Note: The 1979 APBA Stock Outboard National Championships held in Dayton, Ohio, were dubbed "The R. Allen Smith Stock Outboard National Championships", as a tribute to arguably the best outboard racing propeller man there ever was. Smith passed away in the mid 1980's, however his propellers, and more importantly, his legacy of what he did for the sport lives on to this day, and will always be remembered. The following article, with story and pictures by Rusty Rae, appeared in the race program for the Nationals that year, and has been reprinted here with the artist's permission.
Although his hair is now gray, and his eyesight isn't as good as it once was, at almost 80 years of age, Louisianan R. Allen Smith still has that twinkle in his eyes when you mention boat racing and those props. Oh, those propellers, they are still the best in the world.
In more than a half a century of outboard racing, as a driver, mechanic and official, "Poppa" Smith as he is affectionately known around the United States, has turned out the best outboard racing propellers in America-and perhaps the world.
At one time or another his propellers have held almost every outboard speed record in APBA, NOA or AOF record books, and have propelled national champions in nearly every class of PRO, Modified and Stock Outboard racing.
And just what is it that has made Poppa Smith so successful in making propellers? Not even Smith knows. "People tell me many times that the first propeller that I've made for them is the best-as long as I've worked with propellers they are a mystery to me," he says.
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Left:
A glove, worn nearly through, and grinding belts are the evidence of the many
propellers which have been sent out across the United States by R. Allen Smith. Below: Beating on propellers--it is both an art and a science for R. Allen Smith. In his many years of working with props, he has developed may innovations in propeller working including the use of sheet lead for blade patterns. |
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Propellers may be a mystery to Smith, but to look toward an answer as to why he has been so successful as a prop builder you have to look at Smith's background. First, you have to give credit to Smith's grandfather. It was through Smith's grandfather that he got his interest in engines. His grandfather ran a grist mill that was powered by a small gasoline engine. Smith started helping on the grist mill when he was 10 years old and it wasn't long before he was tinkering with that engine trying to get it running a little better. It was the beginning of a love affair that has never cooled.
When he was 13 years old, he built his first boat--a pirogue--a kayak-like fishing boat that is common to Louisiana and embarked on another of his loves--working with wood. At age 16 he was off to work in the oil fields (while building boats in his spare time). After a two or three year stint with Standard Oil Company he went to work as a carpenter. "I've been doing carpentry work since I was a kid. I belonged to the carpenters union for many years. A fellow in Shreveport liked my work and finally persuaded me to come to work for him," he said.
Carpentry in Shreveport wasn't a steady job in those days and in between jobs Smith began repairing and making fly rods. Then he got into the boat building business, building fold-up or section boats that people could haul in their cars--as trailers were out of the question for all but the very rich in those days. "I started in the boat business by just doing piece work for a local dealer. I didn't even know what a race boat was at that time," he said. In 1927 he helped make a steering unit for a race boat--and one year later he had built himself his first race boat, a single step hydroplane powered by a 16 hp Model U Evinrude three-port Speeditwin.
"It was about 15 feet long, and had no non-trips and I guess it was bigger than just about any kneel-down race boat that is used today," Smith noted. That first season was not very successful by Smith's standards, but by 1930 he had established a world record for the Model U Evinrude class of 42.21 mph. A year later he had upped this record to nearly 50 mph. By this time, Smith's reputation as a boat builder and mechanic was beginning to precede him and he began doing work for other drivers and owners.
In 1935 Smith retired from racing, noting, "Racing began interfering with the business of helping other people. I don't believe in working for other people and then running against them. When I race, I race to win," he said. In nine yeas of racing Smith held several competition and straightaway records, but never won a national championship. In fact he never had a chance to run for the title because the races were always held so far away from Shreveport. "In those days, we didn't have the roads to make those long trips, and we also didn't have cars that could make long trips very easily,: he said. Thus ended another chapter in the education of a prop man.
Poppa Smith worked for a number if drivers and owners during the next 25 years, working all phases of preparation of a race boat. "I worked for many a driver who all they knew was to squeeze the throttle. They couldn't adjust nothing," Smith said. Nevertheless, by his own account he still had a chance to do "a good bit of running" while setting up the race boats. During this time he also worked at several other factory jobs, most notably as a molder, a machinist, and finally in a foundry inspecting steel castings. He retired from the foundry in 1966.
From almost the very beginning he was working on propellers, always learning, and always getting a little better at this art. "I've actually been fooling with props since 1931. Most of the props I've used I've made," he said. For three years, 1931, '32, '33, Smith assisted the Michigan Propeller Company by testing their propellers. "They didn't have a test department, especially during the wintertime. They'd send some props down and I'd send them the results. Some of the things I recommended all started there," Smith recalls. In retrospect, it's easy to see why Smith wheels are something special; Smith has learned about all phases of boat racing and is able to put that information into his work.
He notes, "I don't have a trade in the world. I never finished a trade." He may not have a trade, but he has more knowledge of many trades than most journeymen. That and as he puts it, "Everything I've ever done, I've always tried to do better than the other man." It is no wonder that nearly every other prop man in the United States has had work done by Smith at one time or another in their career. And as they say, there is no truer form of flattery than being copied. "They all copy my props," Smith says, "And sometimes, they make better propellers."
Poppa got serious about propellers in the fifties when he finally started buying tools to specifically help him with his propeller work. Up to that time most of his work had been trial-and-error with tools that he fabricated himself. Even so, today he still uses some of those handmade tools. In his many years of propeller making, Smith has come up with several innovations.
Among them, using flat sheet lead to make blade patterns, something he started doing in the 1930's. Cupping a wheel's leading edge is also one of Poppa Smith's ideas, but contrary to popular opinion the reason is not necessarily for speed, although extra speed is a by-product of a cupped wheel. As Smith tells the story, cupping a wheel is done for strength. "On some of the old bronze Johnson and Oakland rake-back props, the props would bend back because the leading edge was so thin. Although in some cases this does lead to an increase in speed, the real reason for cupping a propeller is for strength," Smith says.
In the area of officiating, Poppa Smith has also made his mark in boat racing, usually as a motor inspector. In fact, he notes, "I didn't mind motor inspecting, but I really didn't want to referee." It was Smith who single-handedly kept the UIM outboard race at Firebird Lake near Phoenix from becoming a debacle. Smith was the inspector for the event, and when several of the foreign entries, who hadn't fared well at the race, protested to the UIM that there were some illegal engines being run, it was R. Allen Smith's meticulous notes from his inspection that won the day for APBA with the UIM.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about R.
Allen Smith is that in more than 50 years in boat racing you will be hard pressed to find
someone with something negative to say about him. Indeed, he is regarded with such
affection by his legions of followers that most today know him only by his nickname
"Poppa" Smith. That for many men would be enough; but for R. Allen Smith
there is more. He is a man of uncompromising standards in everything he has ever
done, whether it was working in the oil fields as a roustabout, working on someone's boats
and motors or building those remarkable propellers.
To know R. Allen "Poppa" Smith is to know a real American--and in today's world these men are few and far between.
