Happy Birthday, Jane Smith!!
Jane and family in Mendenhall, Mississippi.
November 3 is an auspicious date. In 1493 Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Dominica. In 1679 a great panic occurred in Europe over the close approach of a comet. In 1783 Washington ordered the Continental Army disbanded, and in 1930 the Bank of Italy became the Bank of America.
In 1949, in Jackson, Mississippi, a girl named Jane Lorraine was born to Patrick and Iris Smith, who quickly took her to her new hometown of Mendenhall, where she lived happily, close to her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Jane made many friends there and part of her heart still belongs in that sleepy Mississippi town.
Christmas Day. Jane with doll, Rick as Roy Rogers.
Jane lived happily in Mendenhall until her father found work as a public relations director at Hinds Junior College in Raymond, Mississippi. Jane reluctantly moved to her new home for a few years, until she was once again up-rooted and moved to the beautiful university town of Oxford, Mississippi. These were the important teen years and although these moves were difficult, Jane always made friends and enjoyed her youthful beauty and social skills.
One final move brought Jane to Merritt Island, Florida in her senior year of high school. That’s a tough time to be the new kid, but Jane adapted and once again made this new place her home.
Many moves, ups and downs, life changes and years later, Jane found herself and her children once again living on Merritt Island, where she lives today.
Many people in the Florida stock car world have come to know Jane for her presence at so many events, the hundreds of reports and stories she has written, and her unswerving support of the sport. Those who know her, love her, and appreciate her for herself as well as for what she has done to promote stock car events.
Jane found her writer’s voice with the encouragement of Jack Smith and the KARNAC Motorsports Community. Since gaining her writing skills, she has worked for many speedways, written articles for a wide range of publications and websites, and now has started her own website to report on all of the dirt tracks in Florida, FloridaDirtTrackNews.com.
People who know Jane immediately joined her forum and posted wishes for success, and the overall tone was that there was no doubt that she would succeed with her new venture. After all, she has the writer’s skills, the contacts in the industry, the enthusiasm and passion that are all essential ingredients for success.
When she’s not hanging around a track or writing a story, you can often find Jane on a bridge around Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach, shrimping until late into the night. She has always loved shrimp; fried, boiled, broiled, shimp sandwich, shrimp salad, shrimp and eggs, shrimp and grits, barbequed shrimp… you get the picture. Simple pleasures.
November 3 is a great day, and it is an opportunity to do something special for an extraordinary lady by sending birthday wishes to Jane, either through the forum on this website, by going to the “Contact” page listed underneath the “About” tab at the top of the website, or directly at racingJLS@aol.com. I’ll bet this will really make her day, although I’ll probably get it for telling you about it.
Now (this is Rick, her brother writing this), please excuse this diversion from articles about stock car racing. I promise not to interrupt often, but I thought that a lot of readers on this website would like to have the opportunity to send a quick “Happy Birthday” wish and a “thank you” for a job well done Jane’s way. Knowing that people notice and care is about the best gift anyone can receive (besides hundred dollar bills, and I’m sure she’d be happy to receive those, too 
Happy Birthday, Jane.
Love,
Rick
PS – I wish I had a hundred dollar bill to send.
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