Mark Smith (American racing driver)

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 Indy Lights National Championship runner-up.

This article is about the American racing driver. For the British driver, see Mark Smith (British racing driver). For the Pennsylvanian racing driver, see Mark Smith (Pennsylvanian racing driver).
Mark Smith
NationalityAmerican
Born (1967-04-10) April 10, 1967
Portland, Oregon
Retired1994
CART Championship Car
Years active1993–1994
TeamsArciero Racing
Walker Racing
Starts26
Previous series
1988–1989
1989
1990–1992		Formula Super Vee
Formula Pacific
Indy Lights
Championship titles
1989Formula Super Vee
Awards
1989
1990		Formula Pacific Rookie of the Year[1]
Indy Lights Rookie of the Year[2]
Formula Super Vee: Smith leading Groff at the 1988 Grand Prix of Cleveland
Indy Lights: Smith qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway 1991
CART: Smith driving for Arciero at the 1993 Long Beach Grand Prix

Career

Smith entered karting competition at the age of 14 and won 6 championships in multiple IKF divisions.[3] In 1985 he moved up to Formula Ford scoring 4 race wins in two seasons and then advanced to Formula Super Vee.[3]

After winning the 1989 United States Formula Super Vee Championship[4] with 5 wins and 4 poles,[5] Smith raced in Indy Lights from 1990 to 1992, finishing 3rd in series points his rookie year,[6] and 2nd in 1991[7] capturing 3 wins and 5 poles along the way.[8]

In December 1992, it was announced that Smith would make his racing debut in CART / Indy Car, signing with Arciero for the 1993 season.[9] Arciero, being a sparsely budgeted team, fielded a year old, 1992 Penske PC-21/Chevrolet B, for 13 of the 16 scheduled races.[10][11]

Smith scored two top 10 finishes in the first three races of the season.[12][13] At the fourth round, the Indianapolis 500, Smith qualified twice for the race but was bumped from the field.[14] His second bumping at the hands of Didier Theys happened just 6 minutes before the end of qualifications that year, an outcome that added to the Speedway myth about The Curse of the Smiths.[15]

Smith continued to show good pace his rookie year with several top 10 qualifying performances.[16][17][18] At the Grand Prix of Portland, the 7th round of the season, Smith qualified the Arciero PC-21/Chevy B 6th on the grid between the Lolas' of Danny Sullivan and Mario Andretti.[19] Early in the race while challenging for 5th Smith retired with a broken gearbox.[20] The Penske transverse gearbox at the back of the PC-21 plagued Arciero during the 1993 season. After the Grand Prix of Portland in June, Smith retired from the next five races in a row with gearbox problems.[21] Of the 13 races Arciero entered in 1993 the team finished four races, scoring points in three of those four races.[22][23][24][25]

Mark qualified for the 1994 Indianapolis 500 and was bumped from the field by Bobby Rahal. 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.[26]

Smith's best IndyCar finish was a 5th place at the 1994 Michigan 500.[27]

Racing record

Career summary
Season Series Team Races Wins Poles Podiums Points Position
1985 SCCA Formula Ford P1 Racing 7 1 4 N/A N/A
1986 SCCA Formula Ford Evergreen 9 3 2 5 N/A N/A
1987 Formula Super Vee Wilbur Bunce Engineering 7 N/A N/A
1988 Formula Super Vee Dave White Motorsports 13 1 1 2 108 6th
1989 Formula Pacific Graeme Lawrence Autosport 10 0 2 7 39 4th
New Zealand Grand Prix 1 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
Formula Super Vee Ralt America 11 5 4 8 169 1st
1990 Indy Lights Ralt America 2 1 2 128 3rd
Lanford 12 0 0 2
1991 New Zealand Grand Prix Graeme Lawrence Autosport 1 0 1 0 N/A Ret
Indy Lights Evergreen 12 2 3 5 103 2nd
1992 Indy Lights Evergreen 14 1 3 2 134 7th
1993 CART IndyCar Arciero 13 0 0 0 8 22nd
1994 CART IndyCar Walker 16 0 0 0 17 19th
2022 SVRA Formula Ford (PCF) Dave McMillan Racing 6 2 2 6 96 3rd
Emerald Cup Fossi 1 1 0 1 13 7th
2023 Emerald Cup Fossi 5 4 2 5 62 1st
Crossflow Cup 1 1 0 1 11 12th
Sources:[3][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51]

