I just found out via AutoWeek that Carroll Smith passed away on May 16 from pancreatic cancer @ 71.

Carroll wrote a number of books like Prepare to Win, Engineer to Win and Drive to Win which have helped many of us through the years.

He was team manager for Carroll Shelby's Le Mans wins, and recently a mentor for the Society of Automotive Engineers' Formula SAE races for engineering students.

My favorite Smith-ism was his description of a overly large anti-roll bar as a "Solid axle conversion kit".

I'll miss him.


Jon

 

Sadness fills me Godspeed, our teacher.

 

Damn... It seems like the hot rod/automobile high performance world has lost way too many good people in the last couple of years. His books are some of the best combination of hard core technical information, common sence, entertaining writing style and humor that I've ever seen. One of those rare people that are not afraid to put their neck out and tell it like it is.

For those of you that don’t know much about him, besides his books, what OldSStroker listed and involvement in all sorts of racing teams, he’s also been the brains behind many of the coolest high end projects out there (ex, he was called in for the redesign of the chassis and suspension for Calloway’s Sledgehammer when it was clear that he’d be shooting for extreme top end runs in a ‘street car’).

He will be missed.