NHRA

Briston Richie Stevens Race Finals Report

Smith sinks Stevens in Round 1 BRISTOL, Tenn. (July 11) -- The last time a National Hot Rod Association race was severely delayed by rain, Pro Stock driver Richie "The Kid" Stevens patiently waited out the wet stuff and posted his first win of ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Smith sinks Stevens in Round 1

BRISTOL, Tenn. (July 11) -- The last time a National Hot Rod Association race was severely delayed by rain, Pro Stock driver Richie "The Kid" Stevens patiently waited out the wet stuff and posted his first win of the 1999 season. At this weekend's Inaugural Winston Showdown, a one-and-a-half day rain delay ended up lulling the New Orleans native into a sleepy Round 1 loss.

Facing veteran racer and local favorite "Tricky" Rickie Smith, the 20-year-old Stevens uncharacteristically lost this race at the starting line when Smith reacted to the green light in 0.423 seconds compared to Stevens' 0.445-second start. As it turned out, Stevens would have needed an exceptional starting line advantage of his own to win this race as Smith tripped the timers in 7.087 seconds at 194.38 mph to Stevens' 7.118-second lap at 194.21 mph.

"It just wasn't our day," said Stevens, as he emerged from his Valspar Refinish Pro Stock Pontiac Firebird. "We've sent a lot of guys home this year by beating them at the starting line and I guess things just evened out a little today. It's a bummer for me because I really pride myself on nailing the light and I just didn't get it done. I feel bad for Tommy (Utt, crew chief) and the boys.

"This was still a cool weekend. It was great to take part in this all-star race. I've never been invited to one before so it was very special to me. Hopefully, I'll earn my way into a bunch more of these deals and maybe next time I can take home the trophy."

Stevens won't have long to ponder his Thunder Valley loss as the NHRA's next stop, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals, begin Thursday in Denver. "I'm already thinking about that race," Stevens said. "The one race we won this year in New Jersey was sponsored by Mopar also so maybe it's a good luck sign for us. I know one thing, it's time to put this Valspar Refinish car back in the Winner's Circle."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article NA-F2000: Atlanta Preview

Next article BUSCH: Myrtle Beach Lyndon Amick Returns

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Brad Keselowski reflects on 2026 and expects "lots of soul searching" in off-season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

7 min

Brad Keselowski reflects on 2026 and expects "lots of soul searching" in off-season

What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

22 min

What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career

Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

29 min

Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 49 min

Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts