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The Father of Modern Four-Wheeling passed June 9, 2014 at the age of 87. The public is welcome to a Celebration of Life service Sunday, August 31 at 10:00 a.m. at Henningson Lotus Park, 950 Lotus Road, Lotus, CA 95651.
If you can’t make it to Lotus, we invite you to celebrate his life here by learning more about his adventures and accomplishments. (You’ll find a short list of our favorite articles and remembrances at the end of this blog.)
A Dog Named Jeep
Smith was born in Globe, Arizona and grew up in Kimberly, Nevada – an old mining town. As a boy he enjoyed waking early to explore the outdoors with his dog named “Jeep” – named after Eugene the Jeep, a popular character on Popeye the Sailor cartoons. (This one’s from 1938 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aWLJd99TIg )
Mark’s father was a mining engineer and his mother – a buyer for Macy’s – was a history buff; Mark shared that passion from childhood. He studied ancient history in school and – as an adult – wanted to know the history of the places he visited.
In the U.S. Marines
In 1944 he joined the United States Marines and was accepted for Sea School training. Fate was kind; he was part of an invasion force headed for the Panama Canal and South Pacific when the Japanese surrendered. His platoon was reassigned to a Goodwill Tour that took them to Europe, Africa and every major port in South America.
The Goodwill Tour fueled his passion for travel and the Marines gave him the skills he’d need to organize and lead future expeditions. The Father of Jeeping drove his first Jeep in the Marine Corps.
After WWII
After the war he moved to Georgetown, California, bought a surplus military Jeep for $500 and made several trips to the Baja peninsula in the time before pavement.
In 1950 he married Irene; over the course of their 63-year marriage he was a miner, airport manager, owner of a lumber company, El Dorado County Deputy Sheriff, real estate developer and broker. Chris Collard – Editor-in-Chief of Overland Journal – interviewed his friend in 2012. He wrote that Smith has “juggled a dozen careers: some sequentially, some simultaneously.”
Breathing new life into an old town
Georgetown was originally an encampment during the California Gold Rush. Gold was discovered at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1848 and in nearby Georgetown in 1849. The rush peaked in 1852, followed by a gradual decline.
By 1953 the area was depressed. A small group of Rotarians met at the Smiths’ house to discuss the possibility of organizing a trip across the Sierras via the Old Rubicon Trail. They did a few preliminary scouting trips and the first event (from Georgetown to a camp at the Rubicon Springs) took place that August. It was a big success and the town’s economy improved.
Mark told Collard “The second year of the Jamboree, people from Willys Motors Company, including a few top executives, started coming with us. We were actually showing them what their vehicles were capable of.”
In the sixties he started dreaming of the ultimate challenge.
(Photos are from the video Expediciones De Las Americas.)
Conquering the Darién Gap
The Darién is a dangerous stretch of marsh and jungle that prevents the Pan-American Highway from connecting South America with North America. For centuries military organizations and adventurers have tried and failed; some perished. Mark told Collard “A major British Army unit was the first to cross the Darién. There were 250 men involved, including British Army engineers, Colombian Navy, and Panamanian Guardia. It took them 100 days to take two vehicles through. They lost eight Columbian Marines in a river crossing.”
Mark conducted exploratory trips in ’76 and ’77 and pulled it all together in ’78, leading a 21,000 mile off-road expedition from South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
AMC Jeep provided five stock CJ7s and fourteen men were chosen for the journey; they ranged in age from 19 to 60+. Mark felt they had the “men, equipment, knowledge and background to do something like this.” Some were in it for adventure, some to see the land and others for the love of Jeeping. They left homes and families and paid their own way; there were no sponsors to provide special equipment or help with expenses.
In late November the group set out from the southernmost tip of South America; the weather was cold and foggy. It would grow warmer as they headed north. Early on they drove between 400 and 600 miles every day and slept at the side of the road every night. On the thirteenth day they crossed over into the snow capped Andes.
On the twenty-first day they drove through scorched and barren desert – then back into the Andes where they separated to see the sights. Some went to Lake Titicaca, others to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. By the time they reunited in Bogota, Columbia, they had covered 10,000 miles of mountains and desert.
On January 15, 1979 they reached the Darién Gap.
A barge dropped them off in a hot, hostile swamp full of danger and mosquitoes. Anti-venom was at the ready.
They plunged forward with “not even a game trail to follow.” Cutters went ahead to hack vines and small trees with machetes. The Jeeps followed, their wide tires crawling forward through “logs, rocks and oozing decaying swamp.”
One day they only advanced 500′ – but a routine emerged, a pace that was slow and constant. The men manufactured their own water with filtration equipment. They ate what they brought – freeze dried meats, vegetables and fruit.
The Darién Gap was proving grounds for everything they used. Specially built ladders helped them deal with landscape that was all up or down; they became expert bridge builders.
After 20 days they had it down. After 31 days they crossed the last river. Mark said “We had an unbeatable team. Yankee ingenuity and men to match the Darién.”
