Earlier this week, media outlets revealed that Matt Smith, the NHRA Pro Stock Mortorcycle world champion in 2007 and 2013, will compete in a limited Pro Stock schedule in 2019 while also continuing to campaign his Pro Stock bike.

Smith, who is presently racing the Elite Performance/Stockseth EBR entry in the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks, discussed his transition with CompetitionPlus.com.

“We had been talking about it, I don’t know, for six months with Mark Stockseth, who is my partner in my deal. He’s been helping Elite (Motorsports) the last three years on Jeg (Coughlin’s) (Pro Stock) car and Erica (Enders) car, and he has been telling Richard (Freeman, Elite Motorsports boss) that he wants me in a Pro Stock car some next year. Mark showed up at Indy and we sat down and hashed everything out.”

Smith acknowledged his 2019 Pro Stock schedule is not finalized.

“Richard wants us to run all the races next year, but Mark and I talked, and we don’t want to run all the races,” Smith said. “We want to run the Pro Stock bike and run the car when we are not running the bike. We may run four, six, eight (Pro Stock) races just something to get our feet wet. Who knows where the class is going to be at? You have Tanner (Gray) quitting and Drew (Skillman) quitting and who knows how many cars are going to be out there next year. So, we don’t want to put all our eggs in that one basket.”

Smith’s unsure what Pro Stock car he would drive out of the Elite Motorsports stable.

“They have two new cars being built, Rick Jones is building two new cars for Erica and Jeg so the two cars they have right now would probably be the ones I test in, plus Richard is building a Mustang,” Smith said. “I don’t know what I would be in, and he (Richard) said he would drive it when I wasn’t driving it. It is going to be one of those deals when I can race then I will race it and when I can’t he will drive it.”

This Pro Stock venture for Smith is going to happen, but no test dates have been set for him to make his first career laps in a Pro Stock car.

“We have kind of decided to wait until they get their new cars and I kind of put it off to be like that because I do not want to hurt anybody’s stuff,” Smith said. “They (Erica and Jeg) are running for a championship and there would be nothing worse than to have something happen, and anything can happen. A water line breaks or something like that and you put it into the wall and they are out of ride for the championship. I don’t want that to be my fault. So, we are going to wait until the year is out and then do some testing.”

Outside of Pro Stock Motorcycle, the only other class Smith has competed in is Pro Mod. He has competed on a limited basis in that class off and on since 2010.

“I think it (the transition to Pro Stock) will be very easy because when I drove the Pro Mod stuff I was on a clutch, I wasn’t doing the automatic stuff like what the Pro Mods do now, and I would be in the same situation, the only difference is that I just have to shift gears,” Smith said. “That’s going to be the only difference of driving a Pro Stock car over the Pro Mod. In the Pro Mod car, I was letting the clutch out and I was good on the tree there and with the Pro Stock car you have to do the shifting, forward back, forward back, and I shift our motorcycle by the shift light so I think I will do just fine with it and that’s what Richard says that I will be a natural at it.”

Smith is looking forward to show what he can do in Pro Stock,

“If you get to go drive for a good team, it is way more exciting and I know Elite is one of the top teams out there, so I think it will be really fun,” he said.

As for his Pro Stock Motorcycle in 2019, Smith also has some things brewing.

“I’m really working on a major sponsor right now,” Smith said. “We are talking to a couple of people and we are really pushing hard to get a good major deal back like we had the last three years.”

Although Smith is upbeat about what 2019 holds for him, his focus right now is capturing his third Pro Stock Motorcycle world title. He just won the last race in St. Louis and has the points lead with four races to go. Smith has a 21-point lead over second place LE Tonglet.

The next race on the schedule is the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

“That’s the other reason I don’t want to do anything in a car right now, I just want to focus on winning races and running for this championship,” Smith said. “If for some reason we lost the championship because of a bad habit I picked up in the car or something like that, I just don’t want that be a distraction. We have a very good shot at winning this championship. I think we have the quickest and fastest bike out there when our motor is healthy and all that stuff, and I do my job riding. I think we will be hard to beat. We have worked really hard this week getting our motors fresh and everything is back healthy, and I think the next two races will show who is going to run for this championship.”

Smith has never won at Texas Motorplex in his decorated career.

“I won there with Michael Ray (in 2012) when he was riding my second bike, but I’ve never won there myself,” Smith said. “I’ve won at Charlotte (N.C.), Vegas and Pomona (Calif.), so in my opinion, I think this is a pivotal race for us. If we go there and we run well, and we can go to the semis or finals and still be in this hunt, I think we are going to be pretty good.”

Following the race in Ennis, the NHRA season concludes with events at Charlotte (Oct. 12-14), Las Vegas (Oct. 25-28) and Pomona (Nov. 8-11).