JOHN SMITH TO RACE AT INDY LABOR DAY WEEKEND



August 31, 2010 (Williamston,SC) - John Smith will be back behind the wheel of his father's Nirto Funny Car this coming Labor Day weekend for the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals held in Indianapolis, IN. 

"My father and I are excited to be back out on the track to compete in the tough Funny Car class," said Smith. "We just hope to go out, qualify well and go some rounds on Monday." 

Although the duo hasn't competed since earlier this year at the Gatornationals, team owner and tuner Paul Smith is known for his savvy tuning capabilities to run with the best of them. 

Check out www.nhra.com for the latest results on qualifying and eliminations along with ESPN2 for race coverage.   

John takes on the 2010 NitrOlympX in Hockenheim



August 15,2010 (Williamston,SC) - John Smith is once again tuning Stig Neergaard's Top Fuel team in Hockenheim, Germany this weekend for the 2010 NitrOlypx. 

The team qualified in the number 4 position with a 4.937 elapsed time. They defeated Janne Ahonen in round one of eliminations with a 4.911 to a defeated 5.539. 

Race cancelled due to rain
 

John Smith takes off for second race on the European Championship tour

June 29, 2010 (Williamston,SC) - John Smith has headed over to Finland to tune Denmark Top Fuel pilot Stig Neergaard and team for the second of five events on the 2010 FIA European Drag Racing Championship tour.

Although the team didn't have the results they were looking for at the first event held in Santa Pod last month, they hope to turn things around in Finland and bring home a win. " We ran well in Finland last season and have some good data to work from," added John. "Santa Pod was a tough event because we had to work around the rain and cold conditions and we unfortunately smoked the tires in the first round and had a pedal fest with Anita Makela."

John feels the team has worked out some of the cliches after the first event and they are ready to put that behind them and move forward to gain some valuable points for the championship chase.

For up to date results, check out www.eurodragster.com .

John Smith prepares to take on the 2010 FIA European Drag Racing Championship

 

May 19, 2010 (Williamston,SC) - John Smith will be heading over to Santa Pod Raceway in England this coming week to tune Denmark Top Fuel pilot Stig Neergaard and team for the first of five events on the 2010 FIA European Drag Racing Championship tour.

The team has been preparing during the off season by purchasing parts to get their equipment prepared for the season opener. "We have shipped over all of the new parts and pieces for Stig to get the car set-up and ready for the season's opener in Santa Pod," said John Smith. "Now that I have the data from last season, I am confident that we will be on top of our game."

The team was runner-up at last season's event and ran some of their career best times. Smith hopes to repeat their performance with a different outcome, a trophy for winning the event.

For up to date results, check out www.eurodragster.com .

 

World's Fastest Mom Becomes a Spoiler

Concord, NC - March 28, 2010 - Mothers have a reputation for exhibiting nerves of steel in the toughest of situations, but none more so than the World's Fastest Mom, Rhonda Hartman-Smith. After a four-year absence, the NHRA Top Fuel driver returned today to final elimination competition at the inaugural NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.  

 

"I started out the weekend just being excited about being a part of this historical 4-wide event, and having the opportunity of getting back behind the wheel again," said Rhonda Hartman-Smith. "Qualifying in the eighth position and the top-half of the ladder was just icing on the cake."

  

With the new four-wide elimination format, Hartman-Smith faced Morgan Lucas, Brandon Bernstein and  No. 1 qualifier, Cory McClenathan in the first round of Sunday competition. Despite having to duck and dodge flying parts of McClenathan's shredded rear tire, Hartman-Smith held on to finish second behind McClenathan and advance into the semi-finals with a 4.630 et at 258.32 mph.

 

"When Cory's tire came apart, all these parts came flying at me, and I had to duck to avoid getting hit," said Hartman-Smith. "Luckily, I was okay, but a piece of his tire put a hole in my front wing."

 

With no spare wing on the trailer, Bernstein offered one of his spares. However, when that wing didn't fit the, Hartley Racing team went to a back-up plan and fixed the hole with a carbon fiber patch.

 

What seemed like just minutes later, Hartman-Smith lined up along Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta, and, once again, Bernstein for the semi-final round. Despite offering her best light of the weekend with a .093 reaction time, Hartman-Smith fell to the dragsters of McClenathan and Kalitta.

 

"We had such an incredible weekend, and everything went so smoothly thanks to all the Hartley Racing guys," said Hartman-Smith. "Unfortunately, after a strong launch of the starting line in the semi's, we began to lose fuel pressure and didn't have what we needed to finish in the top two."

 

"I am a little disappointed we didn't make the finals, but this weekend really turned out to be much more than I ever expected after four years off. Not only did we qualify in the top half of the field, we made it to the semi-finals and had the opportunity to show that we are capable of competing with the full-time teams right out of the gate."

 

Hartman-Smith returned to racing this weekend with the support of Hartley Racing and Hartman Motorsports. Additional sponsorship support was provided by Nitre Strike, Southern Blue Promotions, Competition Products, General Machine of Anderson, Hartman Enterprises and Pro Data.

 

World's Fastest Mom Gets Even Faster

 

Concord, NC - 3/27/10 - Climbing back behind the wheel of an NHRA Top Fuel car after taking four years off is nerve-racking enough. However, attempting to return to competition at the inaugural NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway is enough to make even the most seasoned competitor a little wary.

 

"We were really excited about the prospect of being a part of this historical 4-wide event," said Rhonda Hartman-Smith. "We have been trying to put something together with Hartley Racing since Pomona, so when this opportunity came along, it just all came together."

