Pritchett drives Papa John’s to another world time record at 3.640, after DSR teammate Hagan’s record topped by Hight’s 3.793

BRAINERD, MN – Leah Pritchett and Don Schumacher Racing’s Papa John’s Pizza Top Fuel dragster Powered by Pennzoil and led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam gave “Papa” John Schnatter the perfect one-year anniversary present on Friday night at Brainerd International Raceway.

One year ago at Brainerd, Schnatter attended his first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event to see Pritchett and DSR’s gold Papa John’s dragster.

The traditional gift for one year together is paper and Pritchett delivered a paper timeslip from her last run Friday that shows her run of 3.640 seconds that eclipsed the record she previously held. On her first run of the day, she bolted to the top with a 3.677 and on is the cusp of earning her team its sixth pole of the season through 17 Mello Yello events.

The last qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. (CDT) Saturday heading to Sunday’s championship eliminations.

“If I would have been delivering a pizza on that run someone would have gotten in record time,” said Pritchett, ranked third in Mello Yello points with three wins this season.

“Thanks to Todd, Joe, (team manager) Scott Okuhara and this whole Papa John’s team. And we had John here. (Team owner Don Schumacher) and Papa John have given us all the ingredients we need.”

Pritchett wasn’t the only one to set a record at Brainerd, but the other wasn’t celebrated in the DSR camp.

DSR’s Matt Hagan not only lost his NHRA world time record at Brainerd International Raceway, but he missed the opportunity to add another milestone to his resume.

In the fastest and quickest side-by-side run in NHRA Mello Yello history, Robert Hight of John Force Racing knocked Hagan off the provisional pole with the first Funny Car run to crack into the 3.7-second range. Hight, who has won two of the past three NHRA events, completed his run in 3.793 seconds at 338.50 mph to better Hagan’s previous record of 3.802.

But Hagan and the Pennzoil/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T weren’t far behind, and tied the fourth quickest run ever with a time of 3.807 at 336.57.

Hagan was the first to crack the 4-second barrier in 2011 and first to reach 3.8 in 2015.