Carroll Smith

[Just Do It!]

Hi there Experts,

I have just moved house and found a book that I was given some years ago by Carroll Smith on car preparation.

Without seeming rude or impolite, is Carroll still with us and what did he do from the mid-1970's when the 2nd edition of the book I have ws printed until....well, perhaps present day.

He worked with Shelby for a period, but I know little else.


Thanks in advance

[thebear]

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

Hi there Experts,

I have just moved house and found a book that I was given some years ago by Carroll Smith on car preparation.

Without seeming rude or impolite, is Carroll still with us?

Unfortunately he passed either this year or last (I think ).

[mountainstar]

Unfortunately he did die recently, I can't remember the date.

He wrote the best book on race car driving ever, Drive to Win.

[Leighton Irwin]

His books Prepare to Win, Tune to Win etc. were the mechanics handbooks at the time and I expect still are. Prepare to Win in shortened form 1st appeared in the now defunct Sports Car Graphic. The book had several revisions. In the SCG., Carroll had a very convoluted method of setting basic brake bias. The method in the book is far better, I think. We sat and discussed setting bias at the old Edmonton Intl. track when Carroll was crewing for Jon Woodner in FA, and writing Prepare to Win. The method in the book is the one I used so you can see why I think it is better!!. However, he taught me through his books so much it is unreal!
I haven't worked on race cars for almost 20 years but still have the books and my tools, including several special ones I made or modified. I wish I still had the original articles. Formula Atlantic in the 70's was blast in N.A.

[deaninkc]

I was lucky enough to know Carrol Smith. He had mini-seminars at the SCCA Runoff's almost every year and personally helped me sort out some braking problems with my MGB. He was in the middle of writing a book on fasterners and said he wanted to call it "Screw to Win" but the publisher didn't like that title.

[Randy]

I didn't realise he had passed away, that really sad news. Drive To Win is absolutely the best book out there for drivers. I don't always agree with his writings, particularly in the earlier books, but his viewpoint is always logical and justified and he speaks from enormous practical experience.

[ReWind]

John Carroll Smith was born 03 April 1932 in Oswego, New York, and died - 71 years old - 16 May 2003 in Plymouth, California.
This is his website:
http://www.carrollsmith.com/main.html
BTW: He is the father of Chris Smith who won the Toyota Atlantic championship in 1992.

[Henry]

Carroll is perhaps best remembered here in Oz as Allan Moffat's slouch-hatted team manager in 1977, helping not only in Moffat's successful campaign to win his 3rd ATCC title, but in orchestrating arguably the most iconic and crushing of Bathurst 1000 victories, with the Moffat Ford Dealers cars finishing 1-2 in a staged formation, an image marked indelibly in the memories of Aussie tin-top fans.

He returned to Bathurst in 1982, to manage Steve Masterton's much less-successful campaign that year, but remains a part of Australian touring car lore... an enduring image, standing on the pit lane, holding out the "Form Finish 1-2" sign to his charges, as they coasted onto their last lap, with daylight third...

[Just Do It!]

Magic!! Sad that he has gone, but huge thanks for the insight.

[petersracin]

A number of Lotus listers bought books from him directly through a list member that lived near him. He supplied "Screw to Win" stickers to cover the crazy title the publisher wanted. Whenever we got lost in car setup the cry would go up for the crew chief to "Caroll Smith" and go back to basics. It was amazing how relevant the old books were to our 91 car..
Ian