If last year’s decisive championship run in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series wasn’t proof enough, “Trickie Rickie” Smith’s crushing performance at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta over the weekend confirmed to everyone that he hasn’t lost a thing from his bag of tricks. And nor has his engine builder, drag racing icon Pat Musi.
Smith, who has proven to be the class of the field among all power adder combinations, made history on his way to his first victory of the season on Monday afternoon,by not only recording the quickest quarter-mile run in history by a nitrous-assisted doorslammer, but also lighting up the boards up with the first run in excess of 250 miles per hour by a nitrous car. And then he turned around and did it again, while the rest of the class just shook their heads.
With 903 cubic inches of ‘Popeye’ power under the hood and a hefty dose of the sauce on tap, Smith reeled off a 5.88 and a 5.84 to open qualifying Friday in Atlanta, then in Saturday’s slightly improved conditions, blasted to a 5.795 at a history-making 250.13 miles per hour. Then in the opening round of eliminations later in the afternoon, the IDG-backed 2013 Chevrolet Camaro rolled to a stunning 5.778 elapsed time, once again in excess of 250 miles per hour – 250.05. That run exceeded the previous mark of 5.781, set by Mike Castellana at Englishtown way back in 2011.
On the run, Smith was .970 to sixty-feet, 2.568 to the 330, a brutally quick and fast 3.816 at 199.14 to half track, and 4.879 to 1,000-feet. Not only was it the quickest nitrous run, period, but was also the third quickest overall in NHRA class history.
For good measure, ‘Trickie Rickie’ added runs of 5.814, 5.838, and 5.828 during the remainder of eliminations to secure his fifth career NHRA Pro Mod victory. His 250.13 mile per hour blast proved to be top speed of the entire event among all combinations, including the notoriously fast turbocharged race cars in the field.