NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event No. 4 of 21
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
May 14-16, 2021
LEAH PRUETT
Driver of the Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 3 (3.718 E.T. at 324.59 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 4.310 E.T. at 193.32 MPH defeated by Antron Brown 3.804 E.T. at 315.56 MPH, Krista Baldwin 3.855 E.T. at 319.52 MPH
Race Recap:
Aboard the white and blue Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster, Leah Pruett qualified third after unloading with a stout 3.718 E.T. in the opening session on Friday evening at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Her impressive performance earned a bonus point and a starting position in the top half of the field for the 44th time over the past 50 races, including the last seven consecutive events. Pruett’s third-seeded position placed her in a quad with teammate Antron Brown, Shawn Langdon, and Krista Baldwin. Pruett stood on the gas and starting having problems shortly after, causing her car to slow while her competitors were able to drive past.
From Leah:
We were definitely ready to have a very long Sunday, and it never ceases to amaze us the number of ways we can find to not have a dream day, and not win. It doesn’t matter how many accumulated years of drag racing experience you have, there will always be something new to arise. For us, it was having a clutch disc that wore at the step, and that caused a whole chain reaction of events that ultimately led to the car being shut off. We’ve spent the entire day since then deciphering the set of circumstances that caused that to occur. But, the upside of it is we’re always adapting and coming up with new ways to solve issues, and as you do that, you find new ways to become more consistent in those details. It’s early in the season, our momentum is still carrying even though the win lights may not show it. We have a couple of days to turn this around. We’ll be testing on Monday, picking away at what we found here and we’ll get ready for an incredible Houston outing with our Pennzoil and Mopar family.
Source: Don Schumacher Racing
