SAY IT AIN'T SO RICKIE - ABANDONS PRO STOCK FOR BLOWN CAR
Smith selling Mountain Motor Pro Stocker; Blown Pro Mod car coming for Indy
The phone call sounded like it came from next door, but former JEGS ProMod Challenge champion "Tricky Rickie" Smith was actually on the other side of the world in the tiny Middle Eastern island Kingdom of Bahrain.As a guest of King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah's second son, Smith had a simple request of the organizers of the JEGS ProMod Challenge -- if the Sheik had a new car built in time for the Mac Tool U.S. Nationals, could Smith compete on his former champion's exemption. The answer was yes.
"Those Sheiks were about as happy as you could be," Smith said in his deep, southern drawl. "I told them that Indy was the biggest drag race in the world and they said, 'Then we must race there.' That's when I made the call. I'm just glad Troy Coughlin and his guys let me into the race. From what I hear, you generally don't want to say no to the Sheik very often."
Smith selling Mountain Motor Pro Stocker; Blown Pro Mod car coming for Indy
The phone call sounded like it came from next door, but former JEGS ProMod
Challenge champion "Tricky Rickie" Smith was actually on the other side of the
world in the tiny Middle Eastern island Kingdom of Bahrain.
As a guest of
King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah's second son, Smith had a simple request of the
organizers of the JEGS ProMod Challenge -- if the Sheik had a new car built in
time for the Mac Tool U.S. Nationals, could Smith compete on his former
champion's exemption. The answer was yes.
"Those Sheiks were about as
happy as you could be," Smith said in his deep, southern drawl. "I told them
that Indy was the biggest drag race in the world and they said, 'Then we must
race there.' That's when I made the call. I'm just glad Troy Coughlin and his
guys let me into the race. From what I hear, you generally don't want to say no
to the Sheik very often."
As the first champion in series history back in
2001, Smith was offered a spot in the reorganized JEGS ProMod Challenge at the
start of the year. However, he turned it down at the time so he could
concentrate on racing his Jerry Bickel-built Cobalt Pro Stock car.
"I
tried," Smith said of his Pro Stock efforts, "but Greg [Anderson] and a few
others have made it where you can't compete in Pro Stock any more unless you
have a million dollars to spend. You can't do nothing renting motors and there
ain't any to rent any way. If you ask me that class is gonna be in big trouble
unless they go to spec motors where everyone has the same equipment. It's just
ridiculous."
In between frustrating outings in his Pro Stock car, Smith
became acquainted with a group of car-crazy Shieks from Bahrain. They asked him
to name his price to visit their country and help them tune a Pro Mod car they
had recently purchased.
"They do everything first-class over there,"
Smith said. "They have the best of everything. They just needed some help
getting started so I went over there to help them out. Not long after getting
there I ended up driving because the guys that were learning to drive needed a
lot more seat time. We had some fun."
With four around-the-world trips
under his belt by mid May, Smith felt comfortable enough to suggest to the
Sheiks that they come to America and watch how it's done at the top level of the
sport.
That's when the call went out to the JEGS ProMod
Challenge.
"Now that we've been granted a spot it's full speed ahead,"
Smith said. "I'm gonna sell this Pro Stock car and get back to Pro Mod racing.
Jerry's already started building a car for us and we'll run it with a
supercharger. I think we can do some good and it's something I'm real
comfortable with. Hopefully, all the guys from Bahrain make it over for Indy and
we just grow this deal from there.
"They're buying up Pro Mod cars as
fast as they can and shipping them over there. At the last race there were eight
cars. I bet they'll be 12 or more by the fall when their season starts. They
have a great track in Bahrain and another one in Dubai. It's a whole different
world but they're awfully nice over there. I have no complaints.
"The
money is just crazy. The Prince has one garage with 40 or so cars in there.
Lamborghini, Porches, Mercedes Benz, Ferraris, Rolls Royces, you name it, it's
in his garage, and none of them have more than 1,000 miles on them. Now they're
getting into racecars. Formula 1 is the big thing but drag racing is on fire
right now. They just love it."
Smith hopes his return becomes a permanent
thing in 2009. "The way JEGS is running this deal it's become the premier thing
for Pro Mod," he said. "I'm looking forward to it."