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Getting Smart
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Paul Smart
Jeff Buchanan
01/01/2006
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How Paul Smart came to ride for Ducati is an oft-repeated tale, but it is a
story so good that it runs the risk of being ruined an actual eyewitness. I am
pleased to say that I can substantiate the legendary yarn after a conversation
with Paul and Maggie Smart—an affable, charming couple—at the recent launch of
Ducati’s SportClassics in Florence, Italy.
 Maggie confirmed that, yes, it
all began with a phone call. It was 1972, and her husband, Paul, was riding for
Kawasaki at Road Atlanta in the United States. Maggie took the call from
Bologna, Italy, at her California home. She listened as a man with a strong
Italian accent asked whether Paul Smart would like to ride an untried Ducati in
the Imola 200 the following weekend. Accustomed to living hand-to-mouth with a
racer husband, Maggie couldn’t fathom turning down the offer of £500. She
accepted instantly on her husband’s behalf. Paul was not as enthusiastic; he
said there was no way he was going to Italy to ride an unproven motorcycle and,
besides, he had commitments stateside. But Maggie said she had given her word to
the man from Ducati, and insisted Paul do it. (Click image to enlarge)
A few days later, mechanics
from Ducati met Paul Smart at the airport in Milan. Jet-lagged and leery of the
situation, he went straight to the Imola circuit and climbed on the new L-twin
Ducati 750 cc. The morning sessions held little promise, and Smart began to
wonder whether accepting the ride had been a serious mistake. The day
progressed, with engine and suspension adjustments that slowly, gradually
tailored the bike to Paul’s liking and to his riding style. One of the mechanics
even ran back to the factory to pull a set of dust-covered race tires from the
garage. Ducati was intent on making the motorcycle work.
In one of the
afternoon track sessions, Paul saw the mechanics standing on the pit wall
frantically waving their arms as he came down the front straight, past the
garages. Assuming something was horribly wrong with the experimental
machine—that he might be blowing oil—he pulled the Ducati into the pits. It was
good news: He had just broken the circuit’s lap record, held by the legendary
Agusta Agostini. This eased Paul’s doubts about the new Ducati, and it presaged
his victory that weekend at the first Imola 200. The date of the race coincided
with his 29th birthday.
The next phone call was from Paul to Maggie, back
home in America, to say that he had just won the race and “a helmet full of
money.” The promoters, it seemed, had insisted on paying out the first-place
winnings in Italian lire.
As Ducati rolls out the Paul Smart 1000 Limited
Edition SportClassic to commemorate Paul’s win 33 years ago, you can imagine
that memories of that first phone call provide plenty of amusement around the
Smart household—it isn’t often that a chance conversation leads to a place in
the history books.
www.ducatiusa.com
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