ARIZONA REGION – Geren Smith was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He says that drawings from his earliest days show he was congenitally interested in cars. His parents tolerated his interest in motocross as long as he never actually bought a motorcycle. That phase of his life ended when, at 16, his parents' reaction to a plan to buy his own motorcycle was met with the response "Not under this roof!"
Shortly thereafter, he found a car he liked, thought he could afford, could easily fit into (compared to the family's '73 Celica), and that his parents agreed was safer than a motorcycle. It was a 1969 Ford Fairline Cobra. His introduction to the joys of horsepower! But also to automotive money pits, since he drag-raced the Cobra during high school, frequently breaking axles and blowing head gaskets.
Then came the need to spend his money on other things, like college. He suffered through several years of "automotive squalor" ('75 Cordoba, '81 Corolla), never forgetting the fun of acceleration. He was eventually able to own a few cars that were fun, which for him still meant straight-line acceleration.
So how did Geren get interested in autocrossing? Very slowly. In the early 1990s, he saw his first autocross, or at least a stream of cars and trailer queens leaving an event. He watched a later event, but was pretty intimidated, so didn't run. He eventually observed at yet another event, but was put off by the light poles and curbs cluttering up the venue.
It was video games that maintained his interest in automotive sports. And, once the display technology was good enough to make it seem like he was actually driving, that interest flourished again. The video games led to watching racing on TV, which led to getting up early to catch some races live, especially CART and F1 races. Still no personal competition driving, though.
After some 13 years, Geren's work situation at Motorola began to look iffy. So he left Austin early in 2001 to come to Phoenix and work for the competition – Microchip – where his duties have migrated from project management to database development. He's never regretted the move, except that he's not a fan of the desert, and had soon developed the habit of spending nearly every weekend out of town, either in northern Arizona or southern California. Then a co-worker told him about the autocross events at FIR. He checked them out, found them more to his liking than those around Austin, and has been hooked ever since.
Geren's first autocross competition was in the evening at Firebird. He was still a bit intimidated, but – the death of his father having prompted him to reassess his approach to life's challenges – he bought a WRX, registered for our July 2001 event, dedicated the adventure to his dad, and "found humility by posting the slowest non-DNF finish in NV2." But a low finish isn't the point, is it? The point is that he did compete. And that his dedication carried him through: Geren took third place in NV2 during the Fall 2001 series.
After that, Geren did a year in STX, where he "launched a long career of second-place finishes" at our events. Then the siren song of increased boost lured him into SM, where he played second fiddle to Steve Steele in the Spring 2003 series, to Larry Petrucci in Fall 2003, and again to Steele in Spring 2004. Beating Steele before Steve left SM, in the Fall 2004 series, was a high point. After that, Geren took first in SM in Spring 2005, and again in Summer 2005.
Work demands left Geren unqualified for the Fall 2005 series, so he is really looking forward to the upcoming series at Firebird. Although he hopes to get back to running in Tucson and maybe even Sierra Vista, he says he has no aspirations for national events.
Geren's position as our Co-Registrar grew out his genuine desire to give back to the club. But it was occasioned by his having complained about a work assignment and having been told (nicely, it would appear) that if he thought he could do better he should give it a shot. It's a little harder than it looked to him then, and he dislikes sending out no-show letters, but he enjoys the opportunity to meet more people.
Aside from autocrossing, Geren enjoys working on cars, video racing, and beer. He's backed off on brewing his own, since the process involves a lot of heat and because quality beers from the west coast and Europe are increasingly available. Still, he's "quite proud of being a snob about beer, even if most people have a hard time understanding how appreciating beer can be considered a hobby." Geren's last few vacations have combined F1 racing and good beer, in Belgium and Germany.