By Mike Haag

BAYTOWN, Texas – Leah Pritchett has quickly become a dominant force on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel circuit this season.

Leah Pritchett (Photo by Marc Gewertz/NHRA)

Pritchett, who drives the Papa John’s dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, rolled to her third victory of the season after she outraced Texan Steve Torrence in the final round on Sunday at the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway.

The 28-year-old Southern Californian, who lives near Indianapolis, had a winning run clocked at 3.781 seconds, 321.96 mph.  Torrence crossed the stripe in 3.787 at 322.11 mph in his Capco Contractors dragster.  The margin of victory was only seven feet.

“The meter is as much pegged as it was in Pomona and then in Phoenix,” Pritchett said.  “I fell off in Gainsville and didn’t make it to the final in Vegas. We said that going into the final that this was our bounce back race.”

Leah Pritchett (Photo by Marc Gewertz/NHRA)

Torrence, who resides in Kilgore, has eight career Top Fuel victories, but his bid to win his first race in his home state fell short on Sunday.

“This is getting’ old,” Torrence said.  “I know races like that are fun for the fans, but they’re hard on us drivers.  To get so close to a win here the last two years, to have my guys give me such a good race car and then to come up that short, all you can do is suck it up and get back to work.  If there’s a good thing, it’s that we’ll be back racing again in five days and maybe put this one behind us.”

Pritchett’s victory was the fourth of her career.  She has won three of the five events this season and she heads into the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte next weekend with a 54-point lead over her DSR teammate Antron Brown.

“I know that we want to keep it interesting and everything but our goal was to leave with the points lead and that was not easy at all,” Pritchett said.  “Antron gave us a total run for his money and obviously so did Steve but I’ve never really been in a position to be counting points so early in the season but I am definitely enjoying that.”

Leah Pritchett (Photo courtesy of Don Schumacher Racing)

Pritchett becomes the 21st different driver in NHRA history to win at Royal Purple Raceway and she is the first female driver to win in the Top Fuel class at this track.

“This track and this facility is a phe nomenal place,” Pritchett said.  “This race surface is a little bit different, mainly specifically for my chassis.  It’s a little bit lumpy down track.  I hold on to the steering wheel a little bit tight and I make even quicker movements.  It’s a different animal to drive here on this track.”

Pritchett, who qualified sixth, advanced to the final round by defeating Scott Palmer, Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown, which set up the matchup against Torrence.

“There is a select number of drivers that we really, really get up for,” Pritchett said. “I know Steve really well and he is a great family friend.  I knew that he was going to be after me.  I told myself that I have nothing to lose.”

Torrence, who qualified fourth, advanced to the finals by defeating Shawn Reed, Troy Coughlin Jr. and No. 1 qualifier Clay Millican before seeing Pritchett in the final round.

“As a driver you are always thinking about not red lighting and you’re not supposed to be thinking about that at all,” Pritchett said.  “You have nothing to lose so get after it.  You don’t need to be shallow in the final round.  We were both right there with the tree and he was right next to me going down the track.”

After Pritchett crossed the finish line she said that she was unsure that she had actually won the race.

“To be honest I did not see the win light,” Pritchett said.  “I crossed the finish line and didn’t see it.  The only way of knowing that we won was to look at the top-end camera.  It wasn’t until I made the turn that I could see that the camera was following me and how close it was.”

Pritchett, who is led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam, now has a 15-2 record in eliminations.

“DSR has really shown that we have the proper ingredients for success and a smart part of that,” Pritchett said.  “I am very privileged and blessed to be standing here today.”

After five events, the Don Schumacher dragsters, consisting of Pritchett, Brown and Tony Schumacher, have won all of the races so far this season.

“The DSR cars?” Torrence said.  “They’ve won everything (all five races to date) and somebody has to stop ‘em.  It might as well be us.  The big thing is we’ve got our hot rod back where it needs to be.  We struggled on Friday but (crew chief) Richard Hogan, (car chief) Bobby Lagana and A.J. (consultant Alan Johnson) got everything figured out and the last two days it was a bad hombre.

“You have to remind yourself that it’s a long season but, as a racer, you want to kick their butts every week.  We’re going on to Charlotte with a ‘kick their butts’ attitude and see if we can hurt some feelings.”