Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park has treated Leah Pruett well over the years, beginning with her first-ever Top Fuel victory at the 2016 NHRA Arizona Nationals. Since that time, she has gone on to win from the Phoenix pole in 2017 and finish as the runner-up in 2019. Starting from third for the second event in a row, Pruett was ready for a long day of going rounds. She successfully picked off Doug Foley in round one with a stout 3.654-second pass to set up a meeting with Billy Torrence in the quarterfinals. Against the elder Torrence, Pruett made another solid pass (3.688 E.T.) in her Mopar Dodge Top Fuel dragster, but her competitor’s starting line advantage enabled him to claim the round win.
From Leah:
“We closed out our Sunday much earlier in the afternoon than we had wanted. Phenomenal performance by the Mopar team in E1 with that 65. I’m disappointed in myself with what happened in E2. Putting that double-bulb on, that was unintentional. I got antsy, and I two-stepped it and was late on the tree. On the return of that, I can guarantee, Gainesville will be nothing but ‘heads down,’ and I’ve got two cars to run. It would be amazing to put them both in the winner’s circle, but the car and the team are doing a phenomenal job. I’m trying to perfect my weaponry – my driving perspective, and I didn’t conquer that this weekend in the second round of eliminations, but one thing is for sure, I guarantee you that I will.”
Qualified: No. 3 (3.680 E.T. at 328.06 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.654 E.T. at 331.12 MPH defeated Doug Foley 5.328 E.T. at 127.81 MPH
E2: 3.688 E.T. at 324.20 MPH defeated by Billy Torrence 3.703 E.T. at 328.78 MPH
