Carroll Smith RIP

Noticed that Carroll Smith recently passed away from cancer in California.

For Australian's, most would (possibly) know of his involvement with Allan Moffat in the late 70's - he was the engineer/mastermind behind the Moffat/Ickx and Bond/Hamilton 1/2 at Bathurst.

What a lot of Australians won't realise is that Carroll has been a regular vistor to Melbourne for the past three years for the Formula SAE-A competition.

His dry wit and excellent appraisal of the engineering standards of vehicles was always a very welcome conclusion to each of the three day events.

As timekeeper for the events I got to have some good chats with Carroll over the past three years - he struck me as a down to earth person who said what he thought and believed in - and had a lot of friends because of this.

He will be sadly missed.

The following was provided to me this morning - shedding a bit more light on Carroll's passing:

(This is the speech that was given to the FSAE banquet for the Carroll Smith Mentor's Cup Award by Dr. Bob Woods, UTA)


As the first recipient of the Carroll Smith Mentor's Cup Award, Carroll has asked me to announce this year's awardee. As is painfully obvious to everyone here, Carroll could not attend this year's competition. What some of you do know is that he had some health problems. What you don't know is the extent of his health problems. Each person has the right to deal with their health problems as they see fit and Carroll has chosen to keep his on a personal and family basis. I agree with him. However, Carroll asked me to bring you up to date on his situation at this time.


Two weeks ago, Carroll was diagnosed with level 4 pancreatic cancer. We all know Carroll to be a fighter and a winner, but this is one battle that he did not win. Carroll returned from the hospital to his new ranch in northern California on Friday. He was at home, happy, comfortable, peaceful, and within a short period of time, Ginger said that he simply quit breathing.


The good news is that he had enough time to realize his illness, come to grips and make peace with it, but it was not prolonged and uncomfortable as it could have been. The bad news is that FSAE has lost an incredible force, and many of us have lost a good friend. I spoke with Carroll about a week ago and he said that nobody could ask for a better life than he has had nor better family and friends.

O have posted the full text of this speech on my RaceNews news list - www.racenews.com.au - as it is too lengthy for a forum post.