WIND
IN THE
P54
On his way to the 93rd final
of his career, Smith knocked off
Malcolm Phillips Jr, Chase Van
Sant and Ryan Oehler to reach the
final round and made a big jump
in performance in the final round
to hold off Gadson and stay in the
title conversation. Smith is now
third in points with two races re-
maining and trails leader Gadson
by 85 points, which is approxi-
mately four rounds.
Gadson reached the final
round for the eighth time in 2026
thanks to round wins against
Marc Ingwersen, Angie Smith
and Steve Johnson. He leads
teammate Gaige Herrera by 58
points heading to Las Vegas
for the penultimate round of the
season.
The Dallas event will long
be remembered as one of the
greatest events in the history of
the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.
Cool fall weather and a well-pre-
pared racetrack made for near
record-setting performances. In
qualifying, Herrera led the field
with a 6.651 run on his RevZilla/
Vance & Hines Suzuki. The top
five bikes were in the 6.6-second
zone and the bump spot for the
16-bike field was a very respect-
able 6.888. The top eight bikes
in the field also topped 201 mph,
with Matt Smith leading the way
at 204.61 mph.
The event's other notable per-
formance came from Steve John-
son, who is celebrating his fourth
decade in the class. Johnson
made a pair of 6.67-second runs,
the quickest of his long career, on
his way to a semifinal finish.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag
Racing Series returns to action
October 29-November 1 with the
Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nation-
als powered by Dodge at The Strip
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kevin McKenna
Final
1. Matt Smith (Bue) (0.006) 6.660 at
203.08 mph
2. Richard Gadson (Suz) (0.033)
6.654 at 203.79 mph
This is Smith's 46th career victory,
and it moves him up a spot to
third in the points standings
