Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Associate Editor
12/7/15 2:05 p.m.
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Every community has standout members, and the Grassroots Motorsports forum is no different. Mike Smith, better known as "Curmudgeon" online, passed away unexpectedly after battling cancer.

Mike left behind a radical, unfinished project: A turbocharged, rotary-powered Mazda Miata, originally intended to take on hillclimbs. He also left behind an only daughter, Carly, who plans to attend Clemson University.

With the …

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Fueled by Caffeine
Fueled by Caffeine MegaDork
12/7/15 2:42 p.m.

Great job team, Good job helping out Mike and Carly.

Harvey
Harvey GRM+ Memberand Dork
12/7/15 2:52 p.m.

Lovely thing to do.

racerdave600
racerdave600 SuperDork
12/7/15 3:28 p.m.

Agreed. Very nice thing to do.

captdownshift
captdownshift GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
12/7/15 4:05 p.m.

i hope that the new owner gets to enjoy it at hillclimbs as intended and gets it to the Mitty each year as well. Best of luck to Carly at Spartansburg, they have a great automotive engineering doctorate program and the region Greenville/Spartansburg is full of Automotive tech companies if she follows in her father's interest.

Jerry From LA
Jerry From LA Dork
12/7/15 6:04 p.m.

Great idea helping out a guy who helped a bunch of other guys. Look forward to reading the article(s).

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/7/15 6:47 p.m.

I really appreciate the GRM crew doing this. I look forward to working with them, and a outstanding group of local racers to make this happen. Mike was one of the truly good people in this world.

Carly is a really great young lady. She truly has her head on straight and will make the best out of whatever assistance she we can give her.

This little corner of the internet leaves me speechless at times, with their generosity and companionship. It is truly remarkable. Thank You.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid
SyntheticBlinkerFluid UltimaDork
12/8/15 9:55 p.m.

I never got to meet him, but he was a regular here and this saddens me.

I'm glad to see you guys are helping to complete his project and my condolences to his family.

Cancer sucks.

SkinnyG
SkinnyG Dork
12/8/15 10:15 p.m.

This magazine and this board is awesome. Keep up this fantasticness of awesomeness.

Rufledt
Rufledt UltraDork
12/8/15 10:29 p.m.

That is awesome in many, many ways. Rotary powered miata hill climb car? awesome. helping someone's education? awesome. Remembering someone who was full of awesome? awesome.

aussiesmg
aussiesmg MegaDork
12/9/15 9:35 a.m.

I wish I was close enough to help, post up for any needs parts.

Mike was one of the good ones

wbjones
wbjones MegaDork
12/9/15 11:33 a.m.
Rufledt wrote: That is awesome in many, many ways. Rotary powered miata hill climb car? awesome. helping someone's education? awesome. Remembering someone who was full of awesome? awesome.

it was already awesome ... prior to his crash at the Tail of the Dragon Hill Climb this yr. it was a rotary powered Jenson

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 UltraDork
12/11/15 11:02 p.m.

Awesome job guys. Can't wait to see it finished.

CyberEric
CyberEric New Reader
12/12/15 1:27 p.m.

Amazing! What a wonderful thing to do.

sesto elemento
sesto elemento Dork
12/12/15 11:12 p.m.

This type of e36m3 is why I love this community, and this magazine. Subscriber for life.

dherr
dherr GRM+ Memberand New Reader
1/5/16 3:32 p.m.

I met Mike at the 2006 Challenge when we had matching white Spitfires with completely different designs. Great guy who would do anything to help you out. Sorry to hear about his sudden passing, great cause GRM to help fund his daughter's education.

gamby
gamby UltimaDork
1/6/16 10:49 p.m.

In reply to Tom Suddard:

Bump because this is so awesome.

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
1/7/16 12:38 a.m.

Just saw the Hong Norr tibute in the current issue.

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