Pritchett Surges to NHRA Route 66 Nationals Finals

First Round Misfortune Plagues Schumacher and Brown in Chicago

There was a stated mission for the U.S. Army trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett this weekend in the hometown of their iconic team owner Don Schumacher. It was to end the 20th annual JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois in the winner’s circle. Pritchett nearly made the mission complete Sunday, but she wasn’t able to defeat Clay Millican in her first Chicago final.

“The Sarge” and Brown, winners of five of the previous six Chicago Top Fuel finals, were knocked out in the first round as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series returned to the Windy City for the 20th consecutive season.

Schumacher qualified the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) third and faced Billy Torrence in the first round. The five-time Chicago winner was looking to score his first win since the 2017 Gatornationals, but he lost traction midway through his run and ultimately posted a lap of 4.718 seconds at 162.43 mph. Torrence made a clean lap of 3.784 seconds at 330.15 mph, his best pass of the weekend, to end Schumacher’s weekend.

“We had a really good U.S. Army car here this weekend and weren’t able to take advantage of it,” Schumacher said. “Some might call it ‘snake-bit’, but we know we have to find ways to overcome all circumstances in order to go rounds and ultimately win a race. It was great to be back home and see a lot of family, friends and great fans of NHRA. The frustrating part is that we were able to make some progress with the U.S. Army car the last couple of days and we were hoping to make four good runs today. We’ll get right back after it next week in Richmond. I do want to say thanks to Mark Warnick. He is leaving us after being with DSR for 16 years. He won a championship with the Army team in 2014 and was a huge part of our success the past five seasons.”

Brown, the three-time Route 66 Raceway Top Fuel winner, lined up opposite of his U.S. Army and DSR teammate Pritchett in round one for the second consecutive event. Brown had the starting line advantage aboard his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR but smoked the tires early in run. He pedaled it in an attempt to recover but was only able to put up a lap of 5.402 seconds at 134.91 mph. Pritchett was clean from start to finish and avenged a pair of loses to Brown at Route 66 in 2016 and 2017 with her lap of 3.769 seconds at 329.67.

“This wasn’t the way we wanted to end our weekend here in Chicago, but my Matco Tools/U.S Army/Toyota team made some good progress in qualifying. It’s not showing on race day, but it will very, very soon. We were very close to making the clean pass that we needed today and it’s clear that we are making the strides that we need to make. Out of the last nine runs, we’ve gotten down the track seven times. So, we’ve got to continue taking the positives and keep working hard to move forward.”

After her opening-round victory over Brown, Pritchett drove the Papa John’s Pizza/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR into the semifinals by defeating Kyle Wurtzel with a run of 3.929 seconds 298.93 mph. In a rematch of the Atlanta final, Pritchett again bettered Blake Alexander with her pass of 3.823 seconds at 326.16 mph to reach the 10th final of her career. In the final that pitted the two most recent Top Fuel winners, Millican got the jump off the starting line and led the entire race. His lap of 3.894 seconds at 289.32 mph earned him his second consecutive Wally over Pritchett, who posted a final pass of 4.501 seconds at 192.08 mph.

“The silver lining about today is when we’re on together, we’re on together,” Pritchett said. “I think the most impressive thing was three full pulls in eliminations under conditions we didn’t have before. The car reacted to what we were telling it to do. Unfortunately, in the final round, we had issues from the start. Sometimes when you’re winning you get used to that. The more we do well, the more appreciative and in the moment I get. Going rounds today the enjoyment factor was really high.”

After nine rounds of the 24-event NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series for 2018, the top-10 drivers the Top Fuel standings are:

1. Steve Torrence (712 points)

2. Clay Millican (687 points, -25)

3. Leah Pritchett (582 points, -130)

4. Tony Schumacher (578 points, -134)

5. Doug Kalitta (570 points, -142)

6. Brittany Force (471 points, -241)

7. Terry McMillen (464 points, -248)

8. Antron Brown (456 points, -256)

9. Scott Palmer (350 points, -362)

10. Richie Crampton (329 points, -383)

Next up is the inaugural NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Richmond June 8-10. FS1’s delayed broadcast of elimination rounds Sunday, June 10, is set for 5:30 p.m. EDT.