 

Although Hartman-Smith's first run of 3.982 et at 307.02 mph put her solidly in the field, merely making the race has never been enough for this female competitor. So, without skipping a beat Hartman-Smith jumped right back in for fourth round and held her own with the big boys and season-regular competitors. So much so, Hartman Smith leaped into the top half of the field with her fourth round qualifying effort of 3.888 et at 313.15 mph placing her in the eighth qualifying position.

 

"It felt great getting back into the car," said Hartman-Smith. "I was a little nervous about being rusty and being in a different car, but the Hartley Racing team has been so great. Every round has just been as smooth as can be."

"As I was sitting in the car right before fourth round, John (Hartman-Smith's husband), came over and leaned into the cockpit and told me, "You are locked in so they're going for it with the tune-up. Just hang on! It's all up to you now!," Hartman-Smith said.

 

Hartman-Smith will face #9 qualifier Morgan Lucas, driver of the Geico-backed dragster Sunday morning in the first round of Final Eliminations. However, due to the new 4-wide competition brackets, Hartman-Smith will also face #1 qualifier, Cory McClenathan and his Fram dragster, along with #16 qualifier Brandon Bernstein in his Copart machine. The top two finishers of the round will advance to the semi-finals.

 

Hartman-Smith returned to racing this weekend with the support of Hartley Racing and Hartman Motorsports. Additional sponsorship support was provided by Nitro Strike, Southern Blue Promotions, Competition Products, General Machine of Anderson, Hartman Enterprises and Pro Data.

3.24.10

HARTMAN-SMITH TO COMPETE IN TOP FUEL FOR THE 
INAUGURAL NHRA FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS

Anderson, SC (3/24/2010)- Rhonda Hartman-Smith will, once again, step behind the wheel of a Top Fuel Dragster this coming weekend, March 25-28, at zMAX Dragway for the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Hartman Motorsports, teamed up with Hartley Racing, is excited about being a part of the first ever Four-Wide National event.

"We have been working on different sponsorship opportunities to get us back out on the track this season and with this race being so close to home it seemed like the perfect opportunity to entertain some of them and showcase our abilities, " said Hartman-Smith.  "The Hartley's are a great family-oriented team so it was a perfect fit for us to combine our efforts.   We are working towards having a multi-car team in future years and we would like to see Joe and Allen being a part of that."

Hartman Motorsports is working closely with a local South Carolina company, NitroStrike™ (www.NitroStrike.com), nitrogen foam fire suppression systems, in several areas during their start-up phase.  "We have an agreement in place to use our race team as a marketing tool in 2010 to coincide with their national distribution," explained Hartman-Smith.   

Hartman-Smith's last appearance in NHRA came in 2006 when she returned for just two events, Bristol and Atlanta.  Her last full season on the NHRA circuit was in 2004, ending a streak of four straight years finishing in the NHRA top ten in points. After taking some time off to expand her family with her son, Dylan, she?s now ready to return to full-time action. During her official break, she was able to run a few IHRA events and match-races in both Top Fuel and Nostalgia Funny Car.  Her most recent outing was last October at Rockingham Dragway for the IHRA World Finals driving one of three Mitch King entries.

"I'm really excited to be back in the seat at an NHRA event, especially one as exciting as this historical weekend with four-wide racing," said Hartman-Smith.

The Hartley Racing/Hartman Motorsports entry will race this weekend with additional support from Hartman Enterprises, ProData, General Machine of Anderson, and Southern Blue Promotions.



3.15.10

SMITH QUALIFIES FOR HIS SECOND FUNNY CAR EVENT; OUT IN ROUND ONE

Anderson,SC (March 15, 2010) - John Smith qualified for his second Funny Car event this past weekend at the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL placing the Paul Smith Racing Funny Car into the number 16th spot with a 4.23 e.t. 

Qualifying was delayed Friday due to rain, so the team opted out of the first and only qualifying run of the day. With their first run out of the box Saturday morning, John went straight down the groove to run a 4.23 e.t. @ 299 mph, his fastest mph to date in the Funny Car category. "It was a great run for being our first event of the season and right out of the trailer," said Smith. "The team did a great job preparing the car and I am very grateful to my dad for giving me the opportunity to drive it again." 

With one last qualifying run to make, the team tuned the car up to hopefully run in the teens, however the run was a little too agressive and John smoked the tires at 300 ft. 

John faced #1 qualifier Matt Hagan in the first round. Hagan pulled away from John quickly recording a 4.06 e.t., the best elapsed time of the weekend by a Funny Car,  John lost with a 4.22 e.t.

"We're happy with what we did this weekend, it would have been tough to beat a 4.06 e.t. and I know the car had about a 4.16 e.t. in it, I had shut it off at about 3.8 seconds since Matt was pulling ahead of me so much," added Smith. " We came out to qualify and run the car without hurting any parts and that's exactly what we did." 

The team had support from Rockingham Dragway, Rock Batteries, and Valvoline.



3.09.10


JOHN SMITH TO COMPETE AT THE GATORS

Anderson,SC (March 09, 2010) - John Smith will compete at the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL this coming weekend behind the wheel of his father's, Paul Smith, Nitro Funny Car marking his second NHRA national event appearance in that category. 

"I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of my dad's Funny Car," said Smith. "We are  running on a very limited budget, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to race at one of our favorite home tracks. I grew up racing in Gainesville and it's where I made my first Top Fuel debut back in 1998 driving for Hartman Motorsports."   

The last time this father and son duo competed in the Funny Car category was last season in Richmond, VA where John qualified #16 and went to the second round by defeating #1 qualifier Jack Beckman.  

The Paul Smith tuned Funny Car will be sponsored by Paul Smith's Drag Racing School, Rockingham Dragway, and Valvoline.