Innovative Performance Racer and PDRA 2018 Pro Extreme Motorcycle World Champion Ronnie “ProMod” Smith announced that he has switched to FuelTech for the upcoming 2019 race season.
After an extremely successful breakout season, Smith along with team manager/lead engineer William Cavallo and crew chief Shane Smith decided to make the leap to FuelTech in hopes this will take their program to the next level. Earlier in the winter, Smith hinted on Facebook a big change was coming for the upcoming season, but he managed to keep the news under wraps until now, unveiling their new partnership. Switching over to FuelTech is not the only big change Smith has made to his program for this upcoming race season. William Cavallo, whose expertise is well known in the racing community, has agreed to help Smith this season, joining the team as team manager/lead engineer.
Ronnie “ProMod” Smith first met with FuelTech at the 2018 PRI Show in Indiana, and after seeing what their product had to offer, began courting the idea of switching for the upcoming 2019 season.
“The guys at FuelTech were great and answered all of our questions,” Smith said. “They really offer a top-notch product and provide a lot of support to us racers. We are looking to take our program to the next level and we feel FuelTech is the way of the future. We believe FuelTech will give us that competitive edge we are looking for and we are excited to see what we can do this season with their package onboard. We work with a great group of vendors and couldn’t be competitive without them. I want to thank FuelTech, Eddie Kraweic, Vance and Hines, Bill Robinson, Robinson Industries, Terry, Karne and Casey Stemper from Innovative Performance Racing, William Cavallo and most importantly, my crew chief Shane Smith. Without all of them we wouldn’t be able to push the limits and run as fast as we are.
“I especially need to reiterate my thanks to Terry and Karne Stemper, and their Innovative Performance Racing shop. We would not be where we are today without them. They have an in-house race shop where all work, including machine work, is done on the bike. Their shop is first-rate and they take pride in their work. My success is largely due to their workmanship. We are very excited William offered his help this season, joining the team as my team manager/lead engineer. With FuelTech and William, I definitely think we have a chance of holding on to our World Championship in 2019, but we will see. I am definitely going up against some great racers this season.”
During Smith’s first season of running the entire PDRA series in 2018, he broke the national record for the fastest Nitrous Bike, going 3.973 and he managed to hold on to that record for the entire 2018 race season. He then went on to win the PDRA 2018 Pro Extreme Motorcycle World Championship.
This story was originally published on March 21, 2019. 
