and soon afterward he began transitioning from builder to driver.
David Smith Career
Early Career (2017–2019)
Smith’s competitive driving career began in the Trans-Am West Coast Championship, a regional sports car and stock car series popular on the West Coast. Between 2017 and 2019, he entered a number of Trans-Am West Coast events, gaining valuable seat time and learning the rhythms of wheel-to-wheel racing after decades on the other side of the wall.
In 2018, Smith ran five of the six events on the Trans-Am West Coast schedule and finished third in the final standings. The result confirmed that his late-career switch from crew member to driver could produce competitive finishes at a high regional level.
ARCA Menards Series West Breakthrough (2022–Present)
Smith made his ARCA Menards Series West debut in 2022 at Evergreen Speedway, driving the No. 05 Toyota for Shockwave Motorsports. His first race ended with a thirteenth-place finish after a crash with less than thirty laps remaining, a difficult but educational start to his national-level career. He went on to make two more ARCA West starts that season, at All American Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, with a best finish of eleventh at the Roseville event.
In 2023, Smith attempted to run the full ARCA West schedule for Shockwave Motorsports after forming an alliance with Naake-Klauer Motorsports, even though his team ran Toyotas while his partner team ran Fords. The arrangement expanded his racing program and helped him gain consistency across a long season. His best ARCA West season came in 2025, when he finished seventh in the final series standings, a career-best result that reflected years of steady improvement.
Smith also made a handful of starts in the national ARCA Menards Series, beginning with the 2023 General Tire 150 at Phoenix. His ARCA national program has been limited, but it has given him experience on some of the country’s most demanding ovals.
Shockwave Motorsports Era (2022–Present)
Shockwave Motorsports, the team Smith helped build and lead, runs the No. 05 Toyota in the ARCA Menards Series West. The program is closely tied to SHOCKWAVE Marine Suspension Seats, the company Smith presides over, which has served as his primary sponsor whenever he races. The setup gives him unusual control over both the business and the race team sides of his program.
Within the Shockwave era, Smith’s most notable on-track moment came in the 2026 Tucson ARCA Menards West 150, when he led his first laps in ARCA West competition, pacing the field for 19 laps. That performance was a clear sign of growing confidence and competitiveness in his late-career stint as a driver.
Driving Style and Strengths
Smith’s driving style is shaped by his decades of mechanical experience. He is known for clear feedback to his crew on chassis balance and tire wear, an area where his background as a builder gives him an edge. His strengths tend to show on longer runs and on tracks where setup precision matters more than raw aggression, and he has continued to refine his race craft through consistent seat time in the ARCA West series.
Notable Races and Milestones
His most significant milestones include his 2011 induction into the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame, his third-place finish in the 2018 Trans-Am West Coast Championship, and his career-best seventh-place result in the 2025 ARCA Menards Series West standings. Leading 19 laps in the 2026 Tucson ARCA Menards West 150 also stands out as a defining competitive moment.
David Smith Career Wins
David Smith’s verified career win totals reflect his late start and the part-time nature of his program. Across the ARCA Menards Series and the ARCA Menards Series West, he has not recorded a victory, and he has also been credited with no pole positions. His results, however, show steady progress, with multiple top-ten finishes in ARCA West competition.
ARCA Menards Series West Highlights
In the ARCA Menards Series West, Smith has recorded zero wins and zero poles, but he has earned three top-ten finishes across his starts in the series. His first ARCA West race came at Evergreen Speedway in 2022, and his most recent came at Tri-City in 2026. His best championship result is seventh place, achieved in 2025.
Other Wins and Performances
Beyond ARCA, Smith’s most notable non-ARCA result was a third-place finish in the 2018 Trans-Am West Coast Championship after running five of the season’s six events. He has not recorded a confirmed victory at the regional or national stock car level, and any earlier results from his chassis-building era came in a non-driving capacity.
David Smith Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Smith is a Canadian native of Sidney, British Columbia, and has long ties to the Victoria-area racing community, where he was inducted into the local auto racing hall of fame. While detailed information about his parents and siblings is not publicly confirmed, his decades-long immersion in West Coast racing show deep roots in the region’s motorsports culture.
Personal Life
Smith is the president of SHOCKWAVE Marine Suspension Seats, a company that both sponsors his racing and supports other drivers, including Derek Kraus in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In 2020, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and received treatment for the condition in the United States, a personal challenge he has spoken about publicly. He has continued to balance his business leadership with his late-career driving program.
2025 Season Performance
Smith’s 2025 ARCA Menards Series West season was his most competitive to date. Running the No. 05 Toyota for Shockwave Motorsports, he posted consistent finishes throughout the year and ended the campaign seventh in the final series standings, a career-best result. The season showed that his technical feedback and growing comfort at national-level ovals were starting to translate into stronger race-day results.
Outside of the ARCA West program, Smith made occasional starts in the national ARCA Menards Series, continuing to build experience at higher-profile tracks. The combination of an established team, a long-term sponsor in SHOCKWAVE Marine Suspension Seats, and an alliance with Naake-Klauer Motorsports gave him a stable platform for the year.
Looking ahead, Smith’s outlook for 2026 and beyond centers on continuing to grow the Shockwave Motorsports program and adding to his top-ten tally in ARCA West. With a career-best season behind him and his first laps led already on the books, he enters each new race with a clearer sense of what it takes to compete at this level.
