Brittany Smith became the first woman to be WISSOTA Auto Racing's Hornet national champion this year.
ST. CLOUD — Brittany Smith grew up at the track.
And this year she left her mark there, as the first female national champion in WISSOTA Auto Racing.
"It was kind of unreal," Smith said about her big win.
The 20-year-old Apollo High School graduate raced in the Hornet division and finished as runner-up last year.
Smith had 15 feature wins this year and knew she had enough points to win the championship before the season ended in late October. WISSOTA’s membership includes about 50 race tracks in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba.
"I hope my accomplishments can show women that even though it's a male-dominated sport, anything and everything is possible," Smith said Wednesday.
Her family is a big part of her life on and off the track — and she credits her dad's pep talks with some of her success.
Smith's brother Jacob Smith is another supporter and one of her biggest competitors.
Brittany Smith first raced at age 17, as an off-hand trial run of her dad's Dodge Neon. He had been a competitive driver and still built cars for racing.
Talk in the family always focused on her brother inheriting the sport of racing, Smith said. "I just remember being so excited to show my dad I could do it."
Her brother, a 16-year-old junior at Apollo High School, did well this past racing season too. He secured 11 feature wins, she said.
"You want to beat her. She wants to beat you," Jacob Smith said about competition with his sister. "I think it was fun racing against each other. I'd like to see her keep racing, in different classes."
Jacob thinks it's great that Brittany took the championship, but it did ruffle some of the racers, he said.
"A lot of hard feelings for the guys when you get beat by a girl," he said.
Brittany Smith also happens to be a tiny woman, just 5 feet 1 inch tall, said her mother, Carrie Beaudette.
"In my world, it was always a man's sport," Beaudette said. "She gets out there, and she has absolutely no fear."
Both of Smith's parents run their own businesses and inspired her to major in business management at Bemidji State University where she's a junior. She is also working on a minor in sports management.
On the side, Smith participates in cross fit competitions and may start training to be a coach in that sport next summer. She also likes to go ice fishing and travel around with her mother.
When she's around on the weekend, she'll check out her brother's Apollo hockey games too, he said. The two spent a lot of time together on weekends through racing season.
Sometimes Brittany Smith wouldn't get back to school until late Sunday night, early Monday morning, her brother said. Then she'd head to class.
That commitment to driving, that time at the track, is the Smiths' secret to success.
"Seat time is key. The more you do it, the better you get," Brittany Smith said.
Encouragement from her dad was also key.
"He always reminded me I could do it, no matter what," she said.
She's also grateful to the fans of the sport who show up to races and her myriad of sponsors.
Brittany's not sure if she'll keep racing next season. She plans to finish college and said it's hard to be away from her family and the shop.
"It's still up in the air," she said.