They pressed on to Panama City, up central America through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala; then into Mexico, the Yucatan and – after 84 days – back into the states, from California through British Columbia and into the Yukon where they encountered snow storms, fierce winds, heavy drifting snow and a wind chill factor of 50 below.
During the whole of their journey – from the bottom of the world to the top – they endured temperature spreads from 105 degrees to 50 below.
The video’s narrator sums it up as “122 days, 21,000 miles, 5 flat tires, a busted axle and enough memories to last a lifetime.”
Mark celebrated the victory by getting “Jeep” tattooed on his bottom.
Experience the full length version of amazing journey – Expediciones De Las Americas – on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O84MWXBEc3Y
The 80s
In 1980 Mark was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. In 1983 he founded Jeep Jamboree USA and took the concept nationwide. He led international Jamborees in Europe, Canada, Mexico and Australia. (He loved Australia and visited about 25 times.)
In 1986 he was recognized as “Four Wheeler of the Decade” by the United Four Wheel Drive Association.
To Madagascar for Camel Trophy ’87
In 1987 Reynolds Tobacco retained Mark to lead their thousand mile off-road adventure through snake infested jungle on the coast of Madagascar. Preparation included three trips to England, a two-month scouting trip, training and selection of teams. 28 men from 14 nations and four continents would set forth on the first north to south crossing of Madagascar’s jungle terrain.
Mark told Collard “The actual event was a series of forced deliberate hardships.” He said “At one point, the vehicle I was in crossed a swampy area. Water was up over the headlights and up to my waist. The vehicle was still running because of the snorkel and being a diesel. I kept looking down to see if there was anything swimming with me in the vehicle.”
This journey of 1,500 miles (1,000 off-road) took the men 18 days. You can enjoy the expedition in just an hour on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxN5hOE1X4
In 1989 he was inducted as a member of the Explorer’s Club of New York.
Smith’s enduring relationship with Jeep
Mark spent more than 60 years helping Jeep develop the off-road capabilities of their vehicles. He told Collard “I worked with Jeep on the introduction of the CJ-7, Cherokee, Wrangler, and Comanche, and built more than 100 driving courses around the country, including a mini Rubicon at their proving grounds in Chelsea, Michigan. I continued to work as a consultant for many years.“
He worked with Jeep engineering to test and evaluate suspensions, transmissions, engines – “a little bit of everything – and comfort.” He said “The Rubicon model itself was worked on probably for from 8 to 10 years before Engineering was satisfied.”
Mark believed “Jeep has no competitors. All the Jeep vehicles, you can drive them off the floor and take them almost anywhere, depending on the difficulty of the trail.”
According to Mark, the Rubicon “was always considered the ultimate and final test of their vehicles.”
In this video Mark talks about the Rubicon Trail, Jeep engineering and off-road testing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NprkxboCAY
In 1992 he gave up positions as “Jeepmaster” and board member for Jeepers Jamboree to become a consultant/ambassador for Chrysler Corporation’s Jeep Division. That same year he told the Sacramento Bee “People ask when I plan to retire from four-wheeling and my reply is ‘Probably when I die.’”
In December of 2013 he went to Death Valley with actor Perry King. It would be his last off-road trip.
Loss of a legend
Mark passed June 9, 2014. He told Collard “When I’m gone, if there is another world out there, I’ll probably be exploring it with my dog in my Jeep.”
Mark is survived by his wife Irene, children Robert, Patti, Greg and Jill, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
His tradition continues
Today Jeep Jamboree USA is the world’s largest Jeep adventure company; and Mark’s daughter Jill is President and CEO. Watch them share their love of the Rubicon in this heartwarming video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrH6An1BTHQ
Pearse Umlauf, Vice President of Jeep Jamboree USA told the Sacramento Bee “Mark created the sport of Jeeping. Before him, people just had their four-wheel vehicles and would go out by themselves. He created a community.”
Recommended Reading
THE PASSING OF A LEGEND: MARK A SMITH
By Smith’s friend and colleague, Chris Collard, Editor-in-Chief of Overland Journal
This is a must-read! Collard shares an exceptional interview (and photos) from the Winter 2012 issue of Overland Journal.
http://expeditionportal.com/the-passing-of-a-legend-mark-a-smith/
SMITH WAS LARGER THAN LIFE
By Roberta Long: the Mountain Democrat says good-bye to one of their own.
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/news/larger-than-life/
Long’s work features wonderful photos of Smith’s activities from 1953 to 2013.
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/media-posts/mark-a-smith-larger-than-life/attachment/mark-pix-copy_page_06w/
REMEMBERING MARK A. SMITH
By Jeep in News
Featuring favorite memories of Pearse Umlauf, VP of Jeep Jamboree USA
http://blog.jeep.com/news/remembering-mark-smith/
MARK SMITH 1926-2014
By Mark Vaughn of AutoWeek
A fun look at the life of a man who “always saw the humor in things.”
http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/mark-smith-1926-2014