Leah Pritchett Lays Down A Perfect Pass To Qualify Number One At Pomona

It’s been an up and down season for our very own Leah Pritchett and her Don Schumacher Team, but the always-upbeat Pritchett rolled into Pomona, California hoping to finish the season on a high note to build momentum toward the 2019 season. After laying down a stellar run on Friday to take the provisional poll at 3.64 seconds, she came back on Saturday to prove a point, and did just that.

Lined up alongside Steve Torrence, who clinched the 2018 world championship last week in Las Vegas, Pritchett’s Todd Okuhara- and Joe Barlam-tuned Mopar dragster lit up the night sky with header flames towering high above her car’s 11,000 horsepower engine.

A scant 0.815 seconds later, the front wheels of her dragster clipped the 60’ beams, setting the stage for more stellar numbers to follow. The black and red Mopar Missile reached the 330’ clocks in 2.070 seconds, and just 0.842 seconds later, Pritchett blasted through the 1/8th mile mark. Her 2.912 eighth mile elapsed time is among the quickest ever to the 660’ mark, but she wasn’t done there.

In less than 8 tenths of a second, Pritchett covered the final 340 feet while gaining another thirty four miles per hour. By the time she hit the chutes on her hotrod, the scoreboards had lit up, as had the crowd in the stands: 3.631 at 332.84 MPH. Those numbers secured the #1 spot for Pritchett and tied the second quickest elapsed time in the sport’s history. Leah was already the quickest and fastest female driver on the planet, but now has an even tighter hold on that title.

Only Clay Millican, who also flies the Speed Society banner, has been quicker than Pritchett, meaning that Speed Society drivers currently occupy the top two spots in the record books, and both drivers finished in the Top 5 in points this season. That’s not a bad way to cap the 2018 season!

 

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