T. Wayne Smart

T. Wayne Smart (1904 – November 14, 1976), also known as Curly Smart, was an American harness racing driver and horse trainer who was a two-time winner of the Little Brown Jug and a 1970 inductee of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.

Early life Born Thurman Wayne Smart, his birthplace was Ostrander, Ohio, in the United States. During the early "shortship" race, he drove a pacer owned by his uncle named Dan Logan. After taking his first win, he began to pursue the sport of harness racing.

Little Brown Jug His early reputation in the mid-1940s was tied to his work at the local fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio, where he was the co-founder of the Little Brown Jug harness racing classic. Smart won the first-ever Little Brown Jug in 1946 with Ensign Hanover. His second win at the Little Brown Jug came with Meadow Rice in 1952 during the event's seventh annual edition.

Track superintendent He was the track superintendent of Delaware County Fairgrounds racetrack and spent years transforming it into the world's fastest half-mile track. He had a five-year stint as a trainer for the Neville stable.

Smart handled champion pacer Gold Worthy, a son of Worthy Boy, who won the U.S. Invitational Pacing Championship and became track record holder at Grandview Oval in Solon, Ohio, in 1957. He drove the bay horse for its owner Dr. A. B. Thompson of Pulaski. His fastest mile, 1:, came with Gold Worthy at the 1958 $75,000 American Pacing Classic, held at Hollywood Park Racetrack.

In 1959, horses racing under the Smart Stable banner earned $250,000 in prize money. As one of the country's top trainers, he credited his stable's success to careful attention to shoeing and balance, selecting horses with properly set legs, and placing them in races where they had a realistic chance to win.

By early 1960, he had taken part in roughly 20,000–25,000 races over the course of his career, which began in 1922. He ranked first in winning percentage in five of the preceding six seasons. He served on the USTA board of directors for a number of years. During this time, he was also serving as vice president of the Little Brown Jug Society.

At Delaware County Fairgrounds in September 1970, Smart rode Smart Lobell (by Overtrick) to victories in both heats of the Ohio Standardbred No. 28, securing nearly $3,700.

In 1971, he had won all the major stake races at the Ohio State Fair and concluded a 50-year career in training and driving pacing and trotting horses. He was buried in Delaware's Oak Grove Cemetery.

Legacy In 1958, he was awarded his first United States Harness Writers Association Paul Doumeng trophy, and again in 1959. It was given to Smart as to the country's leading percentage driver. In November 1963, the noted reinsman won the Paul Doumeng Trophy for the third time in its eight-year history. He led the country with a .493 rating. Smart won the USHWA Proximity Award in 1968.

He was enshrined in the United States Harness Writers' Living Hall of Fame at the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in 1970.

The city of Delaware honored him by naming a street Curly Smart Circle.