Nitrous oxide as a power adder has existed in NHRA Pro Mod since the very beginning when “Tricky” Rickie Smith won the inaugural race in 2001 and Shannon “The Iceman” Jenkins won the first series championship in 2002, but these days, it’s uncommon to find a single nitrous-assisted entry on the qualifying order. Smith, whose Musi-powered J&A Service/Parkway Ford Mustang is one of the two nitrous cars on the entry list for this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, says it doesn’t have to be this way.
“They’ve got the nitrous cars so far behind over there [in NHRA Pro Mod]. That’s the reason I haven’t run any of them much lately,” Smith said. “I’m going to go to Charlotte and Rockingham at the end of the year because of my Parkway Ford deal, and I’d like to run more of them, but there’s no use going to a race when you know you can’t win. I’ve never done that from probably the second or third year of my career. At least when I roll in the gate, I think I’ve got a good chance to win. Even when you run good enough to win, it don’t mean you’re going to win, but you at least like to go into it with a chance.”
Smith has appealed to NHRA rule makers on numerous occasions in an effort to get the nitrous combination in line with the boosted combos that currently dominate NHRA Pro Mod. He’s frequently labeled as a “crybaby” online and in the pits, but as Smith asserts, he believes his protests are warranted.
“Like I’ve told [NHRA] all winter, I’m not asking you to slow those blower cars down anymore. That’s what we used to do back in the day. Oh, they’d get mad when NHRA put weight on them,” Smith said. “And this is the reason I feel like I have the right to complain and bitch about the rules: they’ve done it to me three out of the four years – put 50 pounds on me and slowed me down when I was winning. Right now, they don’t do anything for the nitrous car, but yet they won’t let me pick back up to run like I should run.”
Smith opened the 2025 NHRA Pro Mod season with back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Gatornationals and the Arizona Nationals. He qualified No. 12 and 15, respectively, at those first two races and No. 13 in his final appearance of the season at the Carolina Nationals in September. Through the rest of the season, he qualified no worse than sixth, ending up No. 2 twice. When he sat No. 2 behind J.R. Gray at the Four-Wides, he was nine thousandths off Gray’s 5.680. Two races later, at the Thunder Valley Nationals, Smith’s 5.825 put him No. 2 behind Mason Wright’s 5.803.
“This is supposed to be a parity class, so you adjust rules for each combination,” Smith said. “Well, they keep adjusting the rules so the blower cars and the centrifugal cars can all stay within two hundredths of each other, but they will not do nothing to the nitrous car where I can run within two hundredths of the No. 1 qualifier. Like I’ve explained to them, I’m not asking to go over there and be No. 1 qualifier. I’m just asking to be somewhere within a hundredth and a half to two hundredths of the No. 1 qualifier. Forget me, forget my name – it should be where a nitrous car could go over there and run within one and a half to two hundredths of the No. 1 qualifier if you’re going to do the parity right and they won’t do it.”
Understandably so, Smith believes his statements should carry some weight. He’s flown the flag for the nitrous combo since the beginning, even when other nitrous racers fell away or switched power adders. When there was a second nitrous car, it was often one campaigned by another driver out of Smith’s camp. He’s even dabbled with other power adders himself, but he remains a firm believer in nitrous and wants to see it remain a competitive option in NHRA Pro Mod.
“People think I bitch all the time about rules, but here’s the problem and the public needs to understand it: I am the only one that can bitch about a nitrous car over there because I am the only one that supported them with a nitrous car,” Smith said. “I am the only one that can cry for a nitrous car. I don’t know what else to say when it comes to that part of the deal. I’m the only guy that can cry. So yeah, I’m the one that stands out like a sore thumb, but that’s what the public needs to realize. I’m the only guy that can cry about it because I’m the only guy that supported the NHRA. I won the very first Pro Modified race that NHRA ever had. To this day, I’m still the winningest driver there, but yet they won’t even let me come and be competitive no more.”
Smith is obviously well aware of his reputation for voicing his opinion on the matter. It’s not something he’s especially proud of, but he’s also not likely to back down anytime soon.
“I ain’t no damn crybaby,” Smith said. “I’ve raced when it’s straight up. I’ve won championships. I’ve done away with classes in IHRA because I dominated them. I worked for what I got, but when you’ve got all this parity stuff and different combinations, I mean, they’ve got three combinations over there now that can outrun me. Used to be it was just me and the [roots] blower car. Now they’ve got centrifugal cars and screw cars and roots cars. They just wrote me out of the deal – and not just me. They just wrote a nitrous car out of the program. And it’s wrong because the nitrous car is what started Pro Modified in IHRA, period. Not a blower car, not nothing. Pro Modified was originated from a nitrous car.”
Despite his frustration with the current state of the class, Smith will carry on. He’s threatened to retire on multiple occasions, but the sport keeps pulling him back, year after year. Coupled with support from backers like Jim and Annie Whiteley’s J&A Service and Junie Michaels’ Parkway Ford, it’s why Smith is pulling into zMAX Dragway this weekend to chase a diamond edition 75th anniversary NHRA Wally at the Four-Wide Nationals.
“I’ve been doing this for 52 years this year. I’ve been racing going on 43 years for a living,” Smith said. “Before that, I was raised on driving bulldozers with my grandfather in construction. I got into racing in 1973. I got out of high school and started winning championships in 1976 in IHRA. It’s addictive. I done got too old – I don’t want to go back to driving a bulldozer. I’ve got myself in a position I could retire and just watch what I spend. But the problem is I just love what I do.”
This story was originally published on April 22, 2026. 
The post Last of The Mohicans: ‘Tricky’ Rickie Smith on Nitrous Oxide in NHRA Pro Mod first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
