NHRA Brainerd Nationals
Event 12 of 20
Brainerd International Raceway
Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 20 - 22, 2021
LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
Brainerd Event Highlights:
- Two-time event champion (2017, 2019)
- 2017 No. 1 qualifier
2020 Brainerd Recap:
N/A (canceled due to COVID-19)
2019 Brainerd Recap:
Qualified fourth; Event champion (defeated Kyle Wurtzel in E1, Billy Torrence in E2, Austin Prock in E3, Mike Salinas in E4)
Last Event (Topeka):
Qualified 11th; First round exit (defeated by Steve Torrence in E1)
Career Statistics:
163 races; nine wins; 12 No. 1 Qualifiers
Noteworthy:
- Returns as the defending Top Fuel event champion, having raced to victory at the most recent NHRA Brainerd event in 2019
- Pruett is on track to officially clinch a Countdown berth this weekend
- Owns the BIR track E.T. record (3.640 seconds), achieved in 2017
From Leah:
I feel Brainerd will bring out the beast and the best in everyone. What I mean by that is, we’ve all been fighting high temps and controlling our cars on the hot surfaces for a number of recent races, where Brainerd, which may be cooler, will bring its own heat in the form of what teams can go back to as far as making and applying more power, as the cooler forecast predicts. That is something our team is known to do in the past, and what we are looking forward to most. Although our early exit in Topeka in a close drag race was not ideal, it does not take away the momentum this team has, or the validation that what we are doing is in the right direction. Our biggest driver heading into Brainerd is knowing where we have room for improvement, and I can’t wait to prove that on the track for this Mopar team.
Source: Don Schumacher Racing
