PRO NITROUS

“Tricky” Rickie Smith  (Ian Tocher photo)

A pair of local pro racers settled the Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous final at Rockingham Dragway, as back-to-back reigning NHRA Pro Mod World Champion Rickie Smith from King, NC, prevailed over current PDRA Pro Nitrous Champion Jason Harris from Pittsboro, NC.

"It don't get no better than that," Smith declared after winning with a holeshot. "Right here in the Carolinas you just had the number-one guy in PDRA versus the number-one guy in NHRA. How much better do you want?"

Smithfield, NC's Jay Cox led qualifying with a 3.74 at 200.35 mph, representing the first 200-plus pass in his career. Jason Harris struggled at this event even though his opening round 3.72/202.55 set low ET for the class.

In the final Smith left with a .037 light leading to a 3.82 pass at 199.61 mph against a .062 leave by Harris, who ran 3.812 at 199.05 mph. The margin of victory was 12-hundredths of a second.

"We put an automatic in the car and that was something for me to get used to; I mean, I'm used to doing that left foot action," Smith revealed. "And we're getting it done with a Pat Musi 903. That used to be a big-ass motor; now I've got the baby motor out here. But it done good; the biggest thing was the track was a little crappy, but that probably helped me here."