(5-3-10) MADISON, Illinois – Von Smith, driver of the Barwa Racing Pro Modified ’68 Camaro, captured his first victory of the season on Sunday in the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.
Smith, a six-time finalist in NHRA Pro Modified competition, defeated Dennis Radford of the nitrous oxide fraternity with a 5.933-second pass at 243.81 mph.
“We’ve been waiting on that one for a while,” said an exuberant Von Smith from the winner’s circle. “It feels good to get this monkey off our back, get back into winning form and compete for a championship for Barwa Racing, Sheikh Khalid Al Thani and Al-Anabi Racing.”
Smith’s last win in NHRA competition came in 2003 at the NHRA ACDelco Nationals in Las Vegas. Prior to this weekend’s event, Smith and the Barwa Racing team had a solid weekend at the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston when mechanical failure ended their weekend in the semifinal round of action.
“I’m hoping that this doesn’t end here in St. Louis,” said Smith, a native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. “We knew we were capable of winning, we’ve got a great team and everyone has been working hard to make this happen – it was only a matter of time.”
Prior to taking out Radford in the final, Smith worked his way through the best in the business including Rick Stivers, Danny Rowe, and Kenny Lang – utilizing a string of runs between 5.958 and 5.933 over four rounds to take the win.
“It surely wasn’t any easy one,” said Smith. “There are so many great teams out here that you have to be on top of things if you’re going to get around them. Howard [Moon, crew chief] and the guys really put everything together today – we had a bad fast race car.”
Smith concluded, “There is a lot of racing left to do this season and we’re moving in the right direction. We’ve just got to maintain our focus and do what we know how to do. Everyone out here is after the same thing – that first Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series championship – and it’d be nothing short of a dream come true to bring it home for Barwa and Al-Anabi Racing.”
The Barwa Racing Pro Modified team will return to action later this month, starting with the opening two rounds of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia on Friday, May 14, with a final session slated for Saturday afternoon and Round 1 of eliminations that evening. Final eliminations will get underway on Sunday, May 16th at 11:00 AM.
For more information on the Barwa Racing Pro Modified team and Al-Anabi Racing, log onto www.qrczone.com
