Posted by: Matt and Angie Smith
Well, it's PRI time again. I always enjoy this time because it’s the off-season and we don’t have to live by a schedule. Angie and I left King Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. We had to be down there by 9 the next day to test karts in Miami. We had a great drive until I got a little sleepy around the Georgia line. So I decided to let Angie drive. She was nervous. She had only driven one other time for about 20 minutes. I put her behind the wheel and I took a nap. I can say she did well. No rumble strips. HaHa.
On Wednesday Scott Speed (my sister’s fiancé) arranged for us to test karts at the Miami GP with Tony Kart from 4-10 p.m. So Ang and I headed three hours south to the track. It started to rain about 5 p.m. so I was aggravated because I had not made one single lap around the track. The guys from Tony Kart had to do some tuning on the Karts to get them top notch for us to race on Thursday. I finally got in the kart about 6 p.m. and didn’t stop until 10:30 p.m. Man, was I tired. Words can’t describe how I felt that night. I had bruises all the way down my back and my tailbone was killing me. I knew I had to suck it up because I had at least 60 laps to do the next night.
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Thursday came and I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I physically could not get out of bed. Not only was I sore but I was in pain too. From my head to my toes it hurt. Angie finally pulled me out of bed around noon and made me go to the show. I have to say that once I got up I was feeling a little better. We got to see many of our sponsors that help us throughout the year. We are so thankful for these people.
I got the call from my sister that practice started on the track in 15 minutes. I grabbed my suit and was ready to rock-n-roll. Impact! was very gracious in supplying me a suit for my karting event. As soon as I got out on the track the caution flag was out. The guy behind me didn’t see me and he hit me so hard I slammed into the wall. So I had only been in the race two minutes and was already pissed. I broke an a-arm. Johnny (my crew guy) worked diligently to fix it and get me out there for the second practice. He did a fabulous job. Second practice had good results. I was the fastest NHRA guy. I was proud of that. Race time had arrived and I was already hurting from the previous day. I just didn’t know how much I could do. They made some adjustments on the car, which made it easier to drive. It was a world of difference. I can honestly say I don’t know how I survived the race but I did. The last five laps I was ready to quit. I finished 17th in the race which was higher than any other NHRA driver. I am proud of that. Scott did an awesome job in the race and almost won. He finished on the podium. Scott, Amanda and some other Red Bull associates took us out to dinner to an astounding Italian restaurant. We had dinner and I was eager to get in the bed.
Friday was a day in bed. I got up at 3 p.m. I felt horrible. I am not in shape to race karts. I ride a fast Pro Stock Motorcycle all the time but these karting guys are tough. I really didn’t think it was going to be that hard but it was. I have a ton of respect for them.
Saturday we headed north to get home. We got our Christmas list made so we could go shopping this week. Merry Christmas to everyone and great stories are to come in the next few weeks. Hopefully I will have great news about a sponsor coming soon. The day after Christmas we are leaving for Snowshoe. That will be a funny blog to say the least because we are all going Snowboarding and none of us have ever been. Talk to ya soon.