Carroll Smith...

[Santorini]

The passing of Carol Smith is an unfortunate event for the Formula SAE community and motorsports in general. I would like to express my condolences to his family and close friends. His work has touched us all...

So long

[This message was edited by Santorini on May 18, 2003 at 10:02 PM.]

[Avantech]

I am not ashamed to say I shed bitter tears at the loss of a friend. Thanks Carroll for all your help and guidance over the years and I'll miss you mate.
It is such a pity you couldnt have been in Detroit to see the car you described as 'The best FSAE car ever" prove once again you were right.
Congratulations to the Wollongong team. Carroll would have been proud. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[Dick Golembiewski]

It was with great sadness that I read of Carroll's passing.

I suppose I was one of the first folks to use his books when designing a car for the SAE competitions. In the fall of 1976, I had just dropped out of my sophomore year, as I was running out of money. That November, I got a co-op job, which allowed me to pay my tuition. Since my birthday is that month, I decided to splurge in celebration. While I did have a libation, I also ordered copies of Van Valkenburgh and Waddell Wilson's engine book. I had subscribed to Autoweek since I was a junior in high school, and saw an add from Carroll Smith Consulting for a book called Prepare To Win. It looked interesting, so I ordered it. I'm glad I did. (At the time, I knew nothing of Carroll, his background, or the fact that the book grew out of a series of articles he had originally written for Sports Car Graphic magazine in 1969-70.) It was the first to arrive. I devoured it. True, I couldn't quite relate to a Hewland gearbox until several years later when I finally got to work on one, but the rest of the book made a great deal of sense. In it was real practical information, and an "attitude" toward team management, preparation and organization, which influenced me in those formative years.

Two years later, the SAE student vehicle competitions had just begun to expand. We received an invitation to something called "Mini Indy", which it turns out was the predecessor of, and inspiration for FSAE. Despite having absolutely no experience, I was chosen as the project leader. A few weeks later, all of us who had bought Carroll's first book got a flyer announcing that he had published Tune To Win. I didn't have a lot of money, but I ordered one. It arrived during Thanksgiving week - which we always had off. I devoured it. Here was a readable work, which explained the fundamentals of vehicle dynamics. It and Alan Burgess' Kart Design and Construction became my references.

Now, I should point out that there was very little available on the subject at the time. Van Valkenburgh was out, but it wasn't quite a vehicle dynamics work. Costin and Phipps had been around for sometime, and was helpful. In the full blown texts, Ellis and Wong were available, and Taborek's 1957 articles from Machine Design magazine had been reprinted in a bound volume. Ellis was a bit too esoteric for someone just starting out. Taborek was great on longitudinal acceleration, as was Wong - he used much of what Taborek had done. Still, Carroll's work had much more - especially in suspension kinematics.

That is not to say that Carroll's work was perfect. It wasn't. He blew off a few things, while others he admitted later he was wrong about. Still, it (along with one other article) served as my vehicle design inspiration.

I designed the car, it ran, and handled very well. One of my professors (I can remember at formal presentations of what were to be our mini-baja designs for that year, he had said that "We knew we should lower the CG. We didn't know why, but we thought it was best.") asked me what I had done, and I began explaining things. He read my copy of Smith on the drive back from Houston. They later adopted it as the text for our vehicle design class.

A number of other students and schools began to use the books as well, and by the early 1980's, Carroll was cited in SAE papers on student vehicle design projects. I suspect that a good portion of his annual sales started to come from engineering students.

My senior year, I managed to talk my way on to a local F. Atlantic team. We tested at Willow Springs, and then headed to Long Beach for the season opener. Carroll was there (He lived nearby) helping Bob Earl. He came by, and I introduced myself. I was shocked when he replied that his (late) wife Jane, had told him that there was a "real" name when she got my orders. It turns out Jane was Polish!

I returned to MSOE to teach. We continued to use "Tune" as a text for several years thereafter. Our paths crossed at the occasional racetrack, and over the phone, as I would have to straighten out some glitch between our bookstore and Carroll. Often it was Jane who I dealt with as Carroll was off somewhere.

In 1990, I did half a season of super-vee with a local team. Carroll's son Christopher was in the series, and we again crossed paths.

By 1992, I had become the chair of what at the time was the SAE student design competitions rules committee. Ford ran FSAE that year, and Carroll was invited to be the chief judge. He loved interacting with the students. Shortly thereafter, I reorganized things, and established seperate subcommittees for FSAE, mini-baja, aero design, and supermileage. Carroll was a natural for the FSAE rules subcommittee - a position he held ever since.

A year later I received a surprise fax from him asking for students who could help during the Milwaukee CART weekend, as he was managing a team in Indy Lights. I was happy to do so. (It was an interesting weekend, but best left unsaid for now.) Two years later, the SCCA held their annual convention in Milwaukee, and since he was in town while classes were in session, he dropped by for a tour, and spoke to our SAE student branch.

By 1998, I had passed the torch re: student design competition administration and rules making. For personal and professional reasons, I elected not to renew my contract with MSOE. Because of those personal items, I had ended my second incarnation as faculty advisor, and had reluctantly agreed to advise our FSAE team. At the competition, I said hello to carroll on Wednesday, and he asked me if I was advising. When I said that I was, he replied, "Too bad, otherwise you'd be judging!".

When I inquired if he needed help in 1999, he put me on his list. I've been judging ever since.

