All Smith at NHRA U.S. Nationals
I
n NHRA Mission Foods Drag
Racing, the only thing better
than winning the biggest event
of the season, the U.S. Nation-
als, would be racing a teammate
in the final round. In the case of
Denso Buell's Matt Smith, it was
even better, as he won his fourth
career U.S. Nationals title with a
final-round win against his team-
mate Angie Smith, who also
happens to be his wife.
The win, his third of the
season, capped a dominant
weekend for Matt Smith, as the
six-time World Champion won
the final with a run of 6.791
seconds at over 198 mph. Angie
Smith was close behind at 6.834
seconds.
"That's what we do. We race
each other straight up," Matt
Smith said. "Angie made a good
run, but I just happened to make
a little better one. She did a
great job this weekend, and we
got exactly what we wanted: a
1-2 finish, no matter the order."
The victory was Smith's fourth
career win at Indy and third
since the 2022 campaign, as the
longtime class leader qualified
number one and then defeated
Chris Bostick, Clayton Howey
and reigning World Champion
Richard Gadson to set up a thrill-
ing matchup with his wife.
For Smith, the win was also
his first since taking several
events off during the summer to
recover from recent surgery.
"After all I've been through
this year, we wanted to come up
here and win," Smith said. "We
wanted to show how good we
WIND
IN THE
P42
Matt Smith won NHRA's
biggie, the U.S. Nationals in
Indianapolis. He finished ahead
of his wife, Angie, in the Pro
Stock Motorcycle final.
