Gordon Smiley

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Gordon Eugene Smiley (April 20, 1946 - May 15, 1982) was an American race car driver from Omaha, Nebraska^[1] who was killed in a single-car crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000.

1 SCCA and Road Racing Career
2 Indy Career
3 Indy 500 results
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] SCCA and Road Racing Career

Driving his first race at age 19, Smiley was an accomplished road racer. He raced SCCA Formula Atlantic, Can-Am, Formula 5000 and Formula Super Vee, winning in each series while setting 25 track records, winning the SCCA National Championship four times prior to turning pro in 1974.

In 1979, he raced in the British Formula One Series (sometimes called the "Aurora Formula One Series") for the Surtees Team, and in 11 races he had eight top-10 finishes, including a win at Silverstone, England in 1979.

[edit] Indy Career

Smiley raced in the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 1980 and 1981, and was killed while trying qualify for a third in 1982.

In the 1980 Indianapolis 500, Smiley qualified Patrick Racing's Valvoline Phoenix/Cosworth in 20th position. His race ended when the turbocharger blew on lap 47, finishing 25th.

In the 1981 Indianapolis 500, Smiley qualified drove the Patrick Racing Intermedics Wildcat VIII/Cosworth, qualifying 8th but finishing 22nd after a crash on lap 141.

In 1982, record speeds were being set during qualification for the 1982 Indianapolis 500. Both Kevin Cogan and Rick Mears set new single lap and 4-lap records in their attempts.

Smiley went out for a qualifying attempt two hours later. On the second warm up lap his car began to oversteer while rounding the third turn, causing the car to slightly slide. When Smiley steered right to correct this, the front wheels gained traction suddenly, sending his car directly across the track and into the wall nose first at nearly 200 mph. The impact shattered and completely disintegrated the March chassis, causing the fuel tank to explode, and sent debris — including Smiley's exposed body — hundreds of feet tumbling across the short-chute connecting turns 3 and 4. Smiley died instantly from massive internal trauma inflicted by the severe impact. His death was the first at Indy since 1973, and to date, the last driver to die during a qualification attempt.

In his book, "Rapid Response", Dr Steve Olvey, Indycar Medical Director between 1979 and 2003, made the following comments about the incident:

"During an attempt to qualify for the Indy 500, Gordon Smiley, a cocky young driver from Texas, was determined to break 200 mph or die trying. Several veteran drivers...had warned him that he was in way over his head, driving all wrong for the Speedway. Smiley was a road racer and was used to counter-steering his car to avoid a crash if the rear wheels broke traction.

While rushing to the car, I noticed small splotches of a peculiar gray substance marking a trail on the asphalt leading up to the driver. When I reached the car, I was shocked to see that Smiley's helmet was gone, along with the top of his skull. He had essentially been scalped by the debris fence. The material on the race track was most of his brain. His helmet, due to massive centrifugal force, was literally pulled from his head on impact...I rode to the care center with the body. On the way in I performed a cursory examination and realized that nearly every bone in his body was shattered. He had a gaping wound in his side that looked as if he had been attacked by a large shark. I had never seen such trauma." (Rapid Response, pp 98-99).