Rickie Smith’s name has probably spun a few yarns in the rumor mill during the 2006 season and he’s ready for the attention to move elsewhere.

Smith made a last minute decision to drive the Humphrey Motorsports Pro Stocker at VMP and that only lasted a day. Rumors suggested that the locked trailer all day Saturday was the result of a confrontation with an NHRA official. The scuttlebutt was exactly that – scuttlebutt.

“We ran our best run and we were still over .05 off the rest of the field,” Smith said. “We just didn’t see any reason to keep beating the stuff up. I told Humphrey it was fine because I could go run a Pro Modified Quick Eight and that’s what I did.”

Smith did admit there was an interaction between himself and the NHRA officials over a suspected oil leak on the car. The NHRA confirmed that Smith was approached regarding a suspected oil leak.

Smith had his front-end pulled on the top-end following a run and an official event paid a visit to the pit area and conducted a thorough inspection underneath the car. He passed on all counts.

“Well at least they’re talking about us,” Smith said with a laugh.