Tested and Ready, U.S. Smokeless Team Looks to Break Out of 2009 Funk …

He’s not about to declare a sophomore jinx because technically he’s a freshman on the NHRA Full Throttle tour, but Spencer Massey can’t help but relive past successes headed into this weekend’s NHRA Summit Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Massey is in new territory as the driver of Snake Racing’s U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company dragster this year.

Last year at this point in the season, he could do no wrong winning the first two IHRA events of the season and also winning this event last year driving a Top Alcohol Dragster. That victory was the second in back-to-back Atlanta Dragway triumphs.

Tested and Ready, U.S. Smokeless Team Looks to Break Out of 2009 Funk …

He’s not about to declare a sophomore jinx because technically he’s a freshman on the NHRA Full Throttle tour, but Spencer Massey can’t help but relive past successes headed into this weekend’s NHRA Summit Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Massey is in new territory as the driver of Snake Racing’s U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company dragster this year.

Last year at this point in the season, he could do no wrong winning the first two IHRA events of the season and also winning this event last year driving a Top Alcohol Dragster. That victory was the second in back-to-back Atlanta Dragway triumphs.

“I have some really good memories racing at Atlanta,” recalls Massey.  “Our team was based in Texas, so it was a big trip for us.  I remember the car had ran well during qualifying but we found some problems before Sunday and we were able to fix those, go four rounds and take the win. I had been to five previous finals before, so to finally win my first National Sportsman event was just huge. I had waited for that win forever, so it was really exciting.

“It will be fun to return to a place where I am used to seeing the win light come on,” said Massey. “I am comfortable racing at that track and I can’t wait to see if some of my good luck there can carry over for our team this weekend.”

Starting a string of success would bode well for Massey and the team which spent much of the day after Las Vegas testing. The U.S. Smokeless Racing team made six full laps under various track conditions, which Massey feels will help them in Atlanta.

“Our car is very capable of going rounds and winning races,” said Massey.  “We needed to work on getting a better handle on our consistency and I feel that testing was a big step in the right direction toward that.  Now, we need to take that momentum, bring that with us to Atlanta and turn on some win lights.”     

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