Try again on making the patch.
This is the patch, viewed in a hex editor...
PATCHEOF
That is...every .ips patch starts with the letters PATCH and end with the letters EOF (end of file). You see. Nothing between them = no changes.
Also, on a side note, I can't seem to run SMK in Geiger's SNES9xw tool...well, it runs, but I can't run the race because it's buggy. Also, I'm not sure what text you're looking for. The GP results and podium look changed already to me (using a different emulator). I think I probably won't be able to change any other text, anyway, since I'm having technical difficulties with the tools I'm used to using.