Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Joey Gladstone was euphoric about winning the opening race of the six-event NHRA Countdown to the Championship Sunday afternoon at Maple Grove Raceway, near Reading, Pa. 

It came on daughter Olivia’s second birthday. 

It gave him the points lead. 

It happened at the expense of both Matt and Angie Smith, the Nos. 1 and 2 qualifiers along the way. Gladstone replaced Matt Smith as the points leader, and he defeated Angie Smith in the final round. “And day that you can beat one Smith is a good day. If you beat two Smiths, that's a big deal,” he said following his third victory (and third of the season). 

But as exciting as Sunday’s achievement was (“This is in the playoffs. So that's big. It's good to get back right,” he said), Gladstone knew that probably not every race will to end as happily as today’s did – with a 6.835-second, 196.93-mph triumph over red-lighting Angie Smith. He knows this Countdown will be a hard-fought battle.  

“It seems like Matt was a pretty strong force, especially at Indy and what he was doing this weekend here in qualifying. It's like, man, this Countdown is going to be rough. So to be able to get a little bit of an edge going into the next couple of races is awesome. We're probably going to need it, because he hauls butt everywhere he goes. So it's going to be tough,” Gladstone said. 

“Everybody out in this class right now is so tough. Everybody's a contender,” he said on the eve of the anniversary of team owner Cory Reed’s nasty on-track accident at Charlotte while racing against him. 

“So I'm very proud of my team. I'm very proud of my tuner. We kept our heads cool. We didn't really make it apparent, but we had a bit of an issue in the semis. The bike kind of broke up a little in first gear, kind of like it was doing in Indy. So we knew what to look for. We went back, changed what we thought we needed to change and it ended up working out,” he said. 

“So to win Reading . . . today is my daughter Olivia's second birthday. So we had that on the back of the bike. It was just a really special day. As the day goes on, how memorable will this be if we can do this on her birthday. So that part is cool. 

“This is probably a little bit more special than the first one. The first one is extremely special, but to do this, to win on Olivia's birthday. It's not like yesterday was her birthday – we won on her birthday today,” Gladstone said. “So it's something I'll never forget. We’ll have to make sure we get a lot of pictures and stuff because it's a memory that I don't want her to forget. I know she probably won't remember it, but I'm sure with enough pictures . . . we can reminisce on it later in life.” 

This was a homecoming of sorts for Gladstone, as well. 

“I'm from Westchester, Pennsylvania, originally, before I moved to Delaware. So I grew up here. I was a track rat. I was the one that would ride my bicycle around until security told me stop. It's really cool to come full circle in this racetrack. And God Bless the Koretskys for buying this place and investing in our sport. We need people like you.”

He said, “My first time here was at a NHRA regional event. I was two weeks old. My parents brought me. This was the first track I ever went to. And like I said, we only live like 35 minutes away from here. So the few times a year that we did get to race, we would race here, Cecil County, Atco, Englishtown, places like that. But we spent the most time here. The Nationals is really where - here is where – I fell in love with the bikes. I do remember being 12 or 13 years old at the Nationals here and walking around to the Pro Stock Bike pits – because I was really small, so I wanted to race Pro Stock Bike –

and we were able to talk to people like Blake Gann and George Bryce, and we asked them questions like, ‘How do you get involved in it?’ and stuff like that. They actually gave me really good advice. They said, ‘Go get a motorcycle, go bracket racing, and work your way up through it, and you'll get here,’ and it worked.” 

To earn his first championship, Gladstone said, “It's going to take good runs and good lights, just consistent, good decisions by whoever is going to win it. It's way too early to see what the trend is going to be now, but you guys saw what Matt did in Indy. A couple of people falter and he gets points and a half and goes blast right back into the points lead. So anything can happen. I'm just going to go one race at a time. If at the end of it, if we get the championship, that's killer. But as of right now, these race wins are sweet enough.”