Smith, Stanley Peter
Stanley Peter Smith, “Pe
ter,” 81, crossed the final finish line on September 7, 2021. Peter was born on Labor Day, September
2, 1940 in Redwood, New
York. Peter grew up on a
farm where he learned to steer a tractor with his knee
and despise cattle and
chicory root. At the age of 12, Peter convinced his fa
ther to buy a Briggs & Stratton engine that he modified to fit a reel mower in order
to ease farm chores, thus
completing his first build of a motorized contraption. Peter graduated with honors in 1960 from State University of New York Agricultural and Technical Institute at Canton with an
Associate in Applied Science degree in Automotive
Technology. After beginning
his career in the automotive industry working in
dealerships and corporate sales, Peter opened his own shop, German
Village Autohaus, in 1973. Although the Autohaus
serviced most European and Japanese cars, Peter specialized in Porsches and became respected throughout the Porsche community
for his expertise in both
air-cooled and water-cooled
platforms. In his free time,
Peter enjoyed traveling, woodworking, World War II history, and auto racing. Of all his interests, Peter was
by far the most passionate about racing. Peter competed in his first race, a field
trial, now called rallycross,
in 1964. By 1972, he had completed his first build for
autocross, a mid-engine,
3 liter sports racer. Peter competed in 31 events that
year and won Fastest Time
of Day in 24. In 1973, he took that car SCCA Club Racing in the B Sports Racer class, and qualified for and competed at the
SCCA Runoffs in 1974 and
1975. Peter competed in
the under 2 liter class of the Camam series in 1977 through 1981. In the 1978
season he won five of the
nine races en route to
winning the championship.
While taking a hiatus from racing when his daughters
were young, Peter built a street legal sand rail buggy and completed a bare
metal restoration of a 1974 Porsche Carrera named Alex. In the mid ‘90’s, Peter
started competing in SCCA autocrosses with the buggy
and quickly realized he wanted something more fun to drive and without
Beetle suspension. So, he sat down with a pencil and paper at the drafting table in his kitchen and began work on a racecar
of his own design. In 2004,
Peter completed the build of Proto, a Porsche-powered, tube-chassis car engineered to compete in
the fastest SCCA autocross class. As the name suggest
ed, Proto was a prototype
of Peter’s ideas, and in
2011, Peter went back to the drafting table to design a car that would be more competitive for his talented co-driver, daughter Jenny,
and him. The build of the Hayabusa-powered, carbon fiber-winged Pete Smith Special was completed in
2018, and it was lighter,
nimbler, and quicker than its predecessor. With the addition of son-in-law, David, to the driver line up, the PSS was piloted to Fastest Time of Day in its maiden
voyage to the SCCA Solo Nationals in 2019. Peter
built and contributed to numerous racecars through
out his life, but his crowning
achievement was designing
and building a car that won FTD at Solo Nationals. Peter was preceded in death by his parents Queenie May Smith (Dunn) and Glen George Smith, his brother Douglas George Smith, and
close friends Steve Woods and Scott Wright. Peter is
survived by his partner of
32 years, Carolyn Smith; daughters, Killian Smith,
Jenny O’maley (David), and Laurie Price (Brandon); and
grandchildren, Cory Leigh
O’maley, Duke Bradley Price, and David Gregory O’maley. Peter will also be missed by Diane Smith, the Bridges family, Mark Miller,
Calvin Kenneda, Harold King, and many friends
and staff at The Glen. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Queen City Hospice or Tri-state Warbird Museum. A Celebration of Life will be held in Peter’s honor at Tri-state Warbird Museum, 4021 Borman Drive, Batavia, Ohio 45103, on September 25, 2021, from 2-6pm, with a Coors Light toast at 4pm. For those unable to attend, a live stream will be available at https://zoom. us/j/99901101249.