On Friday, September 6, we received immensely sad motorsports news from Munster, Indiana. Paul Goldsmith, a nine-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and fierce competitor in various forms of motorsport, has passed away at the age of 98.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway confirmed the news in a press release.
Goldsmith, who was born on October 2, 1925 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and spent his formative years in Detroit, Michigan got his start in racing after serving in the Merchant Marine in World War II. At the end of the Second World War, Goldsmith started competing as an amateur motorcycle rider, and one day was spectating a motorcycle race in Marshall, Michigan which changed his life forever.
The race had a smaller turnout of riders than race organizers anticipated, and as a result, Goldsmith was asked if he would compete. He did and would famously go on to finish third in the race. That ignited the passion of racing for Goldsmith, who would become a staple in the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), where he would score his first win in 1952 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, a one-mile dirt oval, which would later be paved and become the facility we now know as The Milwaukee Mile.
Goldsmith would take Harley-Davidson to its first win on the sands of the Daytona Beach Course in the AMA event in 1953. After retiring from competitively racing motorcycles in 1956, Goldsmith moved his focus to NASCAR, where he would drive for the legendary team owner Smokey Yunick.
While Goldsmith would never race full-time in the NASCAR Grand National, now known as the NASCAR Cup, Series, he would enjoy a successful 127-race career. Goldsmith would pick up his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Langhorne Speedway in 1956, and 10 years later, he would grab his ninth and final NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol in 1966.
In addition to his success in the NASCAR Cup Series, Goldsmith also won a NASCAR Convertible Series event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and he was a star in the USAC Stock Car Series. In USAC’s stock car division, Goldsmith won 26 races in 85 starts and was named the champion of the series in 1961 and 1962.
The versatile racer also competed in six consecutive Indianapolis 500 events from 1958 to 1963. His best finish in the world’s most famous race came in 1960 when he recorded a third-place finish. Goldsmith’s success in open-wheel was impressive because through his career he only competed in eight open-wheel events.
Goldsmith would later be inducted into several Hall of Fames around the country including the IMS Hall of Fame, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Motorcycle Hall of Fame, USAC Hall of Fame, and Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame.
After his legendary racing career, which he retired from in 1969, Goldsmith took on aviation, and would also go on to own an aviation engine repair business, and his own airport in Indiana. Goldsmith was also a ranch owner, and he owned restaurants as well.
Goldsmith was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, and son, Greg. The racer is survived by his daughter, Linda Goldsmith-Slifer.
