Dick Smith Killed in Plane crash

[Durt]

Dick was by far the best driver I've ever seen in a Cobra. I saw him drive at the Monterey Historic races about five years ago. He didn't make the qualifying grid on Friday, so they put him dead last in his group - a group that included some of the fastest Shelby's and drivers in vintage racing - like Derek Bell, John Morton & Phil Gallant.
Before his engine grenaded late in the race in turn 11 (taking him & a half dozen others into the gravel as his block drained it's contents on the track,) he had worked his way into 3rd place and was threatening the leaders. It was one of the most remarkable exhibitions of driving skill I have ever seen.
I talked to him later and asked him how he made up so much ground on the field. He said that at the top of the corkscrew (blind crest of the back straight) when everyone else was nursing their cars to set up for the drop, he flat-out attacked it and eventually passed the majority of the other cars as a result. The thought of taking the corkscrew flat-out made my knees weak.
Skill, courage and that mystical element that defines the great ones.
He was the kind of guy you figured would live forever, and I guess as long as there are people like me who will never forget how he changed their lives, in some measure, I guess he will.