Angie Smith Wins NHRA in Vegas
Victory Motorcycles racer Angie Smith celebrated Sunday her first-round victory at the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway like she had won the race.
But no one could blame her, for that was her first round win of the season and her first since Norwalk last July.
“I’ve been thinking for like 18 months that the win light was burned out, that it didn’t work anymore,” Smith said with a smile. “I was really, really happy at the other end of the track. I just wanted to go out there and do my job, shift on time, have a good light and whatever happened, happened, and that’s the mentality I went out there with.
“The motorcycle is performing way better now so I have way more confidence in the motorcycle than I’ve had all year, so when that win light came on, I was ecstatic. I was going nuts. You would have probably thought I was going to the finals.”
Smith scored the round win on a holeshot, pulling off an .021-second reaction time that was way ahead of Hector Arana Sr.’s .116 light. Smith’s pass of 7.052 seconds at 187.86 mph was slower than Arana’s 6.968-second pass at 192.77 mph, but Smith turned on the win light.
She was good on the Tree again in the second round, .038, but Andrew Hines won with a 6.985-second pass at 190.38 mph, while Smith trailed with a run of 7.057 seconds at 189.28 mph.
Still, you couldn’t wipe the smile off Smith’s face.
“All in all, it was good,” Smith said. “We lost second round, but we have made progress and I’m happy about that. That’s what is the most important thing. It’s never too late. I wish it was way earlier, but it’s never, never too late.”
