It is with heavy hearts that we pass along that former Jalopy, Stockcar and Super Modified driver, crew member and 2008 Pioneer award recipient Albert Smith has passed. Here are some details of his racing days:
It was pretty much inevitable, if not unavoidable, that Albert Smith would become involved in auto racing. Living just a good stone’s throw down Tyndall Avenue in Gordon Head from his employer Geoff Vantreight, Albert began working there in 1958, a time when the farm was already a hub of racing activity with Geoff sponsoring a Stockcar driven and maintained by two of his other employees, Alan and Jack Smith, plus several other employees of Geoff’s were also racing fans. Albert wasn’t particularly interested in racing but did help occasionally with the car and made some trips to get parts for it. But five years of hearing Geoff, Alan and Jack and Frank Perry discussing cars and racing convinced Albert that he should give it a try and get behind the wheel himself.
In the winter of 1963/64, he bought a 1953 Ford from a local auto wreckers and rebuilt the engine and with Pat Currier joining him and Albert behind the wheel, they entered it in Western’s Jalopy class for the 1964 season. Winning a heat race along with a number of seconds and thirds, they did well enough that Albert finished ninth in that year’s points standings and the following season Frank Perry built a 1950 Meteor sedan which crew member Bernie Maggiora painted and lettered that Albert drove to eighth place in the 1965 points race.
Albert and Frank ran a ’53 Ford the following season and bettered their points placing, rising to sixth. With another 1953 Ford, they finished just outside the top ten in 1968 and in 1969 Albert got his first ride in a Vantreight-sponsored Super Modified, a car formerly driven by Al Smith and later, Al’s younger brother Roy. Albert quite liked his open-wheeled ride and continued driving for Geoff for several more years until he finally retired from active competition but kept up his racing interest which included being a spectator at several races in the US plus some direct involvement which included crewing for car owner Dick Midgley at a race at Riverside, California in 1976 and also on Roy Smith’s “Pride of Victoria” car in the 1982 Daytona 500.
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- 1965 – The #9 1950 Meteor Jalopy with (left to right) crew member Bernie Maggoria, car owner Frank Perry and driver Albert Smith.
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- 1965 – a Jalopy trophy dash win for Albert with trophy girl Linda Hay.
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- 1966 – Albert in the #8 1953 Ford Jalopy outside of the 1949 Ford #2 with Bob Bissenden.
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- 1967 – Albert in the #65 1953 Ford Stockcar during a main event.
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- Albert’s #15 car ahead of infield curb jumping #65 Jim Gilbert.
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- 1969 – The #8 “Vantreight Farms” – sponsored Super Modified with (left to right) driver Albert Smith, mechanic Bill Friend and crew member Keith Kelsen.
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- 1969 – It was a fast exit for Albert following a stuck throttle and the resulting crash and fire during a main event at Western. John Biggs is behind the fire extinguisher.
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- 1970 – Albert at the”Billy Foster 100″ for Modifieds.
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- 1970 – Albert at the wheel during hot laps for the “Billy Foster 100”.
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- 1971 – Albert (in the center in the cowboy hat) at the Skagit Speedway leg of the “International Drivers Challenge”.
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- 1972 – Albert behind Washington’s Gordy Stewart and ahead of Roy Smith during a Modified race at Western.
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- 1976 – Albert (third from the right) crewing on the Dick Midgley-owned #29 at a race in Riverside, California.
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- 1982 – Albert (second from the left) crewing on the “Pride of Victoria” at the “Daytona 500”.
