Richard Gadson didn’t have the quickest motorcycle at Rockingham Dragway. He didn’t need it.
Gadson decided survival was more important than swagger Sunday, and four green lights later, the reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champion was holding the Wally, carrying a larger points lead and admitting he had played a few mind games along the way.
Gadson won the NHRA Nationals at The Rock when teammate Gaige Herrera left .018-second too soon in the final. Gadson went 6.789 seconds at 199.65 mph for his third victory of the season and seventh of his career.
The victory increased Gadson’s championship lead to 64 points over Herrera with four races remaining. It also gave him a win at a track where he had made thousands of runs long before an NHRA national event ever came to Rockingham.
“I feel like I got away with one out here this weekend,” Gadson said. “It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t headline worthy, but we’re here holding our third Diamond Wally here at Rockingham Dragway, a place that you can add this to the list of Maryland International Raceway and Valdosta where I’ve made thousands of runs down this racetrack.
“I said in an interview a few weeks ago that I wanted to get one at one of those tracks that has kind of been my background, and this is one of them and I said I wanted to get Rockingham and I did.”
Gadson got there by beating Geno Scali, Ryan Oehler and Chase Van Sant before drawing Herrera in an all-Vance & Hines final. It was the sixth time the teammates had met for a trophy, with their head-to-head final-round record now even at 3-3.
But there was another opponent Sunday: the starting line.
Gadson said the reaction-time characteristics at the last two events had forced riders to adjust their normal starting-line routines. For a rider who has spent years training himself to be aggressive, the adjustment amounted to intentionally doing something he had practiced hundreds of times not to do.
Slow himself down.
“You’re not racing a competitor anymore, you’re literally racing being green,” Gadson said. “In order to win the race, you’ve got to be green four times. So that was my motto today.”
Gadson took the adjustment seriously enough to practice it away from the motorcycle. A friend showed him an app Saturday, and Gadson practiced slowing his reaction until he fell asleep.
He resumed the drill Sunday morning before taking a shower, then worked on it again in the trailer while Top Fuel was running.
Herrera chose another route.
“Gaige went for the E.T. and he got away with it three rounds, and we decided, you know what man, we’re just going to race our lane,” Gadson said. “So this weekend it was survival, and I had four green lights and it got me a win here at Rockingham Dragway.”
There was also some old-fashioned psychological warfare involved.
Before the final, Gadson publicly put the pressure on Herrera, declaring it was his teammate’s race to lose. He later admitted that wasn’t accidental.
Gadson came from grudge racing, where what happens before the motorcycles stage can sometimes be nearly as important as what happens afterward.
“Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Or a lot of bit, maybe,” Gadson said. “I come from grudge racing, so does Gaige, but I got 20 years in grudge racing. That’s my genetic makeup, I’ll say.”
Rockingham also offered Gadson and Vance & Hines an opportunity to answer Matt Smith Racing on Carolina soil.
Gadson made no attempt to pretend the rivalry doesn’t exist. He said there is considerable respect between the operations, but also acknowledged nobody should expect them to start making dinner reservations together.
“None of us are going out to eat together, right?” Gadson said. “But there’s a lot of respect. They are an amazing team.”
With Matt Smith and Angie Smith exiting early, Gadson recognized an opportunity and capitalized. That’s a trait he believes helped deliver his championship last season and has kept him atop the standings this year.
Gadson isn’t pretending his championship defense will be settled strictly by who owns the quickest time slip. He knows
Herrera, the Smiths, Oehler and recent winner John Hall aren’t going anywhere.
So if Gadson has to find his advantages somewhere besides elapsed time, that’s fine with him.
“I’ll take whatever I can get, whatever edge I can get, whatever I can do,” Gadson said. “The gloves are off. We’re going to count down to the championship.”
Then came the line that probably explained Gadson’s Rockingham weekend better than any time slip could.
“So if it’s psychological warfare, then that’s what it is because I can’t beat them ET warfare,” Gadson said. “I can’t beat them time slip for time slip, right? So, I don’t know. I’ll take what I can get.”
