When Bangor’s Gary Smith went to have his broken left wrist placed in a cast, he brought an interesting item with him: a steering wheel.

Smith, a driver on the Pro All-Stars Series tour, decided that he was going to continue racing with the broken wrist.

“When the cast was still soft, he [cast applier] Byron Dunbar let me grab hold of the steering wheel to put a dent in the cast,” explained Smith. “It was kind of cool.”

By molding the cast with the steering wheel, it has aided Smith’s ability to drive his race car. The cast extends halfway up his forearm.

Smith suffered his injury as a result of a collision during the Oxford True Value 250 on July 14.

“I got turned around and a car hit me in the wheel. It turned my wrist vertically. It jerked the wheel out of my hand and turned my wrist straight down,” said Smith.

He finished ninth with the new cast in the Unity 150 at Unity Raceway last Saturday night.

“It was a little bit uncomfortable. It wasn’t sore or anything. It was a little bit awkward. I think the car was a lot better than I was. If I was healthy, I could have done better,” said the 46-year-old Smith.

He said the toughest adjustment is mental rather than physical.

“It takes away a little of your concentration. It’s in the back of your mind. And the cars are so equal, you really have to concentrate every single lap. There’s such a fine line between the cars [on the PASS tour],” said Smith.

It was the second time in 11 months he had broken his left wrist.

He did the same thing during the Atlantic Cat 250 at Scotia Speedworld in Halifax last Aug. 11. He finished the race and wound up seventh.

“It hurt a lot worse this time around,” said Smith, who couldn’t finish the Oxford 250.

Smith said he wouldn’t race if he felt he was jeopardizing his health or the safety of the other drivers.

“If I was going to cause problems, I wouldn’t do it,” said Smith, who hasn’t felt it necessary to employ a more conservative approach.

“I don’t play it safe. I go as fast as I can. It wouldn’t be fair to my guys if I was going out there not feeling that I could win,” said Smith, who will jump back into the car for a 150-lapper at the high-banked quarter-mile oval Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., Saturday night.

“It’s a fun place to race. It’s fast and it’s tough to get around,” said Smith, who will get his cast off in two weeks, just before the Atlantic Cat 250. “I’ll probably wear a brace. It will still be a little weak.”

OPS has busy August on tap

August is a banner month on the Oxford Plains Speedway schedule beginning Saturday night with the New England Dodge Dealers 100, an American-Canadian Tour race.

That will be the first of three special events.

Thursday will see the return of freestyle motocross and then, on Aug. 17, the Kick Butts Racing International Super Modified Association will hold a 100-lap feature.

The ACT qualifying begins at 7 p.m. and looking to defend his race title will be 18-year-old Ryan Moore of Scarborough, a rookie on the tour after being a regular at OPS a year ago. He is the son of Busch North points contender Kelly Moore.

Several OPS regulars are expected to enter the race.

The freestyle motocross event begins at 6 p.m. and OPS owner and general manager Bill Ryan said, “They’re stopping at our place in between their trips to the Gravity Games [in Cleveland] and the X-Games [in Philadelphia].”

Added Ryan, “Last year, I didn’t follow freestyle motocross as much as I do now. It’s amazing what they can do.”

The competition includes Freestyle, Step-Up, and Big Air.

Freestyle involves the motorcycle riders executing tricks in midair, the Step-Up is similar to the high jump in track with the riders launching themselves off a 90-degree ramp and trying to clear a pole, and the Big Air involves the riders performing their most difficult tricks within a predetermined number of tries.

Headlining the list of riders are 2001 Summer X-Games gold medalist Kenny Bartram and Mike Metzger, one of the founders of the sport.

“We had tons of kids at it last year and they’re real familiar with all these guys,” said Ryan.

Last year’s show was a demonstration, but this year’s is a point-paying event on the International Freestyle Motocross Association circuit.

The super-modified race later this month, according to Ryan, features cars that go upwards of 110 miles an hour.

“That’s 20 miles an hour faster than our top pro stock cars,” said Ryan. “This is the second-biggest motorsports event in Maine after the Oxford 250.”

“We had 7,500 at the IFMA race last year and we’re looking for 8,000 this year,” said Ryan.

Craven’s Tide Ford going retro

Major league baseball teams occasionally wear old-time uniforms to celebrate the past during turn-back-the-clock games.

Newburgh’s Ricky Craven and the PPI Motorsports Team will commemorate Tide’s 15-year association with NASCAR this weekend with a retro look design on his Tide Ford Taurus and a Craftsman Truck Series entrant which will be driven by three-time Winston Cup points champion Darrell Waltrip, who is now a color analyst on NASCAR telecasts.

Waltrip was the first Winston Cup driver for Tide in 1987.

Tide-sponsored teams have won 19 Winston Cup races. Waltrip and Ricky Rudd each won nine and Craven won at Martinsville last season. Scott Pruett in 2000 was the only other Tide driver.

Waltrip will race on Friday night at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and Craven will run the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600, or lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.