Sad News: Louise Smith: Louise Smith [obit link], Greenville's stock car racing pioneer whose fearless passion for speed made her the first woman inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999, died Saturday. She was 89. Smith battled cancer and had been under hospice care in Anderson, but she remained fiercely independent well into her ninth decade, according to Dora E. Owens, one of her nieces. A native of Barnesville, Ga., Smith lived in Greenville from age 4. Her father and brothers were mechanics. One of her early memories was of driving her daddy's Model T --straight into the chickenhouse. Services for Smith will be today at 2 p.m. in the chapel of Westville Funeral Home, 6010 White Horse Road. The family will receive friends from 12:30-1:30pm/et before the services. Interment will be in Graceland West in Greenville.(Greenville News), Smith raced in 11 Grand National [now Nextel Cup] races in 1949, 1950 and 1952. Her best finish was 16th at Langhorne in 1950, her last race was in 1952 at Morristown, NJ.(4-17-2006)
