{"id":103428,"date":"2026-04-22T20:14:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/last-of-the-mohicans-tricky-rickie-smith-on-nitrous-oxide-in-nhra-pro-mod\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:14:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:14:06","slug":"last-of-the-mohicans-tricky-rickie-smith-on-nitrous-oxide-in-nhra-pro-mod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/last-of-the-mohicans-tricky-rickie-smith-on-nitrous-oxide-in-nhra-pro-mod\/","title":{"rendered":"Last of The Mohicans: \u2018Tricky\u2019 Rickie Smith on Nitrous Oxide in NHRA Pro Mod"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nitrous oxide as a power adder has existed in NHRA Pro Mod since the very beginning when \u201cTricky\u201d Rickie Smith won the inaugural race in 2001 and Shannon \u201cThe Iceman\u201d Jenkins won the first series championship in 2002, but these days, it\u2019s 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\u2019s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, says it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got the nitrous cars so far behind over there [in NHRA Pro Mod]. That\u2019s the reason I haven\u2019t run any of them much lately,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m going to go to Charlotte and Rockingham at the end of the year because of my Parkway Ford deal, and I\u2019d like to run more of them, but there\u2019s no use going to a race when you know you can\u2019t win. I\u2019ve never done that from probably the second or third year of my career. At least when I roll in the gate, I think I\u2019ve got a good chance to win. Even when you run good enough to win, it don\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to win, but you at least like to go into it with a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

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\u2019s frequently labeled as a \u201ccrybaby\u201d online and in the pits, but as Smith asserts, he believes his protests are warranted.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I\u2019ve told [NHRA] all winter, I\u2019m not asking you to slow those blower cars down anymore. That\u2019s what we used to do back in the day. Oh, they\u2019d get mad when NHRA put weight on them,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd this is the reason I feel like I have the right to complain and bitch about the rules: they\u2019ve done it to me three out of the four years \u2013 put 50 pounds on me and slowed me down when I was winning. Right now, they don\u2019t do anything for the nitrous car, but yet they won\u2019t let me pick back up to run like I should run.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 5.680. Two races later, at the Thunder Valley Nationals, Smith\u2019s 5.825 put him No. 2 behind Mason Wright\u2019s 5.803.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is supposed to be a parity class, so you adjust rules for each combination,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWell, 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\u2019ve explained to them, I\u2019m not asking to go over there and be No. 1 qualifier. I\u2019m just asking to be somewhere within a hundredth and a half to two hundredths of the No. 1 qualifier. Forget me, forget my name \u2013 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\u2019re going to do the parity right and they won\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Understandably so, Smith believes his statements should carry some weight. He\u2019s 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\u2019s camp. He\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think I bitch all the time about rules, but here\u2019s the problem and the public needs to understand it: I am the\u00a0only one<\/em>\u00a0that can bitch about a nitrous car over there because I am the only one that supported them with a nitrous car,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI am the only one that can cry for a nitrous car. I don\u2019t know what else to say when it comes to that part of the deal. I\u2019m the only guy that can cry. So yeah, I\u2019m the one that stands out like a sore thumb, but that\u2019s what the public needs to realize. I\u2019m the only guy that can cry about it because I\u2019m the only guy that supported the NHRA. I won the very first Pro Modified race that NHRA ever had. To this day, I\u2019m still the winningest driver there, but yet they won\u2019t even let me come and be competitive no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is obviously well aware of his reputation for voicing his opinion on the matter. It\u2019s not something he\u2019s especially proud of, but he\u2019s also not likely to back down anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t no damn crybaby,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019ve raced when it\u2019s straight up. I\u2019ve won championships. I\u2019ve done away with classes in IHRA because I dominated them. I worked for what I got, but when you\u2019ve got all this parity stuff and different combinations, I mean, they\u2019ve got three combinations over there now that can outrun me. Used to be it was just me and the [roots] blower car. Now they\u2019ve got centrifugal cars and screw cars and roots cars. They just wrote me out of the deal \u2013 and not just me. They just wrote a nitrous car out of the program. And it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Despite his frustration with the current state of the class, Smith will carry on. He\u2019s 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\u2019s J&A Service and Junie Michaels\u2019 Parkway Ford, it\u2019s why Smith is pulling into zMAX Dragway this weekend to chase a diamond edition 75th anniversary NHRA Wally at the Four-Wide Nationals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for 52 years this year. I\u2019ve been racing going on 43 years for a living,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBefore 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\u2019s addictive. I done got too old \u2013 I don\u2019t want to go back to driving a bulldozer. I\u2019ve got myself in a position I could retire and just watch what I spend. But the problem is I just love what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on April 22, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Last of The Mohicans: \u2018Tricky\u2019 Rickie Smith on Nitrous Oxide in NHRA Pro Mod<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nitrous oxide as a power adder has existed in NHRA Pro Mod since the very beginning when \u201cTricky\u201d Rickie Smith won the inaugural race in 2001 and Shannon \u201cThe Iceman\u201d Jenkins won the first series championship in 2002, but these days, it\u2019s uncommon to find a single nitrous-assisted entry on the qualifying order. Smith, whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}