Fri, 24 Feb 2017, 15:01 PM Pritchett Returns to Site of First Nitro Win and Quickest Pass Ever

Courtesy of Don Schumacher Racing Photo copyright 2017 Auto Imagery, Inc. With Papa John's Pizza Dragster After Winning NHRA Opener

BROWNSBURG, Ind. --

Leah Pritchett

Leah Pritchett has been eagerly awaiting her return to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park since she left the Arizona track a year ago with her first Top Fuel title in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Now the driver of the Papa John's Pizza dragster for Don Schumacher Racing has upped the amperage of her excitement meter after winning the Mello Yello event 10 days ago at Pomona, Calif., a day after earning the No. 1 qualifying position to open the 2017 season.

And if the 28-year-old Southern California native living near Indianapolis needs more confidence racing near Phoenix she can recall when she tested at the track three weeks ago with crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam after the Papa John's team produced the quickest time ever in drag racing with a run of 3.654 seconds at 331.85 mph, which also is her top speed.

"What it means to me is all the hard work that the Papa John's team put in the off-season came to fruition," said Pritchett, who finished seventh in the Top Fuel points standings in 2016. "It means a lot, but one thing for sure that I'm focusing on this year is not getting ahead of myself, not getting too hyped up on those things."

Soon after her monumental win a year ago at Phoenix, Pritchett lost her full-time ride and sponsor when Bob Vandergriff Racing shut its doors. She drove for an independent team before joining DSR midway through the season and was part of DSR for 15 of the 24 Mello Yello races.

"Todd and Joe, they know what they're doing, they spend a lot of time creating power and it's been showing," Pritchett said. "The progression this team has made shows we are a championship-caliber team."

In addition to the blistering 3.654 run, Pritchett posted three more runs in the 3.60s during pre-season testing.

"The goal was to get the power that we created in the offseason to the track," she said. "We exceeded our expectations (during testing). For it to blast off at (3.65) on a warmer day, man I'm so stoked for (my team). That's a lot of hard work and they just put it on the track."

Pritchett's consistency continued into the Circle K NHRA Winternationals where she had a slew of 3.7 and 3.6 runs en route to the winner's circle.

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 1:30 and 4 p.m. (MT) on Friday and the final two rounds of qualifying at the same times on Saturday. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.

LEAH PRITCHETT: 
Papa John's Pizza Top Fuel Dragster 
Defending Phoenix champ, current points leader      
Best Time, Speed: 3.672 sec. (2017, Pomona 1), 329.75 mph (2016, Indy)
Last event (Feb. 9-12 at Pomona): Qualified No. 1, won in the championship round over Doug Kalitta
2016 Phoenix: Qualified No. 10, won in championship round over Brittany Force 
Career at Phoenix: Wins 1 (2016); Runner-ups 0; Poles 0  

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