Wily veteran Pro Mod racer Rickie Smith showed true grit while winning NHRA’s latest event offering…..

vp_fuels_color_rgb_2x1.5-5-e1445370983951Smith raced to his second victory of the 2016 season during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals.

The weekend’s Pro Mod class racing action was co-presented by Pro Line Racing and FuelTech and was the third of 10 Pro Mod events on the 2016 NHRA calendar season.

Smith, making his third straight final round appearance of 2016, powered his late model IDG Chevy Camaro to a 5.873-second pass at 248.48 mph to defeat Kevin Fiscus’ 6.072 at 243.50 in his 2012 Ford Mustang.

Rickie Smith's final round appearance was his 3rd in 3 events so far this season.

Rickie Smith’s final round appearance was his 3rd in 3 events so far this season.

Smith’s win was a pretty remarkable comeback given that he had crashed in a very bizarre final round incident just two weeks prior during the NHRA race held at Houston. His Chevy Camaro had to be rebuilt following damage after he clipped both guard walls in that incident.

Smith, who won at the season-opening Gatornationals tallied his 10th career victory.

As the No. 1 qualifier (at 5.781 secs) Smith outlasted Gerry Capano, Doug Winters and Steve Matusek en route to the final round against Fiscus.

Kevin Fiscus had his best NHRA race so far - going to the final round.

Kevin Fiscus had his best NHRA race so far – going to the final round.

Fiscus, the No. 15 qualifier had his best NHRA national event showing to date with the runner-up placing. Kevin’s turbocharged machine had beaten Troy Coughlin, Kenny Lang (the ’15 defending event champion) and former Top Fuel racer Khalid alBalooshi in the earlier rounds. That finish moved him up to seventh in the season points standings.

Khalid alBalooshi raced his very impressive new Rickie Smith tuned nitrous-injected Camaro to the semi finals

Khalid alBalooshi raced his very impressive new Rickie Smith tuned nitrous-injected Camaro to the semi finals

Next up for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series will be an appearance at the NHRA Summernationals, June 9-12, at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Atlanta event Canadian PM Photo Extra!

Ontario's Eric Latino ran his career best 5.857 secs while qualifying #6 at Atlanta.

Ontario’s Eric Latino ran his career best 5.857 secs while qualifying #6 at Atlanta.

Defending 2015 event champion Kenny Lang (from Manitoba) qualified #10 - before losing out in round #2.

Defending 2015 event champion Kenny Lang (from Manitoba) qualified #10 – but lost out in round #2.

Jim Bell's turbcharged Camaro (which is now being tuned by Brad Personette) ran a best of 6.080 secs - to just miss the field.

Jim Bell’s turbcharged Camaro (which is now being tuned by Brad Personett) ran a best of 6.080 secs – to just miss the field.

The B.C. based and built car co-owned by Ryan Hindrechson and driven by Shane Molinari was forced to withdraw from competition following a scary top end incident on Friday evening.

The new B.C. based RH Race Cars Firebird campaigned by Ryan Hinrichsen, Justin Bond and driven by Shane Molinari was forced to withdraw from competition following a scary top end close call on Friday evening **(see video link below)

** View Top End close call:  HERE

Posted with files by NHRA Communications and Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler & Steve Embling