PAUL Smart
The late and very much lamented Paul Smart, who passed away on 27 October aged 78 in a road accident on his Ducati, was one of the most versatile road racers of his generation. He rode successfully for Triumph, Kawasaki, Ducati and Suzuki in a 12-year career lasting from 1965 until 1977, which most notably included victories in the inaugural 1972 Imola 200 on the Ducati 750 desmo V-twin’s racing debut, and in the World’s richest-ever race, that same year’s Ontario 250 in California on Team Hansen’s Seeley-framed Kawasaki H2R two-stroke.
Paul’s short grand prix career included seven podium results in the 250/350cc classes on Yamaha two-strokes, some top 10 GP finishes on his Seeley G50 four-stroke single, and a pair of second places in the Production TT on Norton twins, plus third in the 1970 Junior TT on a Yamaha. Oh – and he also won the rain-lashed 1970 Bol d’Or 24 Hours on a works Triumph triple in company with Tom Dickie, despite having fallen off on the very first lap!
A shrewd, grounded but warm-hearted individual who was living proof that ‘nice guys don’t win races’ is a fallacy. ‘Smartie’ had the crucial ability to look back with wry amusement on a rollercoaster racing career that had some lows as well as its fair share of highs and perhaps never quite achieved the world recognition it deserved. Measured by the two traditional yardsticks of rider achievement in the 1970s, Paul never won an Isle of Man TT, nor did he emulate his brother-in-law Barry Sheene by winning any GP races or world titles. To that extent he was a ‘nearly guy’ – one who never quite cracked the glass ceiling leading to lasting GP or Isle of Man fame.
But instead, he had numerous race victories elsewhere to his name, invariably achieved according to his dictum that you should “enter the corner with the minimum of drama, and exit with the maximum of dispatch”! But what Paul Smart did achieve was almost unique: because of his
