Matt Smith, Angie McBride ready to race; Broken motor douses Hartford's chances
Matt Smith and Angie McBride will carry the colors of Kenny Koretsky's Nitro Fish Wear into
Monday's U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park following Sunday's rain-shortened one round of
qualifying.
Smith drove to the top of the Pro Stock Motorcyle ladder Sunday with a stellar 6.918-second time at
192.38 mph aboard Don Schumacher Racing's Nitro Fish Suzuki while McBride, his fiancee, was 14th
overall, 7.063 at 186.54, on the Nitro Fish Suzuki.
"We are racing on Monday . . . that's all that matters," McBride said. "It was an ugly run. The
bike moved to the right when the tire spun at 330 feet. I corrected it and the most important thing
was we got in the top 16.
"We have a good bike and we are going to be ready to race."
Matt Hartford's chances of pushing into the Pro Stock starting 16 ended when the engine in the
Nitro Fish Dodge expired halfway down the quarter-mile track.
Crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia and engine builder David Nickens swapped motors Saturday night and were
surprised it had problems.
"We must've hurt the motor during qualifying," said Guarnaccia. "If we'd known we would've left it
alone. Instead, it knocked the rods out. It was very disappointing."
Hartford was upbeat. "To come to Indy and to attempt to qualify is a pretty wonderful thing," he
said. "I had dreams about racing at Indy when I was a child. I've run here before when we didn't
have a chance. We had a minor issue here and it got me."
