Mark Smith (American racing driver)

Smith entered karting competition at the age of 14 and won six championships in multiple IKF divisions.^[3] In 1985, he moved up to Formula Ford scoring four race wins in two seasons and then advanced to Formula Super Vee.^[3]

After winning the 1989 United States Formula Super Vee Championship^[4] with five wins and four poles,^[5] Smith raced in Indy Lights from 1990 to 1992, finishing third in series points his rookie year,^[6] and second in 1991^[7] capturing three wins and five poles along the way.^[8]

In December 1992, it was announced that Smith would make his racing debut in CART / Indy Car, signing with Arciero for the 1993 season.^[9] Arciero, being a sparsely budgeted team, fielded a year old, 1992 Penske PC-21/Chevrolet B, for 13 of the 16 scheduled races.^[10][11]

Smith scored two top-ten finishes in the first three races of the season.^[12][13] At the fourth round, the Indianapolis 500, Smith qualified twice for the race but was bumped from the field.^[14] His second bumping at the hands of Didier Theys happened just six minutes before the end of qualifications that year, an outcome that added to the Speedway myth about The Curse of the Smiths.^[15]

Smith continued to show good pace his rookie year with several top-ten qualifying performances.^[16][17][18] At the Grand Prix of Portland, the sevenh round of the season, Smith qualified the Arciero PC-21/Chevy B sixth on the grid between the Lola's of Danny Sullivan and Mario Andretti.^[19] Early in the race while challenging for fifth, Smith retired with a broken gearbox.^[20] The Penske transverse gearbox at the back of the PC-21 plagued Arciero during the 1993 season. After the Grand Prix of Portland in June, Smith retired from the next five races in a row with gearbox problems.^[21] Of the 13 races Arciero entered in 1993 the team finished four races, scoring points in three of those four races.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Smith qualified for the 1994 Indianapolis 500 and was bumped from the field by Bobby Rahal. With 14 minutes remaining in the final session, he made a bold attempt to qualify an ill-handling T93 Lola back-up car. His warm up lap of 221.8 mph was fast enough to make the race. On the following lap, he crashed heavily into turn two.^[26]

Smith's best IndyCar finish was a fifth place at the 1994 Michigan 500.^[27]

Smith has produced a number of short films including Two Balloons, Denmark and A House, A Home.^[28][29][30] He is the co-author of two photography books The Powder Road and Österlandet.^[31][32] Smith is a graduate of the University of Oregon.^[33]