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NHRA driver Leah Pritchett makes her formula car debut

Leah and her FF car

Last month, we wrote about rising NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett, who made it to the finals of the NHRA Southern Nationals earlier this year.

Pritchett took a detour from her usual 325-mph dragster to make her formula car debut this weekend in a 1979 Gumout Van Diemen Formula Ford entry, at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Resort Ranch and Country Club for the VARA Racing “Shootout at the Ranch” in Pahrump, Nevada.

A mechanical issue unfortunately resigned her to an early race retirement, and because her car didn’t fire initially she was forced to start from pit lane. Her original fourth row grid position went by the wayside, but she made up three places early.

“I passed three cars in the first lap, but our Formula Ford had a problem later and I couldn’t finish the race,” Pritchett said in a release. “I still wanted to run the race and gain experience. Overall, I had a great experience in working with a variety of nice people who really helped me with the transition to road racing.”

Pritchett’s next scheduled NHRA appearance in the Gumout/Dote Racing dragster will be at Las Vegas at the end of the month.

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