Formula Super Vee

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

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rank Points
1988 Dave White Motorsports PHX
Ret		 LBH
5		 DAL
6		 IRP
6		 MIL
6		 DET
Ret		 NIA
7		 CLE
5		 MEA
1		 MDO
10		 ROA
2		 NAZ
5		 STP
Ret		 6th 108[52]
1989 Ralt America PHX
4		 DAL
3		 IRP
1*		 MIL
1*		 CLE
3		 DEM
1		 ATL
1*		 MDO
1*		 ROA
4		 NAZ
Ret		 STP
3		 1st 169[53]

Formula Pacific
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rank Points
1989 Graeme Lawrence Autosport BAY
4		 BAY
3		 PUK
3		 PUK
3		 MAN
3		 MAN
2		 WIG
Ret		 WIG
2		 TIM
4		 TIM
2		 4th 39[54]

New Zealand Grand Prix
Year Team Car Qualifying Main race
1989 New Zealand Graeme Lawrence Autosport Swift DB4 - Ford 5th 3rd
1991 New Zealand Graeme Lawrence Autosport Swift DB4 - Toyota 1st Ret

CART Indy Lights
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points
1990 Ralt America PHX
2		 LBH
2		 3rd 128
Lanford MIL
9		 DET
11		 POR
6		 CLE
4		 MEA
10		 TOR
6		 DEN
9		 VAN
2		 MDO
9		 ROA
3		 NAZ
5		 LAG
5
1991 Evergreen LBH
4		 PHX
2*		 MIL
7		 DET
6		 POR
3		 CLE
1*		 MEA
5		 TOR
5		 DEN
4		 MDO
2		 NAZ
8		 LAG
1*		 2nd 155
1992 Evergreen PHX
7		 LBH
11		 DET
3		 POR
11		 MIL
5		 NHA
11		 TOR
9		 CLE
10		 VAN
1		 MDO
7		 NAZ
5		 LAG
14		 7th 74

CART
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points Ref
1993 Arciero SRF
18		 PHX
9		 LBH
10		 IND
DNQ		 MIL DET
27		 POR
29		 CLE
15		 TOR
23		 MIC NHA ROA
24		 VAN
22		 MDO
19		 NAZ
12		 LAG
17		 22nd 8 [55]
1994 Walker SRF
21		 PHX
DNS		 LBH
25		 IND
DNQ		 MIL
24		 DET
14		 POR
16		 CLE
22		 TOR
30		 MIC
5		 MDO
20		 NHA
12		 VAN
8		 ROA
26		 NAZ
12		 LAG
14		 19th 17 [56]

Film and photography

Smith has produced a number of short films including Two Balloons, Denmark and A House, A Home.[57][58][59] He is the co-author of two photography books The Powder Road and Österlandet.[60][61] Smith is a graduate of the University of Oregon.[62]

