The biggest story leaving Maryland International Raceway wasn’t Austin Prock’s return to the winner’s circle, or Shawn Langdon’s continued domination of Top Fuel.
It was Angie Smith.
Smith delivered one of the most meaningful victories of her career Sunday, ending a drought of nearly four years without a win, and simultaneously becoming the driver who recorded the 200th professional victory by a woman in NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series history. The milestone came at the inaugural NHRA Potomac Nationals and capped a Matt Smith Racing weekend that nearly unraveled before it ever started.
Joining Smith in the winner’s circle were Austin Prock in Funny Car, Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, as NHRA completed its first national event at MIR before a packed grandstand.
Smith arrived in coastal Maryland facing the possibility her team might not race at all.
Only two weeks earlier in Chicago, a mechanical failure on the starting line denied her a victory. Then, on Friday, husband and six-time champion Matt Smith was hospitalized with gallstones, leaving the team scrambling to keep four motorcycles race-ready.
Instead of loading up, the team regrouped.
Smith qualified No. 1 to earn a first-round bye, then raced past Brayden Davis and Clayton Howey, and closed the deal with a 6.683-second pass at 201.52 mph aboard her Denso Auto Parts Buell to defeat Ryan Oehler in the final round and secure the fourth victory of her career.
“I was just ecstatic because at 7 a.m. Friday, we were running zero bikes, we were taking the [Christmas] tree and getting our 30 points, packing up and going home,” Smith said.
“At 10 a.m. Matt said, ‘We’re running all four bikes, I believe in you, and you can do it.’ So that’s what we did. It was tough and it was not easy, and it’s one of those things when your team believes in you and your husband believes in you.”
Smith said the milestone belonged to all the women racers who visited victory circle before her Sunday appearance there.
“It means everything [to get the 200th]. From Erica [Enders] to Shirley [Muldowney] to Angelle [Sampey], to all of those ladies who have paved the way for me to come out here, and I get to call some of them my really good friends, and that’s what means so much to me,” Smith said.
“We have such a close relationship, and I will always be the 200th. I’m glad I can represent the women of NHRA.”
While Smith made history, Austin Prock may have delivered the most important win of the season for his race team.
The two-time and reigning Funny Car champion entered the MIR event still searching for his first victory since leaving John Force Racing in the offseason to join team owner Bob Tasca III. Expectations followed him to the new team, but victories did not – until Sunday.
The season started in a surprisingly dismal way when the team failed to qualify at the season-opening Gatornationals in Florida. Through the first five races, the combination never advanced beyond the second round and looked nothing like the group that won the last two championships.
Then, two weeks ago, there were crystal-clear signs of progress in Chicago when Prock notched a semifinal finish. The Tasca Racing operation put all the pieces together this weekend at MIR.
The team followed a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory Saturday with Sunday’s win. He defeated Matt Hagan, Spencer Hyde, points leader Ron Capps, and finally Jack Beckman in the final round.
Prock’s winning pass of 3.956 seconds at 324.20 mph was his quickest run of the weekend and delivered Tasca Racing the statement victory it had been chasing since the season opened.
“It means a lot,” Prock said. “It’s like winning your first race all over again because all of the work that we put in and everything that we learned.
“To be seven races in and win the Mission Challenge this weekend and win the diamond Wally [on Sunday], I think it says a lot about this race team and what we’re capable of. I’m just very proud of this whole Ford Racing team. It was a great weekend, but this is just the beginning of the new era of the Prock Rocket.
“As a competitor, you’re just kind of beat down, and then the race car started coming alive again, and I felt like I was behind the race car at times, where the race car was performing better than I was.
“After (Chicago), I was really, really hard on myself after the semifinals. I didn’t leave good enough to even put us in contention. I wanted to come in here this weekend and prove to myself that I’ve still got it, and I feel like I did that.”
Shawn Langdon piloted the Kalitta Air dragster to its fourth win in six races – the first three-race winning streak of his Top Fuel career – by defeating teammate Doug Kalitta in one of the closest races in category history.
Langdon’s 3.762-second pass at 334.90 mph edged Kalitta at the finish line after both drivers left the starting line nearly together. The margin of victory was clocked as .0002 seconds – roughly one inch at the stripe – at more than 330 mph.
Earlier in the day, Langdon established the MIR track record with a 3.718, 338.00. He also qualified No. 1 and stretched his points lead to 76 over Kalitta.
“I knew I had to hit the tree better in the final because Doug had a little bit on me all weekend long. I mean, [Kalitta crew chief] Alan Johnson’s Alan Johnson for a reason, because in the final rounds he performs, and Doug’s been there and had had one of the best cars over the last couple years,” Langdon said.
“Three wins in a row means a lot because of all the hard work that’s gone into this team over the last couple of years. When Brian came over and revamped everything within the team, the guys just all got together and they’ve done such a fantastic job.
“It just makes my job a lot easier. I just have to go out there and hit the gas on time and hold the thing straight. When you have confidence in your team and confidence in your car, it makes it a lot of fun.”
In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson reminded everyone why KB Titan Racing is the team to beat at most every event this season. The six-time champion defeated Brandon Miller, Deric Kramer, and Greg Stanfield before stopping points leader and teammate Dallas Glenn in the final round with a 6.472, 212.46.
The victory was Anderson’s 114th career NHRA national-event win and improved his final-round record against Glenn to 10-1. Anderson’s car lived in the 6.40s throughout eliminations, including a track-record 6.464 run against Kramer.
“You can’t try to be Superman, no matter what the competition’s doing and that’s a hard thing,” Anderson said.
“It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do when you’re going up there and you got Aaron Stanfield and Dallas Glenn, and you know the reaction time is going to start with a zero or one. It’s just the way it is, and I’m not that guy anymore.
“I told myself before that final round, ‘Do not make a mistake like you did last weekend,’ and obviously went too far the other way, and I had a horrible light. But thank God Dallas’ car didn’t make it, so just my day – my lucky day.
“My car was fantastic all day long, and it’s just a good-feeling racetrack for me.”
Maryland International Raceway spent decades building a reputation without Top Fuel and Funny Car.
On its first NHRA national-event weekend, the facility delivered packed grandstands and record performances. Fans will long remember Angie Smith’s milestone victory, Austin Prock’s return to form, Shawn Langdon’s championship march, and Greg Anderson’s latest reminder that experience still matters.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action June 5-7 for the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
