It’s been a very productive week for NHRA Top Fuel dragster driver Leah Pritchett, and the 2017 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series won’t officially open until Friday at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
Consider what the 29-year-old from Redlands has accomplished in the past eight days:
It was announced by Don Schumacher Racing last week that Pritchett, who finished seventh in the 2016 points standings despite competing for four teams and missing one national event, signed a long-term sponsorship with Papa John’s Pizza. The deal is reportedly for four years.
If that wasn’t quite enough, Pritchett served notice she will be a factor in the upcoming campaign. On the last day of testing Saturday at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Pritchett recorded the unofficial quickest elapsed time in drag racing history with a run of 3.654 seconds at 331.85 mph over 1,000 feet. It also marked her first time over 330 mph.
Of course, the marks will not appear in the NHRA record book as it was a test session for the Top Fuel and Funny Car class. Pro Stock started its preseason testing Sunday and will run through Tuesday before all three pro classes open qualifying for the season-opening Winternationals.
“I have to be totally honest, we didn’t come out here to be the quickest,” said Pritchett after her stout effort. “That wasn’t the goal. The goal was to get the power that we created in the offseason to the track.
“We exceeded our expectations (Friday and Saturday). For it to blast off a .65 on a warmer day than Friday, man I’m stoked for (my team), that’s a lot of hard work and they just put it on the track.”
Pritchett has enjoyed success at the Chandler, Ariz., facility. In 2016, running for Bob Vandergriff Racing, Pritchett recorded her first NHRA victory for the team in just her second start for BVR. However, the dream sequence ended shortly thereafter as Vandergriff folded the team and set Pritchett’s wild sponsorship search in motion.
She landed with DSR toward the end of the season and was teamed with crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam. On Friday, Pritchett posted runs of 3.677 and 6.685 before a 3.654 at 331.85 effort to open the next day.
It was quite a session for the pros.
National elapsed time record holder Steve Torrence, at 3.671, posted the second-quickest time with a 3.691 on the opening day. Brittany Force pushed her John Force Racing dragster to the third-quickest with a 3.695, just slightly better than Doug Kalitta, who ran 3.697 on Saturday.
Defending champion Antron Brown recorded the fifth-quickest time of the spring training session with a 3.701 run on Thursday.
On the Funny Car side of the session, Courtney Force debuted her new Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro with a pass of 3.804 at 333.33, unofficially the quickest run in class history. She also recorded times of 3.841 and 3.847.
“It was a pretty unbelievable run,” Force said of the pass. “It’s all thanks to (my crew); I’m just the one piloting the car down to the other end. But it was really exciting hearing them come on the radio and be so excited about it.
“I feel like I had my hands full on multiple runs, but it’s really great being able to make so many great passes just in testing — the 3.84s and then the 3.80 unofficially. It’s a great feeling. I’m proud of my guys; it’s all because of them.”
Only defending class champion Ron Capps was able to stop a sweep of JFR of the top three times. Capps pushed his Dodge Charger to a 3.854 pass, just edging Courtney’s dad and 16-time world champion John Force, who recorded a 3.856. Teammate Robert Hight, who ran a 3.859 in his Auto Club Camaro, was fourth.
J.R. Todd, making the switch from Top Fuel to Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports, served noticed he may well be a factor in 2017. Driving the DHL Toyota Camry, which was vacated by Del Worsham after the 2016 campaign to drive for the family team, Todd posted a pass of 3.909 at 312.93.
Worsham’s top effort was 4.060 pass at 283.01.
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