Driver’s Spotlight – Korynne Smith

In this edition of the SCCA Sacramento Chapter Drivers’ spotlight, Korynne Smith has volunteered to share a little bit about herself. You may recognize her from the Green / Black 1972 Datsun 240Z that she co-drives with Carl Graf, but as of late, since Franken-Yoda has been out of commission, she has been engaging in the battle of the German cars with Carl, driving her 2014 White Audi A4, named Lucy, versus Carl’s M5 named Brun-Hilda.

Although the 2023 season is her 7th year, she first raced in her Black BMW 335i, the Datsun is her favorite. She was forced to learn how to drive a manual in that car, but still struggles with the reverse feature.

Korynne was first introduced to Auto-X, because, well, she met a guy and seven years later… she is addicted.

She does not have any race day rituals, per se, but she insists that she take a very hot shower, have her coffee and does not forget the sunscreen or deodorant. If there were any lucky charms that she has, it would definitely be the deodorant. It gets pretty hot out there on race days some times.

Although music is Korynne’s “church”, there are no real genres or songs that gets her pumped up to race, although, she really enjoys listening to the playlist that Bob Weisickle plays during the set up and the mornings of race days.

While not racing, her hobbies include a wide array of things. She enjoys playing video games, relaxing, hanging out with Carl, various arts and crafts, visiting with friends and family and just whatever is fun to do.

If money were no object, Korynne’s dream car… well, she already owns it. She absolutely LOVES her Audi, and is still in awe that she was able to own it. She named her Lucy. The only thing she would change is red leather seats instead of the black. So, her answer is whatever car Carl wants, since he does the maintenance on it. But she still gets to keep her Audi.

If there was one person that she could have dinner with, living or passed on, it would definitely be her Grandfather Raymond.

The match-up between Godzilla or King Kong, in a race, in Korynne’s opinion is going to be King Kong. The reason is that no matter what the movies show, Godzilla is very much larger than King Kong and would have difficulty getting in any size car. Although in a fight, Godzilla will always win. Radioactive breath. Just sayin’.

The racing accomplishment that she is the proudest of is a two-fer, in the same night. Korynne has been dreaming since the very first year that she would be awarded the most improved driver award. In the 2022 race year, she had no idea that she was even in the running, and she earned that at the awards banquet. To go with that, she was also awarded a very sentimental award of the Tom Smiley Sportsmanship Award. That one made Korynne tear up in front of the entire club. Those are awards that she will always treasure and try to continue to live up to.

Something that people may be surprised to learn about her, is that she comes from a very large family. She is the youngest of 4, the oldest of 8 and an only child. Having such a large family, one always has to have some silly talents to stand out from the rest, and hers is that she can form a spit bubble on the tip of her tongue and launch it off. (Pretty strange, but a great stupid human trick)

Although Korynne loves dogs and most all animals, a breed she would be, is none. She says that she would be a unicorn. Why? Because unicorns are awesome!

During an AutoX weekend, you will always find her fixated on Carl driving. No matter what he is driving, she will always have her eyes on him driving. Other than Carl, she really enjoys watching the new comers and first-time drivers. She enjoys rooting them on when they come in from the finish line. Korynne really gets happy for people when they come in and they have either that huge smile on their face, or relief and pride… because they did it! A superpower that Korynne would choose if she could, would be time travel. She would like to be able to find out the winning lottery numbers, or find what to invest in so that she could make sure her portfolio was in excellent shape.

One thing that Korynne thinks everyone should try once is stepping out of your comfort zone. It is terrifying and uncertain, but try it. It doesn’t have to be racing related, try it once. If you don’t like it, at least you tried. Oh… and sushi. Sushi is amazing. Try it.

Some advice that she would offer to a newcomer to the AutoX world, is to walk the course. Always walk the course. Even twice if you have to. Korynne received some great advice from another member, and that is to record your walk with your phone. Hold it at about waist level, and focus on the track while walking. That way, you can go and spend some time alone and rewatch it from that point of view while waiting for your turn.

The one memory that stands out in Korynne’s mind as one of her favorite AutoX events, was surprisingly the one that she DNF’d at the Enduro. This one was her favorite, because her mom was there, while battling cancer and got out there for the first time ever, on the Sunday and although it took her about 5 minutes to get around the entire course, she did it The look of elation on her face when she came in and everyone was cheering her on, is something she will never forget.

She has been out of the country a few times to Mexico and Canada, so Korynne’s favorite travel destination outside of the states, would be Cozumel Mexico. In the states, there is a farmhouse on the top of a hill in Iowa, that has a swing… that is her favorite place. A place outside of the USA, that she has not been to, but will be there one day, is Ireland. Carl promises they will go one day. Thank you to Korynne for sharing this information with the current and future members of the SCCA Sac Chapter.