Over dinner one night, he turned to me and said, "Don't let this go to your head, but if I had to go to engineering school all over again, your place would have been one of the two I would go to. I never saw so many engineering students with their hands dirty." I can't remember that nice a compliment.

We discussed FSAE at length. In 1996, I ordered a couple of copies of Drive To Win - one for our school library and another for myself. My copy he inscribed: "Dear Dick, This will contribute to either more or fewer FSAE cars in the haybales! All the best, Carroll." Through him I met many other fellow judges, with whom I've now developed professional friendships.

In 2001, I was able to put together a trip to the UK to visit our distributors (for the company I was working for at the time). I called Carroll and asked him if he needed help judging. He said that he'd work it out. It turns out, he put me in charge of what would have been his judging group, and used the opportunity to oversee the overall picture. Needless to say, I was honored. I had seen him at FSAE, but when I saw him in the UK, he looked tired. he told me that he had prostate surgey, and had just gotten out of hospital. He had coronary by-pass surgery a few years earlier, so his health was starting to become a concern. You wouldn't know it given his enthusiasm.

Carroll LOVED the FSAE competitions. Despite the fact that his role as chief judge required that he be stern at times, he enjoyed interacting with students, and thought that these competitions offered real hope for engineering education.

He always inquired as to how I was doing. (Usually it was, "What the hell are you up to nowadays?") In 2000, I ran into him on the last day of the PRI show in Indianapolis. His first question to me was "Have you found work yet?" I told him that I had just come from a meeting on that subject!

This past year he asked for input re: a list of definitions for you folks. Pat Clarke said that Carroll looked a bit tired when he was in Australia, and asked me to check on him. When I inquired in a holiday greeting, he told me that he had been tired there, had caught something after getting home, but was feeling fine and was getting ready to fly to the Autosport show in the UK.

I'm in a state-of-flux right now, but in February I asked him if he needed help again. I didn't know if I could judge, but offered to (again) at least review the design reports. He got back to me in his usual manner, inquired as to just what the hell I was up to nowadays, and told me that he needed me again. He sent me a CD-R of your reports on St. Patrick's Day. That was the last communication I had with him. Emails went unanswered.

A couple of weeks ago, we found out that he wouldn't be at FSAE this year. When I called a couple of years ago and asked if he was serving as the chief judge again, he replied (in his own style) that he'd quit doing it "when they put me in the box and throw it in the furnace." As you might guess, everyone was concerned. A fellow judge told me what he was struggling with, and I said a prayer.

I don't think Carroll quite knew how many folks he influenced. His writing started when he decided to work for himself after Carroll Shelby folded his racing operation. Writing articles brought in a few bucks, and served as an advertisement for his consulting services. A bunch of racers read and were influenced by them. The books grew from that.

We (as I was one of you) SAE students became a whole other market for him - one which renewed annually. He was corresponding with SAE students long before he became a judge.

Still, he loved serving since his first stint as chief judge. I can think of no one more dedicated to seeing these competitions grow and succeed. He brought in the motorsports judges - giving you folks an opportunity to interact with those who have designed, developed and raced themselves. Without his influence, these competitions would not be what they are today. There are many who have also contributed over the years, but none with the combination of skills which Carroll brought.

Agree or disagree with him, he influenced a couple of generations of new race and design engineers - probably more than he ever fully realized.

Farewell my friend, and thank you so much! We will all miss you.


- Dick Golembiewski

[Driver_chick]

After joining UOW's race team this year, the FIRST thing we were told was "GO READ CARROLL SMITH BOOKS.... EAT THEM..."
It was THE best bit of info I have ever received... They are THE best. And although I never got to meet the guy ( I was hoping to at the next race meet as it is only my first year...) I knew that he knew a thing or two, and was amazed at how he put that together in word form for us Dyslexics out there...
My condolances to his family and friends...
Racing has lost a Great Father.

[ben]

I first discovered Carroll's work when I picked up a copy of Engineer to Win in a book shop when I was about 12 years old. It fuelled my interest in engineering in general, but also put me on the road to the career in motorsport I hope to acheive.

When that copy fell apart, I purchased a replacement at Formula Student two years ago. I got the man himself to sign it and intend to take better care of it than the old one.

Like Dick has said he wasn't always right, but he did have a great practical understanding of race cars. His technical debriefs at competition will be sorely missed.

The best way we can honor him is to keep the technical standard in all three competitions high, and keep learning. (Oh - and get rid of all rod ends in bending :-) )

Ben

[Dick Golembiewski]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Like Dick has said he wasn't always right, but he did have a great practical understanding of race cars. His technical debriefs at competition will be sorely missed.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What is often missed is that he was not afraid to express his opinions in either written or verbal form. It takes a lot to "expose the depths of one's ignorance". Folks are always ready to jump on an error and blow it out of proportion in comparison to the balance of positive features. That's the price one pays for noteriety.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The best way we can honor him is to keep the technical standard in all three competitions high, and keep learning. (Oh - and get rid of all rod ends in bending :-) )
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Absolutely. The best way to honor Carroll is to improve the design, construction, organization, team management/leadership, etc. of all the entries. Make it even more difficult for us to judge. (Actually, I'll argue that it gets easier - you then look for the little things that are wrong!) While there are some secondary benefits to judging at these things, the primary one is that we get to help you folks out.

- Dick