The Pro Stock Motorcycle storyline at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals looked more like a movie script than a qualifying report.
Angie Smith arrived at Maryland International Raceway carrying far more than the responsibilities of a rider chasing a No. 1 qualifier. Her husband, crew chief, teammate and six-time NHRA world champion Matt Smith was in a hospital bed battling gallstones while she tried to hold together one of drag racing’s most successful motorcycle operations.
Then she went out and outran everyone.
Smith powered her Denso Auto Parts Buell to a career-best 6.690-second run at 202.97 mph on Friday, securing the provisional No. 1 qualifying position while navigating what she described as the most challenging day of her racing career.
The performance came less than two weeks after another emotional weekend in Chicago, where a broken motorcycle on the starting line ended what could have been a final-round showdown against her husband.
This time, the challenge wasn’t another rider.
Matt Smith wasn’t in the team’s trailer. He wasn’t on the starting line. He wasn’t even at Maryland International Raceway.
He was in a hospital room.
Yet somehow, he was still tuning motorcycles.
“Matt being in our corner, we’ve never doubted that, but Matt wears a lot of hats and Matt, he does a lot on our race team, and I don’t know if everybody really knew how much that he did do until today, that we all had to pitch in and do it, and we got it done,” Smith said.
“But him being off the bike and tuning from the hospital is pretty remarkable to me because he’s not here. He’s not here to look at the weather conditions. He’s not here to look at the track. He’s not here to do a lot of the things that he takes into account when he makes a tuneup call.
“So all I can say is, honey, you did a remarkable job and I couldn’t have did it. Hats off to him. He is literally sitting in the hospital with a hospital gown with IVs and pain medicine, but we’re number one.”
Friday morning, there was a real chance none of the Smith Racing motorcycles would make a run.
By Friday evening, Angie Smith was No. 1, Chip Ellis was third, and the team had turned a hospital stay into one of the stories of the weekend.
“Chip’s just Chip,” Smith said. “I mean, Tater Chip, he can get on anything and make it go fast, and I was super proud of him.
“My first concern was Jianna and John getting down the track and then myself. Then my second concern was make sure the Red Rocket was okay. It was. He did it all right.
“So hats off to Chip. He got the phone call this morning. He was going to town literally to do something. He turned around, went home, got his suit, packed a bag, and was up here five hours later.”
The drag racing community likes to talk about family.
Friday, the Smith team lived it.
“It’s just about the people that you surround yourself and people, good friends, whatever you want to call them, family,” Smith said. “I call them family because they’re family to me.
“I couldn’t do it without everybody because literally, about three hours ago or probably about eight o’clock this morning, my intentions were all of us were going to sit out this weekend.”
Instead, every bike made a run.
Every rider got down the racetrack.
And every one of them gave Matt Smith something positive to watch from a hospital bed.
The quickest motorcycle in the field wasn’t what mattered most to Angie Smith. The career-best elapsed time wasn’t either.After spending the previous day bouncing between the racetrack and a hospital room, simply getting through qualifying felt like a victory.
“I’m relieved to say the least,” Smith said. “It’s just been a lot the last 24 to 48 hours. He got admitted into the hospital, but he was in the emergency room all day yesterday, and he didn’t get admitted till 10 o’clock.
“I didn’t get back till the track till midnight, 11:30, midnight. Then I got three hours of sleep and then I went back, and then I come back, and it’s just been a circus. I think this whole day’s been a blur.”
Her concerns weren’t centered on the scoreboard. They were centered on getting every motorcycle down the racetrack safely.
“I’m just glad that we ran well,” Smith said. “I’m glad that all the bikes went down and everybody was safe. That was my main goal.
“I’ve never had this much responsibility. I had a lot of responsibility, and we rose to the occasion, but it’s not from lack of … My whole team stepped up. Everybody was learning new things and everybody jumped in together.”
Points leader Richard Gadson ended Friday second with a 6.729 at 201.31 mph. Ellis followed in third with a 6.743 at 201.16.
For all the numbers posted Friday, one moment probably told the story better than any leaderboard. After climbing off the motorcycle, Angie Smith cried. Not because she was No. 1. Not because she had just recorded a career-best run.
She cried because she had just done something she had never done before.
“The run was awesome,” Smith said. “I don’t usually cry at the racetrack because I’m usually pretty tough, but I was just like … I was scared.
“I have made probably, I don’t know, 5,000 runs down a racetrack, and zero have been without Matt Smith. Zero. So it’s pretty scary.
“So I just kept telling myself, there has been times that Matt has gone down the track before you. Just treat it that way. He’s at the other end. Just treat it that way.
“I knew he was watching. I’m pretty sure he was proud.”
And just to think, Friday’s sequel could premiere on Sunday. That’s one red-carpet moment she’s hoping for.Â
