VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P111
B
ryan Smith and his tuner Ricky
Howerton have an expression
between them about good news
or bad news: "Are we drinking cham-
pagne or Jack Daniels?" If you're in
racing, good news means winning,
more importantly winning the cham-
pionship. On the flip side, coming
just shy of a championship year after
year... not so good. Going into 2016,
it was a unanimous decision that
they were tired of Jack Daniels. They
had plenty of wins, but not the Grand
National Championship. So in 2016,
the end goal was champagne.
Following a tumultuous 2016
season and yet another close battle
with rival Jared Mees, Smith and
Howerton got their answer—they'd
be drinking champagne after the
Santa Rosa Mile AMA Pro Flat Track
final. And not only did they drink it,
they doused themselves in it while
standing on top of the podium, sur-
rounded by their team, family and
friends. The Michigan rider had just
secured his first AMA Grand National
Championship.
