35 replies to this topic

[island]

He raced a Lotus 70 quite competently in the 1970
US-Continental Championship. He finished third at Laguna
Seca and was ninth overall in the final standings.
He was sort of a TV personality, I believe.
Who knows more ?

[Rob Ryder]

On the TV front I seem to remember him having a comedy show with his brother - The Smothers Brothers. I am afraid that is all I remember of the show as it was not show much in the UK.

On the racing front (if it is the same Dick Smothers) he raced in sportscars with Fred Baker, with some reasonable results....

1969 Sebring 12hrs, 8th in a Porsche Carrera 6
1969 Watkins Glen 6hrs, 6th in a Porsche Carrera 6
1971 Sebring 12hrs, 7th in a Chevrolet Corvette

He also ran in the Trans-Am series I think, but I am work at the moment and will need to check my books when I get home!

Rob

[ZippyD]

Dick and his brother Tommy formed the group the Smothers Brothers. They were a folk duo from the 50s in the vein of Pete Segar and Joan Biaz. They got a TV network comedy/variety show in the mid 60s on CBS. When their music and dialog started to raise questions about our involvement in the Vietnam war the network, being the gutless cowards that the are, canceled the very popular show in the late 60s. They continue to turn out folk music 'till this day.

[Dave Ware]

I knew that he had raced F5000 and Corvettes...if you folks find any more info on his racing accomplishments please share them

Speaking of the entertainment industry, does anyone remember seeing Mario Andretti on Robert Wagner's show "It takes a Thief", circa 1970ish. Robert Wagner's character had to pose as a racing driver and Mario was his driving coach. Smothers miiiight have been in that episode also...clearly it's been around 30 years since I saw the episode so my memory is only what it is...

Dave

[Don Capps]

I got to speak to Dick Smothers a number of times from the Continental race at Dallas (Lewisville) in 1970 until several years later when he put racing on the shelf for the time being. When I last spoke with him he was driving a John Goodwood Corvette and did a super job in it.

He was actually better than I expected and had the good sense to stay within his envelope on the track. He was great to talk with and a very savvy guy about racing. Keep in mind that he sponsored Lou Sell's Eagle in 1968 when it won the SCCA GP Championship.

His father was an army officer and died in the Philippines during the fighting there in 1942.

[Rockford]

I received a birthday card from my Grandma last week, the sort she's been getting me for 30 years (ambiguous photo of car / motorbike) - anyway thanks to this forum, and oldracingcars.com, I've managed to work out that the car on this years card is a Lotus 70 driven by Dick Smothers at Riverside, April 1970.

I think it's fantastic that this forum already has a Dick Smothers thread, albeit 5 years old!

Just wanted to share that...

[Gary C]

.....and his brother, Tom, was the 'other' guitarist on the 'Give Peace A Chance' recording!!

[wildman]

Originally posted by Dave Ware
Speaking of the entertainment industry, does anyone remember seeing Mario Andretti on Robert Wagner's show "It takes a Thief", circa 1970ish. Robert Wagner's character had to pose as a racing driver and Mario was his driving coach. Smothers miiiight have been in that episode also...clearly it's been around 30 years since I saw the episode so my memory is only what it is...

Dave

Five years on, here's your answer:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0004707/

[Frank S]

Originally posted by ZippyD
Dick and his brother Tommy formed the group the Smothers Brothers. They were a folk duo from the 50s in the vein of Pete Segar and Joan Biaz. They got a TV network comedy/variety show in the mid 60s on CBS. When their music and dialog started to raise questions about our involvement in the Vietnam war the network, being the gutless cowards that the are, canceled the very popular show in the late 60s. They continue to turn out folk music 'till this day.

I'd hesitate to categorize the comedy duo "Smothers Brothers" with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez (assuming those are the folk artists whose vein was intended).

SmoBro were a stand-up team whose shtick incorporated folk-type music. Hilarious, original, much-admired and emulated, but a world apart from Seeger and Baez. In the mid-80s "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was re-run, an episode a day, for months. I recorded as many as I could. A true cultural phenomenon.

Dick Smothers was doing his serious racing while I was learning SCCA Stewarding. He did good. The few conversations I had with him revealed a thoughtful, attentive person with wide knowledge and interests. It seemed to me he was especially (and longingly) interested in high-performance motorcycles.

--
Frank S

[beighes]

Greetings,
And for more trivia, go to www.smothersbrothers.com/remick.html .
Cheers!!!

