Langley driver makes own luck to win

Racing superstitions fail to slow Nick Smith at Langley Speedway. HAMPTON - Nick Smith seemed intent on thumbing his nose at as many racing superstitions as he could on Saturday at Langley Speedway. He drove a green car sporting the number 13 in the Legends Division 25-lapper. It apparently will take stronger hexes to stop Smith, who led from start to finish for his third consecutive victory on Langley's four-tenths of a mile oval. He has sandwiched two consecutive Legends victories — including one in a $2,000-to-win challenge race in late-June — around his $15,000 triumph last week in the inaugural Hampton Heat 200 Late Model. "Some people say that it's an unlucky color, but we had a good car tonight," said Smith, a 22-year-old Hampton resident. "The (color scheme) was Mike O'Neil's idea." O'Neil is the Newport News... [read full story]