Auto racer, inventer, innovater, author and critic. Served in WWII as B-17 bomber pilot, completing more than 50 missions over Europe. The B-17 was named,"Smokey and His Firemen." Relocated to Daytona Beach, Florida, opened a garage and became involved in early NASCAR, participating at the highest competative level as owner and mechanic. Became controversial with officials over rules interpretation and competed in Championship Indy cars for 20 years. He was crew chief and head mechanic on the 1960 winner then entered many innovative designs afterward. His youth in Pennsylvania ended when his father died and he dropped out of school at age sixteen to work. While racing motorcycles a charactoristic of his entry caused other participants to call him, "Smokey." His genious far outdistanced those of more schooling and he patented several inventions including variable ratio power steering, extended tip spark plugs and reverse flow cooling systems. He strongly suggested many safety improvements to auto racing that were not recieved well by racing officials and are now standard. His interpretation of race engineering enabled him to have many confrontations with the same officials. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990. He was willing to share his thinking and inspired many he had contact with to think and improve. He wrote columns and articles for several publications that reflected this thinking, his genious and much humor. His salty delivery was perfected in an autobiography, published posthumously. His hobbies included experiments with synthetic oils and alternative energy. He spent time in Ecuador gold mining and oil drilling and found the people and culture of Ecuador interesting.