Steve

[stevewf1]

Originally posted by ZippyD
Dick and his brother Tommy formed the group the Smothers Brothers. They were a folk duo from the 50s in the vein of Pete Segar and Joan Biaz. They got a TV network comedy/variety show in the mid 60s on CBS. When their music and dialog started to raise questions about our involvement in the Vietnam war the network, being the gutless cowards that the are, canceled the very popular show in the late 60s. They continue to turn out folk music 'till this day.

I remember that they had talked about horned toads on that TV show and one of them made the comment "horny toads" on the air... and that comment caused a big uproar back in those days...

It was a very popular TV show.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Dick was an honorary judge at the Amelia Island concours this year. He lives in southwest Florida and, according to his bio in the program, has 11 (!) children....

Jack

[brooster51]

Way off car racing but the it was on one episode of the Smothers Brothers that Pete Townshend of the Who suffered significant ear damage when the drummer doubled the explosives or some such for their 'finale'.

The other brother (not the one that Mom lalways oved best, that was Dick) has a very decent winery in Napa.

[Jerry Entin]

Dick Smothers was a very nice guy. He started out in I think 1968 in Formula B, Brabham Ford. His Team mate was Lou Sell and he ran a Gurney Eagle Formula A car. There Team was called Smothers Brothers Racing and in 1968 Lou Sell won the Championship for the Team. Lou was a Dentist in Southern California. In 1970 Dick Smothers in the Smothers Brothers Lotus 70 chevy finished 3rd at Monterey and was 9th in final season points. He had quite a few top 10 finishes. For a comedian he did a very good job of driving. At Edmonton in May he was 7th. He was 5th at Seattle,and 5th at Dallas. He was 9th at St. Jovite and he finished 6th at Sebring. This info all comes from Wolfgang Klopfer's fine book. Formula A and Formula 5000 in America. Wolfgang first asked these questions in 2000 and his book didn't come out till May of 2003.

[Ray Bell]

That is what you might call a complete circle... isn't it?

Wolfgang and island would certainly think so!

Here's a thread where Smothers got a mention from Buford, by the way...

http://forums.autosp...&postid=1048615

And if Wolfie has done his bit with copying pics used on this forum as he's shown today in the Lotus 7 thread, here's a thread where there were pics of him:

http://forums.autosp...&postid=1844255

[SZ00147]

First post here. I have been a long time car nut, occasional owner, and vintage racer.

My first spectator event in California was an SCCA race at Cotati in the mid-sixties and Dick Smothers was racing a Formula (B) car. As I recall he did well, but I was a kid at the time. Turned out to be the ownly race I saw there. Cheers, George

[Jerry Entin]

Welcome to the forum George. Glad you could relate your experience here. Hope you enjoy the forum.

[steveh356]

Did Dick Smothers ever own Porsche Spyder 550-09?

thanks

[jonpollak]

Growing up as a Riverside Raceway brat I seem to remember a Smothers Brothers Team in Can Am????!?!?
Was it THIS CAR?.. http://www.racingspo...7-10-29-024.jpg

Mind you I was 8 years old or something...

Jp

[David Pozzi]

Yes, that is the Smothers Bros sponsored Lola T70 Mk I, chassis SL/70/07 reciently sold by Phil Schmidt of Southern California.

[Jerry Entin]

Here is Dr. Lou Sell in the Smothers Brothers Formula 5000 Eagle. In those days they called it Formula A in the states. They won the Formula A championship in 1968.

Dr. Lou Sell, Dick Smothers Teammate.
photos by Glenn Miller

Dick Smothers talking to John Cannon at Riverside.
photo Gil Munz

Dick Smothers in the Lotus
photo by Glenn Miller

Smothers Team in Garage Lotus T-70's
photo by Glenn Miller

[RA Historian]

Dick Smothers was serious about racing for a few years. He did three full years of racing. 1968 ran a Brabham BT-21 in FB in a team with Lou Sell in an Eagle, as mentioned above. In 1969 he drove a Chevron B15 FB for Hogan Racing as teammate to Chuck Dietrich in a Lola T-142. Finally in 1970 he formed a two car team with George Wintersteen, both running Echlin ignition sponsored Lotus 70s. After 1970 Smothers still raced, but rather infrequently, and then usually as a co-driver in endurance races.

He and brother Tom are still performing, albeit in a rather wrinkled fashion. But then again, aren't we all?