References
    • Dealey, Arley (March 9, 1989). "Peter Jackson Formula Pacific Championship Rounds 9 & 10". On Track Auto Racing Magazine. USA: 43.
    • Ryan, Michael (April 7, 1991). "How One Young Man Says Thank You, Motorsport's Rookie of the Year". Parade Magazine. USA: 4–5, 7.
  3. Portland's Indy Car Future (June 22, 1990). Portland International Raceway Official Program (USA): 85, retrieved December 10, 2011
    • Philips, David (December 14, 1989). "Marching Ahead". On Track Auto Racing Magazine (Volume 9, No. 24 ed.). USA: 21.
    • Phillips, David (December 14, 1989). "Mark of the Future". On Track Auto Racing Magazine (Volume 9, No. 24 ed.). USA: 22–26.
    • Shaw, Jeremy (December 13, 1990). "Tracy's Racing Series". On Track Auto Racing Magazine (Volume 10, No. 24 ed.). USA: 38–40, 42–43.
    • Shaw, Jeremy (December 13, 1991). "Rolling with the Punches". On Track Auto Racing Magazine. USA. 10 (24): 36–40.
  8. "Mark Smith".
  9. Shaw, Jeremy (11 December 1992). "Into the Light". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. p. 38. Next Year Smith will graduate into the Indy Car series with Arciero's rejuvenated team. He will likely go well.
  10. Tuttle, Tim (26 February 1993). "Moving Up". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. pp. 46–47. Arciero struck a deal to purchase two of the Penske-Chevy/B packages that Emerson Fittipaldi, Rick Mears and Tracy had driven for Penske Racing last season.
    • "One To Watch: Mark Smith". Autosport. UK, USA. September 9, 1993.
  12. Tuttle, Tim (23 April 1993). "First In Line". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. pp. 32–40. The unusual paint scheme on Arciero's Penske PC21-Chevy/B probably cost Mark Smith a couple of positions. Smith qualified 11th and was running well when he was black flagged on the eighth lap. Indy Car officials thought they detected a loose nose, but found nothing wrong. Smith worked his way up from 22nd and finished in the top 10 (ninth).
  13. Kirby, Gordon (22 April 1993). "Tracy triumphs but Mansell's back". Autosport. Motorsport Network. pp. 26–30. 10th Mark Smith (USA) Arciero/ Craftsman Penske-Chevrolet B PC21 103 laps
    • Indy Hell Week. On Track Magazine, June 18, 1993. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
  15. Mittman, Dick. 'Curse Of The Smiths' Remains Part Of Indianapolis 500 Lore Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Indy500.com, November 4, 2004
  16. Miller, Robin (11 July 1993). "Tracy edges Mansell for Grand Prix pole". Indianapolis Star. Al Unser Jr., in the Valvoline '93 Lola-Chevy-C starts in the seventh spot and rookie Mark Smith did a splendid job in his Craftsman '92 Penske-Chevy-B by nailing down the eighth slot. Smith bumped late on the final day of time trials at Indy, bested Bobby Rahal (10th), Mario Andretti (11th), Raul Boesel (12th) and Arie Luyendyk (15th) in year-old equipment.
  17. Tuttle, Tim (July 1993). "Cleveland: There were no disappointments this time out for Paul Tracy, who left the rest in his wake". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. Rookie Mark Smith's Arciero/Craftsman Penske PC21/Chevy/B was eighth in another respectable effort. Smith has qualified eighth or better in the last three events
  18. Tuttle, Tim (10 September 1993). "Road America: The Road Warrior-Shaking off the effects of a big shunt in practice, Paul Tracy ended Nigel Mansell's winning streak in decisive fashion". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. pp. 26–28. Rookie Mark Smith continued his solid qualifying efforts this season by taking ninth on the grid in the Craftsman/Arciero Penske PC21-Chevy/B.
  19. Kirby, Gordon (1 July 1993). "Mansell slips up as Fittipaldi wins". Autosport. Motorsport Network. pp. 24–26. there was quite a surprise in 6th place, in the shape of rookie Mark Smith aboard Arciero's Penske/Chevy B PC21. Smith has surprised many people with his pace in his rookie season this year.
  20. Kirby, Gordon (1 July 1993). "Mansell slips up as Fittipaldi wins". Autosport. Motorsport Network. pp. 24–26. Mansell led at the end of the opening lap with Fittipaldi and Johansson close behind, followed by Tracy in fourth, Andretti, Smith, Sullivan, Gordon and Unser. Poor Smith lasted only six laps before his transmission gave up, and his hopes of a strong hometown showing were dashed.
  21. Tuttle, Tim (8 October 1993). "Mid-Ohio: Probing Probability - Emerson Fittipaldi may be down, but he's not out of the championship fight just yet". On Track. Paul Oxman Publishing. Arciero Racing's Craftsman Penske PC21-Chevy B in on streak the team would like to be able to stop if it could find a way. The year-old Penske has eliminated Mark Smith in six straight races with an array of transmission failures. The team has tried everything to solve the problem, including building some parts in the machine shop owned by engineer Gordon Coppuck.
  22. "Valvoline 200, Phoenix International Raceway, 1993". Champ Car Stats. Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
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    • Tuttle, Tim (June 17, 1994). Time Trials: Chasing Shadows. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
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    • Phillips, David (December 12, 1988). "All the Answers (1988 Super Vee Season Review)". On Track Auto Racing Magazine. USA: 34–39.
    • Phillips, David (January 1990). "True To Form (1989 Super Vee Season Review)". On Track Auto Racing Magazine. USA: 42–45.
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  55. "Mark Smith – 1993 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  56. "Mark Smith – 1994 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  57. "Two Balloons". OC. OC. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  58. Cusick, Dave. "Exclusive Video Premiere: Alialujah Choir's "A House, A Home"". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  59. White, Ryan (7 March 2012). "Portland's Alialujah Choir sings praises of no-stress work ethic". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  60. "The Powder Road: Beautiful". SkiPressWorld.com. Ski Press. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  61. "Osterlandet". Abe Books. Abe Books. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  62. Anderson, Curtis (18 August 1989). "UO senior on the verge of a job on Indy Circuit". The Register Guard. Smith is an Eagle Scout and a pilot
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