Pritchett Raced to Victory at Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver

MORRISON, CO – Leah Pritchett put the cherry on top of a dream weekend at the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals, flying her Mopar Dodge 1320 “Angry Bee” Top Fuel dragster from the No. 1 spot to her first professional win at Bandimere Speedway.

The victory was Pritchett’s second of the year in three final rounds this season, the seventh overall of her career, and moved her to third in the point standings. The Wally trophy was also the eighth of the season for a DSR driver.

Pritchett’s Denver domination began in qualifying, where she knocked out a 3.799-second at 327.19 mph pass, the fastest ever at Bandimere Speedway, to lock down the pole, her second straight of the season and second consecutive at Bandimere. Pritchett also collected 11 out of 12 possible qualifying points.

The Mopar Dodge 1320 driver opened eliminations with a steady 3.857-second at 322.81-mph lap to outrun Terry Totten, and then unleashed the “Angry Bee” to the tune of 3.806, the quickest of the round, to send home Scott Palmer. Pritchett ran a 3.826 in the semifinals, matched by her opponent Clay Millican’s identical 3.826 E.T., but Pritchett’s sharper 0.043-second reaction time earned her the starting line advantage and the round win.

In her second consecutive final-round appearance at Denver and 11th overall of her career, Pritchett trailed briefly against Doug Kalitta but quickly put her Mopar Dodge 1320 in the lead and never looked back, laying down a HEMI-powered 3.831-second at 316.45-mph pass to Kalitta’s losing 3.852-second effort.

“This is all because I have a phenomenal team and an incredible racecar,” said Pritchett, who jumped to third in the Top Fuel standings with her performance today, 183 points behind leader Steve Torrence and just 10 points behind second-place Millican.

“We have some incredible, stiff competition but, from Friday to Saturday to today, nobody had a better racecar because, in my opinion, nobody has a better team. To do it in this fashion, it’s a couple of ways – this is the Dodge Mile-High Nationals powered by Mopar and Pennzoil, and we’re the 1320 Scat Pak R/T car and, on top of that, I was here in 1997 and got my very first Wally. I didn’t win the national championship in a Junior Dragster but my team did. And it is no different today – this team got me my first Wally here on the mountain. To me, this win is bigger than winning the U.S. Nationals. Winning on the mountain is doing something. The glory goes to God, it goes to Don Schumacher for giving me an incredible team, and everybody at Don Schumacher Racing who builds these racecars for giving me something so safe, so solid. There’s a reason I always dreamed of driving for Don Schumacher Racing and this is it.”

Qualified: No. 1 (3.799 E.T. at 327.19 MPH

The Results:E1: 3.857 E.T. at 322.81 MPH defeated Terry Totten 4.156 E.T. at 276.18 MPH
E2: 3.806 E.T. at 321.96 MPH defeated Scott Palmer 3.890 E.T. at 317.34 MPH
E3: 3.826 E.T. at 312.93 MPH defeated Clay Millican 3.826 E.T. at 320.36 MPH
E4: 3.831 E.T. at 316.45 MPH defeated Doug Kalitta 3.852 E.T. at 319.82 MPH