Dragster Diary: Meet Leah Pritchett

Hi, my name is Leah Pritchett and I am an NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Top Fuel Dragster driver in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Now, I know that sounds a little weird for a 26-year-old female from Redlands, Calif., to be driving a 10,000-horsepower, nitro-burning dragster. But, to be honest, driving a fuel-burning dragster is all I ever wanted to do.

I started drag racing at age eight in the Junior Dragsters. My dad, Ron, was a hot-rodder in Southern California and set land speed records on the West Coast, so it was just another family function to go to racing events for me as a kid.

That first year I raced, I was able to travel to Las Vegas to drive my Junior Dragster at the old Las Vegas drag strip which was next to the Bull Ring oval (south of big oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway).

I have won in nearly every class I have raced at Las Vegas, dating back to Junior Dragster. And I won the NHRA national event in the ProMod division at Las Vegas in 2011. Winning the ‘Wally’ (NHRA national trophy named for series founder Wally Parks) was very thrilling. It’s one of my biggest wins to date.

I won in a Nostalgia Funny Car in Las Vegas, too, and that win carried me to the world championship in that class. Las Vegas has been a very good track for me and I hope I have been good to it too. It doesn’t hurt that my NHRA car number is 777 — “Lucky Sevens” for Vegas!! I hope that brings good luck to me this weekend. The Strip has been my secondary home track after Pomona (Calif.), and I have raced at LVMS for some 18 years now.

This weekend I add another chapter of Las Vegas racing experience. The NHRA Toyota Nationals is my first race at Las Vegas in the highest class, the Top Fuel dragsters. I’ll drive the Gumout dragster for the Dote Racing team based in Ohio. I live just outside of Indianapolis now.

A fire-breathing dragster runs the 1,000-foot track at Las Vegas in under 3.80 seconds and at speeds over 325 miles per hour. If you have never seen a Top Fuel dragster or a Fuel Funny Car in person, it is an incredible experience. It’s loud and the ground shakes like an earthquake. It’s worth your time to make it out to the Strip this weekend to see these race cars in action. You can get into the pit area and see the mechanics work on the race cars, too.

Thursday at the track is preparation day for our team and myself. I actually did a magazine photo shoot Thursday afternoon for a March issue of Kandy Magazine, a women’s sports and lifestyle publication. In addition, the NHRA drivers participated in an autograph session for the race fans at Fremont St. in downtown Las Vegas in the evening. It’s always great to meet the fans and sign autographs.

Friday is our first day of on-track action as we’ll make two qualifying attempts at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Driving a Top Fuel dragster in Las Vegas competition for the first time marks another stage of my racing career, and I’m excited about it!

I’ll fill you on my Friday experiences on the track tomorrow.

Leah Pritchett is a National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel Dragster driver. She will be blogging this weekend about her experiences in the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Follow her on twitter @LeahPritchettTF.