PRO NITROUS

The Pro Nitrous finale in Maryland featured the best of the NHRA facing off against the best of the PDRA as two-time defending NHRA Pro Mod champion Rickie Smith went up against defending PDRA Pro Nitrous champ Jason Harris for the second time in a final round this year. And just like back in April at the second event of the season at Rockingham, NC, Smith came out the winner.

After starting from eighth place on the qualifying list, Smith caught a break in the first round when both he and opponent Johnny Camp got loose at the top end, but "Tricky Rickie" recovered enough that his off-the-pace 4.19 at 171.34 advanced him to the quarter finals. There, he used a sizable .067 holeshot to get around Jim Sackuvich's quicker and faster 3.82 at 198.26 with a 3.84 pass at 196.96 mph. In the semis, Smith took the win over "Stevie Fast" Jackson--fresh off a big grudge match win over Pro Nitrous rival Travis Harvey the previous night--when Jackson drifted close to the wall and mustered a 3.86 at 190.40 to Smith's solid 3.82 at 196.93 combination.

On the opposite side of the ladder, Harris (who after winning six races last year on his way to the championship is still looking for win number one in 2015), marched his way from the 11th starting spot through Keith Haney, Jay Cox (with a holeshot), and Pat Stoken, winner of the previous PDRA race last month in Michigan.

With a 3.78 win in the semis over a redlighting Stoken, Harris securely held lane choice for the final, but a .074 light doomed his 3.77 at 199.14 from the start as Smith countered with a .034 reaction time leading into a 3.80 at 197.42 mph that translated to a nine-thousandths of a second margin of victory 660 feet later at the finish line.

"I left the tune-up alone. The track got better, the air got a little better and you might put a little bit more nitrous pressure in there, but it was exactly the same tune-up that I had in it for the semis," Smith said about the 903 c.i. Pat Musi motor in his IDG-backed '69 Camaro. "I'm the kind of person that I don't get crazy on the tune-up, I don't burn the motors up. I just put in it what I think it'll take to win; that's the way I race."

With his second win in three PDRA finals this year, Smith also took over the points lead with four races remaining.

"You know, God has blessed me my whole career. Ain't nobody that's doing this but Him," Smith stated. "I'm gettin' kind of old, I'm a little heavy set, but my reactions are still good and the Good Lord has been riding with me for 41 years. Any success I've had belongs to Him."