VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013
P117
LIKE FATHER,
LIKE SON
Matt Smith and his father, Rickie, accomplished a
rare feat when they both celebrated NHRA drag racing
championships in 2013.
BY KEVIN MCKENNA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT POLITO
I
n 2013, Matt Smith did far more
than just win a second NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle Championship.
He also made drag racing history. Just
weeks before clinching the NHRA
Mello Yello Series Pro Stock Motorcycle title with the win in Las Vegas,
Smith watched his father, Rickie, win
a championship on four wheels when
he earned the season title in the Pro
Mod class. The pair also shared the
winner's circle early this season at the
Norwalk, Ohio, round.
"To me that is huge," Smith said.
"That is huge for our family, this is
huge for NHRA, and this is huge for
all the motorsports in general because to my knowledge it has never
happened before. For me and my dad
to both win in Norwalk was humongous. And then, for us to each win a
championship that was even bigger.
I am sure there have been some father and sons, or maybe some father
and daughters that have won races at
the same time but I've never heard of
anyone who has won a championship
together and I don't know if it will ever
be done again."
While celebrating their first victories
together last July in Norwalk, Smith
and his father were likely not thinking
about winning a pair of championships in the same year. After a slow
start to on his Viper Motorcycle Co.
Buell, Smith was merely trying to get
his season on track. In order to win
a pro championship, one must first
qualify for the Countdown, NHRA's
six-race playoff that is open only to
the top 10 riders in the class. After
suffering through a variety of mechanical problems at the first three races,
Smith was barely in the top 10, but began to make progress when he rode
to a runner-up finish in Chicago.
"We had a transmission problem
the first three races and once we
got that fixed I think we had missed
maybe one shift the rest of the year,"
Smith said. "We turned the corner
right after Englishtown [in June]. In
Epping [teammate] John Hall won
