AGAINST THE ODDS, SMITH BELIEVES HE CAN RUN THE TABLE

Written by Bobby Bennett, photo by Dave Kommel    Sat, 2019-11-16 21:30

 

Matt Smith can't help it; he's got too much of his daddy in him.

Smith, the son of outspoken and relentless doorslammer icon Rickie Smith, isn't about to concede jack-squat.

Smith, who came into the AAA NHRA Finals with a remote shot of defending his title, wasn't about to settle for second place as he rode his Denso-sponsored Buell to the quickest pass of the two-wheelers at Pomona. His 6.815 elapsed time at 197.33 miles per hour put him in the number one position.

Smoking motor be damned, Smith is on a mission this weekend.

"We were basically low of every round except second round, and we got beat by one thou by Karen [Stoffer]," Smith said. "I think just because we were in the bad lane. I spun the tire too bad, but I mean, we've been good all weekend long. I know everybody's saying the motor's smoking a little bit, but there was no problem there. It's just everything's fresh, and we've got some different rings in trying some stuff, and it's just smoking a little bit, but it's not affecting our performance at all.

Don't let his overbearing multi-tasking responsibilities fool you, Smith is a jack of all trades and determined to master them all.

"Well, the championship scenario is it doesn't matter," Smith said. "I'm just going out there to run my race and try to turn on a win light each round. And if I get lucky enough Sunday and turn four of them on and Andrew loses first round, then we've become the champion. So really, I'm just going to go do my job and see what happens."

Smith isn't prepared to go Tonya Harding on point leader Andrew Hines, and whack him on the knee, but he is prepared to reward a fellow racer with a pre-Christmas present if they can do the deed in the first round.

"I've said it all weekend, just fun and games and all. But it's true. I mean, I told everybody, anybody, whoever has Andrew first round, if they beat him, I'll give him $1,000 cash right then," Smith admitted. "If I go in and win the race and they beat him first round, I give them an additional $5,000. So they can walk out of here with $6,000 in their pocket, and then it'll be worth it for me if it happens."

Smith came into the event with longshot odds, trailing Hines by 117 points. He picked up 15 bonus points in qualifying, but because Hines scored seven of his own, Smith only netted eight. For Smith to win the title, Hines will have to lose first round, and then the defending champion will have to win the event.

 

 

 
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