an epic race against Sampey in
the quarterfinals. Johnson lost
to Vance & Hines rider Eddie
Krawiec in the second round,
meaning that Smith was very
much in control of his own fate.
Once again, Smith's riding
saved the day as he left first
against Sampey and won on
another holeshot, with his 6.80
elapsed time finishing ahead of
Sampey's 6.77.
"I just want to be known as
one of the greatest of all time,"
Smith said. "You've got people
like [NHRA icons] Dave Schultz,
John Meyers, Angelle [Sampey],
Eddie Krawiec and Andrew
Hines, and I just want to be
included with that group. We did
Winning the race was big for
Smith, who now has 32 NHRA
event wins, but his biggest prior-
ity coming into the season-ending
event was securing his fifth
championship. Coming into the
race, Smith led Steve Johnson
by 20 points and was 30 points
ahead of Sampey. Under NHRA's
points system, Smith had what
amounted to a one-round lead
over both of his rivals.
During qualifying, Smith
added bonus points that were
crucial to his title pursuit. By the
time Sunday's final eliminations
began, he'd pushed his advan-
tage to two rounds.
Smith easily defeated Ryan
Oehler in round one to set up
"What a relief; this has been
a tough year," Smith said. "I've
said all year long that those Su-
zuki bikes are fast but somehow
we made it work. I managed to
outperform them on the starting
line and we needed it. My whole
goal coming into this race was to
make three quick qualifying runs
in qualifying and then win all four
rounds [of eliminations] on Sun-
day. We did that. To [sponsors]
Denso, Mark Stockseth, and
Glen Butcher Trucking, thanks
for all you do."
FINAL ROUND / NOVEMBER 12-14, 2021
AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY / POMONA, CALIFORNIA
P84
DRAG RACING I NHRA CAMPING WORLD PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP
Smith finished off the
season with a win over
Karen Stoffer but had
already clinched the title
after beating Angelle
Sampey earlier in the day.
In that race, Smith ended
up in the sand trap.
