- Smith’s accident happened during qualifying for the AAA Midwest Nationals at Madison Ill., near St. Louis
- She remained hospitalized, and a family representative said late Saturday that “Angie is stable and going to be okay.”
- Smith fell from her bike and barrel-rolled across the dragstrip just after completing a pass at 198.93 mph
Top-five NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Angie Smith is recovering from two broken feet and severe road rash following her qualifying accident Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway during the AAA Midwest Nationals.
According to family spokesman Sadie Glenn in a Facebook post late Saturday night, Smith remained hospitalized and would be consulting a skin-graft surgeon Sunday morning.
The 44-year-old veteran drag racer from King, N.C., was vying—along with six-time and reigning class champion Matt Smith, the No. 2-ranked rider—in the Countdown to the Championship in this weekend’s stop at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
Her accident occurred just after she had completed a 198.93-mph pass in 6.880 seconds on the quarter-mile strip.
The extent of her injuries was unknown late Saturday, Glenn indicated: “They wanted to give everyone an update. We don’t know everything but she has to stay tonight. She has two broken feet and very bad road rash. We will meet with the skin graft surgeon in the morning. They wanted to say thank you for all the messages and phone calls and we will give updates as they come. What’s important right now is Angie is stable and going to be okay.”
“It definitely gets you thinking,” Gaige Herrera, Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader and this weekend’s No. 1 qualifier, said. Smith opened the early-Saturday qualifying session opposite Cory Reed, who is beginning to compete again after his own devastating accident at Charlotte two years ago. Herrera closed it, and afterward, he said, “I was glad to hear she’s all right. That’s the main thing we were concerned about. After seeing that . . . you’re definitely a little nervous going up to the [starting] line. After that pass was over, it was kind of a relief.”
Contributing Editor
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
Read the full article here