[h=2]IHRA: At 62, legend Rickie Smith still has it[/h] Steven Cole Smith (words & image)
In 20 or 30 minutes, Rickie Smith will put on his helmet and drive his Pro Mod to an IHRA elapsed time World Record of 5.831 seconds. But right this minute, sitting on the back of the SUV towing his car to the U.S. 131 Motorplex starting line, his eyes are closed. Asleep? No, just being Rickie Smith. He has done this – what, hundreds? Thousands of times? And there's just no point getting all worked up.


In drag racing, Smith, born on Christmas day, 1953, is a certified legend. He won his first IHRA Super Modified Championship in 1976, repeating in 1977. Switching divisions, he won his first of five IHRA Pro Stock World Championships in 1982. He followed the 1982 championship with four consecutive Pro Stock Championships from 1986 through 1989.


In 1997, Smith decided he'd try a new class – IHRA Pro Modifieds, and since then, he has bounced between Pro Mods and Pro Stocks. Why Pro Mods? "I like the rules," he says, in his North Carolina drawl. "And I like the competition."


Smith's speech and movements are so deliberate that you would never suspect how fast he is at the starting line – Smith looks like the gunfighter in every Western movie ever made, the one the bad guys underestimate until he slips the revolver out of the holster.


Very few racers have been able to traverse the sanctioning body alphabet as successfully as Rickie Smith. Though his roots will always be in the IHRA, he has raced with, and won with, the ADRL, the PDRA and the NHRA, including the U.S. Nationals. His son, Matt, is also an accomplished racer.
Unfortunately, Smith's trip to the Northern Nationals did not end on a happy note. As he set that ET record, a valve in the engine failed, and he ended up with an explosion right up through the hood.
Which made the gunfighter angry. "I can fix the engine," he told IHRA announcer Bill Stephens, "but I have to pay for the new bodywork!"