Joliet: Smith goes to second round

Texas Harley-Davidson
Chevy S-10 Pro Stock Truck
Don Smith - Owner/ Driver

JOLIET, Ill. (Sunday June 3) - Don Smith, driver of the Texas Harley-Davidson Chevrolet S-10, entered today's 4th Annual Lucas Oil Products NHRA Nationals holding the third position on the eliminations ladder.

In Round 1 Smith was paired against John Coughlin. When the tree came down Coughlin took a huge starting line advantage, but the awesome Jenkins horsepower under the hood of Smith's truck caught Coughlin at the top end to take the win. Smith ran a 7.460 / 180.50 mph to Coughlin's 7.534 / 178.92 mph.

Round 2 placed Smith against Victor Cagnazzi. Cagnazzi took the advantage at the starting line and held on all the way to the end of the racetrack to take the win. Cagnazzi ran a 7.477 / 179.56 mph to Smith's 7.495 / 178.95 mph.

"Overall I feel like we have had a very good weekend," said Smith. "We would have liked to have gone farther today, but we will try again in Columbus.

"On that last run I got out of the grove and then the truck started shaking real hard. The racetrack out smarted us this time, but we learn something every time we go down the track.

"Our racing program is on schedule right now. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to qualify at every race. So far we have done that. Then our goal was to go to the second round. We have done that and some.

"Coming into this race we wanted to get more seat time, and work on preparing between rounds. From that respect this race was successful for this team."

The next stop on the NHRA schedule is the 37th Annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals NHRA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio June 14-17.

-THD-