Matt Smith confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com he will be filling in for his father and world championship driver Rickie Smith at the ADRL Spring Drags April 7-8 at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway.

Matt will be driving his father’s Pro Mod ZL1 Camaro and he will be a teammate to Jonathan Gray.

“I am running one of his cars for him and Jonathan Gray is going to run one as well,” Matt said. “He had back surgery and he’s currently out of the car. My dad is probably one of the top two all-time nitrous guys in the United States and this is a privilege to get to fill in for him. I look forward to this and I’m very excited to be able to do this for him.”

Matt, who is a two-time world champion in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class (2007 and 2013), has driven his father’s car before, one time being at Indianapolis in 2011 following Rickie’s spectacular crash at Bristol, Tenn., that year.

“Besides that, in Indy, I drove one of his nitrous cars a couple of years ago,” Matt said.

In preparation for this weekend, Matt said he and Gray are going to do some testing Wednesday at Galot (N.C.) Motorsports Park.

“We are going to make some laps and get both cars set up for our body weight and all that and be ready for Rockingham,” Matt said. “I don’t know how many runs we are going to make. I would say three to four apiece, but it could be more, it could be less. It is all about setting the car up for the person driving it because everybody has a different style of driving.”

Beyond this weekend, Matt is unclear when he will drive for his dad again.

“I don’t totally know for sure,” he said. “It stands for me as a one-time deal right now with possible other opportunities, but I know Jonathan is going to drive this race and the Houston NHRA Pro Mod race for him (April 21-23).”

Although Matt and Gray are new to driving his father’s cars, he still has lofty goals for Rockingham.

“As fast as his cars are and if we can let the clutch out on time, I would be very surprised if Jonathan and I aren’t in the finals racing against each other,” Matt said. “I guess time will tell. I don’t what kind of other cars we will get at this deal, but we should be pretty fast. My dad is fast with his stuff in the eighth-mile in NHRA, so there should be no reason we are not just as fast.”
 
 

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