[olav glasius]

Dick Smothers owned a Lotus type 70 F 5000.
This car was sold from England to the Barber Museum
in Birmingham , Alabama

[Jerry Entin]

The Great Roy Campbell on the top left. looking at the Smothers Bros. operation

Dick Smothers in his Lotus 70 at Riverside
photo's by Gil Munz lent site by Ike Smith

Chuck Dietrich, Dick Smothers Hogan Racing Teammate.
photo Gil Munz

[Gary C]

That Eagle looks very nice!

[David M. Kane]

What was the story on the Lotus 70? He had a 2-car team of them, I notice. If I remember they came in and went out of style pretty quickly. Were they the Lotus 30 of Lotus Formula cars?

[Jerry Entin]

Dave: They probably were a pretty good car in the day. George Follmer had one and did very well with it. In the early 70's the Eagle and the McLaren's seemed to be the best car for the class. Lotus didn't improve the car and they really didn't try and market that many of them. Under Carl Haas the Lola became the most popular car of the 70's, it was a very good car after it was developed into the T-332. The Chevron and March and Trojan's all could have been good if they were developed further. In the early 70's the Cooper still might have been a good chassis. It was supply and demand really. Carl Haas had the Lola's they were good cars and he had all the parts for them. If you had a Trojan, Chevron or March you were running something no one else had. This wouldn't have been bad if they were superior to the Lola. It's just you would need your own parts supply and there would be no information avaliable to help you. These are just my thoughts on the subject.

[cstlhn]

During a test day at Lime Rock Park.



David

[fred stevenson]

David: Nothing was as bad as the Lotus 30, except, of course the 40. While Gurney's comments have been well reported, AJ's comments about the car at Nassau were unprinatable. I test drove the late Newt Davis' car at Lime Rock in anticipation of further events for Lotus East. I told Newt, "No Dice"! I was instrumental in the sale of the Tpe 70 cars to Smothers/Wintersteen and became good friends with the crew chief, Bill 'Murphy' Mayberry ( I established and run a yearly golf charity tournament in his memory). While I never drove the 70, I was also involved in the development program of the prototype that Andretti drove at Sebring event. Mario was pleased with the initial outing and of course had input with designer Martin Wade on further developments. The whole project was behind schedule due to a variety of factors (known to Lotus Components and Lotus East as the 'Koshland Saga'). I was supposed to shake down the car at Lime Rock in September 1969, but in the end, the engine wasn't even installed in the chassis until December (at Dutchess Auto in Millerton, NY) and the car was immediately sent to Florida for the post Christmas race. Dick & George (as well as George Folmer), as far as I know, where happy with the car(s). Further sales were hampered by internal politics/squabbling, bogus deals, etc., and remember Chapman pulled the plug on Mike Warner/Components early in 1971 leaving Lotus East with full order books for the Formula Ford and Formula B 69 cars.
Cheers!
Fred Stevenson

[Ray Bell]

Lotus ran a 'works' (or at least 'quasi works') 70 in Australasia in 1970/71...

Initially driven by David Walker, it was no match for the McLarens. Almost three seconds off the Warwick Farm pace in practice, it was lapped twice in the 43-lap race.

I have to say, by the way, it's great that Jerry keeps posting so many pics... and that they come from so many sources. Thanks, Jerry!

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Lotus ran a 'works' (or at least 'quasi works') 70 in Australasia in 1970/71...
Initially driven by David Walker, it was no match for the McLarens. Almost three seconds off the Warwick Farm pace in practice, it was lapped twice in the 43-lap race.

I don't think "initially" is the word you're looking for there Ray

[Ray Bell]

You have me at a disadvantage there, David...

I don't recall anyone else driving it 'in Australasia' prior to David Walker. Unless you mean it's not the same car that David Oxton drove later? That would be news to me.

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by fred stevenson
While Gurney's comments have been well reported,

Wasn't it Richie Ginther who made the infamous, "30 with ten more mistakes" quote?

[TecnoRacing]

As I recall, there some footage of Smother's/F5000 in the James Garner docu-film The Racing Scene.

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
I don't recall anyone else driving it 'in Australasia' prior to David Walker

Sorry Ray - one to you
I was thinking in Tasman Championship terms (NZ first, then Australia) but overlooked the AGP the previous November

[David M. Kane]

Fred:

Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the background of the Lotus 70.