Mark Smith Formula Super Vee Grand Prix of Cleveland 1988

Indy Lights driver Mark Smith winning pole position Phoenix

Mark Smith Long Beach Grand Prix 1993 Indy car race CART

Mark Smith (born April 10, 1967) is a former American racing driver who competed in the CART IndyCar Series. Smith won the 1989 United States Formula Super Vee Championship and was the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Indy Lights National Championship runner-up.

Career

Smith entered

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

competition at the age of 14 and won 6 championships in multiple IKF divisions.Portland's Indy Car Future (June 22, 1990). ''Portland International Raceway Official Program'' (USA): 85, retrieved December 10, 2011 In 1985 he moved up to

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

scoring 4 race wins in two seasons and then advanced to

Formula Super Vee Formula Super Vee was an open-wheel racing series that took place in Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1990. The formula was created as an extension of Formula Vee, a racing class that was introduced in 1959. Formula Super Vee in Europe w ...

. After winning the 1989 United States

Championship with 5 wins and 4 poles, Smith raced in

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

from 1990 to 1992, finishing 3rd in series points his rookie year, and 2nd in 1991 capturing 3 wins and 5 poles along the way. In December 1992, it was announced that Smith would make his racing debut in CART / Indy Car, signing with Arciero for the 1993 season. Arciero, being a sparsely budgeted team, fielded a year old, 1992 Penske PC-21/Chevrolet B, for 13 of the 16 scheduled races. Smith scored two top 10 finishes in the first three races of the season. At the fourth round, the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

, Smith qualified twice for the race but was bumped from the field. His second bumping at the hands of

Didier Theys Didier Maurice Theys (born 19 October 1956) is a Belgian sports car driver. He is a two-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona (1998 and 2002); a winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (1998); the Sports Racing Prototype driver champion of th ...

happened just 6 minutes before the end of qualifications that year, an outcome that added to the

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

myth about '' The Curse of the Smiths''. Smith continued to show good pace his rookie year with several top 10 qualifying performances. At the

Grand Prix of Portland The Grand Prix of Portland (known as the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland for sponsorship reasons) is a race in the IndyCar Series held at the Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. The race was an annual event from 1984 to 2007, i ...

, the 7th round of the season, Smith qualified the Arciero PC-21/Chevy B 6th on the grid between the Lolas' of

Danny Sullivan Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...

and

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...

. Early in the race while challenging for 5th Smith retired with a broken gearbox. The Penske transverse gearbox at the back of the PC-21 plagued Arciero during the 1993 season. After the

in June, Smith retired from the next five races in a row with gearbox problems. Of the 13 races Arciero entered in 1993 the team finished four races, scoring points in three of those four races. Mark qualified for the 1994 Indianapolis 500 and was bumped from the field by

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

. With 14 minutes remaining in the final session, Smith made a bold attempt to qualify an ill-handling T93 Lola back-up car. His warm up lap of 221.8 mph was fast enough to make the race. On the following lap he crashed heavily into turn two. Smith's best IndyCar finish was a 5th place at the 1994

Michigan 500 The Michigan 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Held from 1981 to 2001, the event was held in high prestige, constituting part of Indy car racing's 500-mile "Triple Crown". Between 19 ...

Racing record

Career summary

Formula Super Vee

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Formula Pacific

New Zealand Grand Prix

CART Indy Lights

CART

Film and photography

Smith has produced a number of short films including Two Balloons,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and A House, A Home. He is the co-author of two photography books ''The Powder Road'' and '' Österlandet''. Smith is a graduate of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

References

External links

*
Mark Smith's Indy Lights' statistics at ChampCarStats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Mark 1967 births Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Formula Super Vee Champions Toyota Racing Series drivers Living people Racing drivers from Portland, Oregon University of Oregon alumni Walker Racing drivers