Yahoo Autos Matt Smith Wins Sixth NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship and Third in a Row
Matt Smith’s Pro Stock Motorcycle championship puts him in elite company
Greg Anderson records 101st race victory
Steve Torrence cheers for Brittany Force to win Top Fuel title
Taylor Vetter wins first trophy as her Top Alcohol Dragster slides across finish line on its side
In recording his sixth overall and third straight Pro Stock Motorcycle championship in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations of the NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., Matt Smith tied class greats Andrew Hines and the late Dave Schultz.
He called it “a dream come true. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of. When I started this journey, I watched Dave Schultz win six championships. He was a mentor of mine. To be in that league with Dave Schultz and Andrew Hines is incredible. I turned 50 Friday, but I hope I’m not done yet.”
His wife, Angie Smith, won the final round, defeating Joey Gladstone by two-thousandths of a second. It was a repeat of 2020, when Matt Smith won the title and Angie Smith won the event, when the Finals took place at Las Vegas.
She said of her husband, “This guy never gets nervous, and he was nervous.” As for herself, winning her third career trophy, she said, was “just a relief. We had done really well, but we hadn’t put the icing on the cake. I wanted so bad to win a race. But this Denso bike is set on mean.”
Anderson Wins 101st in Epic Match Against Enders
In his 49th career meeting with Erica Enders, HendrickCars.com Camaro driver Greg Anderson topped the newly crowned champion in the Pro Stock final round to earn his 101st victory. It was a happy sendoff— “a sweet memory,” Anderson called it—for retiring longtime car owner Ken Black.
It was Enders’ 13th final-round appearance of the season in her Melling/Gallagher Camaro for Elite Performance Motorsports. She said, “I’m mad at myself, dadgummit. I let my team down. But we got the world championship.”
He joined Austin Prock (Top Fuel) and Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) in the winners circle. Series championships went to Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle). Erica Enders earned her fifth Pro Stock at the previous race, two weeks ago at Las Vegas.
