Kerstin Smutny Racing

I can’t believe I even have to write this post. But bear with me….
I started racing at WQMA - Washington Qtr. Midget Association in 1998 at Paine Field. When the airport decided they were going to develop the land the track was on, my parents Denise and Kent Smutny along with so many other dedicated club members set out on a mission to help their kids find a new facility to do what they loved.
After countless Snohomish County Council meetings and negotiations. We were able to find an undeveloped piece of land in the corner of the Evergreen State Fair parking lot.
Thanks to the contributions of selfless individuals and companies we were able to build one of the most state of the art Quarter Midget Racing facilities in the country. This facility has brought in two grand national races with families from across the nation and Canada staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and purchasing fuel in Snohomish County. In addition to their club races there are also several races per year drawing families from all across the PNW, the kids have contributed to the community with coat and food drives headed up by the older drivers.
To this day, at 34 years old I still maintain friendships with the friends I met at this club. Our own children even race together today. It is often times a sport shared through generations.
WQMA has built EVERYTHING at this facility. There were a handful of locations being looked at when the track was built and it was put in this location per an agreement with the county that it would be for WQMA and they would charge them only the “Lost revenue” from the less than one month a year it would have been used for Fair parking, because again without all of the development put in by WQMA it would still be a dead grass corner of a parking lot. It is wild to think that a non profit kids organization has to go through this battle and I hope those at Snohomish County do the right thing for the community instead of chasing a few extra dollars on a lease.
KOMO News KING 5 KING 5 Sports KING 5 Evening Monroe Monitor & Valley News Everett Herald

Youth race track parents on edge as Snohomish County seeks bids for new lease We put the money, the time, the effort into build the facility. And we’re bidding against ourselves for building it?”

featuring Kerstin Lewis during the Trick or Treat Shootout!

📸 Dougs Photography Doug Crann

A chip off the ole' block ❤️
📸 West Coast Digital Photography

It was so much fun to be back on air with Rob Tiongson on The Podium Finish!! Many more to come 🙂

‎The Podium Finish Live!: Ep. 81 | Isaac Kitzmiller with Kerstin Lewis on Apple Podcasts ‎Show The Podium Finish Live!, Ep Ep. 81 | Isaac Kitzmiller with Kerstin Lewis - Aug 4, 2023

Here's to all the ladies breaking down barriers! 🏁

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Back behind the wheel of the drag car on Saturday, after over a year!

Went to the track not expecting to race (But a racer doesn't go to a race track without their gear iykyk) and the opportunity came up, my father in law asked if I wanted to race the car and I said yes!

I'm so proud of how it went! Won two rounds, and had a .008 reaction time on my last pass. The car was very consistent, I broke out with a 6.36 second run a 6.38 dial, so that ended my night but I sure had a blast! Thanks to Accurate Auto Body, Tim for letting me race the car and Linda for watching the girls when we showed up making the last minute decision to race. 🏁

National Women & Girls in Sports Day!
It's is a blessing & honor to show other young girls they can do anything they set their minds to! (Even in a male driven industry)

*Pictures are a couple of my cars, and of my daughter and cousin about to start Quarter Midget racing! 🏁

Well, we have a little bit of snow here in the PNW mountains 🤪❄️

This is an excerpt from a blog I read by someone who was 10 when the attacks happened 20 years ago. I was 11 on 9.11.01 and I can relate so much to this...

“There is an entire sub-generation of people like me, who, in 2001, were right in that sweet spot of childhood where we had incredibly vivid memories of the day of the attack, but very little understanding of the actual loss or the greater impact it would have over time. We are all of us united by the sharp moments that never faded — watching our parents cry in front of the television. Watching our teachers abandon their lesson plans. Watching kids get pulled out of school, watching people scramble to get in touch with their friends in New York and DC, watching the planes strike the towers on the news over and over and over again. We were children. Watching was all we could do. We had no context, no ability to act, and no concept of the gravity of what had just happened.”
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