Even though it’s just a two-race deal for now, Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett will have one of the biggest and most successful drag racing organizations behind her.
Pritchett will compete for Don Schumacher Racing in next weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Georgia, where she finished runner-up in last year’s race. She’ll also compete in the prestigious U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend for DSR, as well.
It’s been a wild last few months for Pritchett. She won her first Top Fuel event at Phoenix in late February.
Then, early last month, she and the rest of the NHRA world were shocked when team owner Bob Vandergriff unexpectedly retired and immediately closed up his two-car Top Fuel team of Pritchett and Dave Connolly four races into the 24-race NHRA national event season.
Pritchett was able to race for Lagana Racing at Charlotte and then was able to convince Vandergriff to bring out her Quaker State-sponsored dragster for an encore performance last weekend at Houston.
Now, she’ll go to one of the season’s most popular races and will call 8-time Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher, 2012 and 2015 Top Fuel champ Antron Brown and 2013 Top Fuel champ Shawn Langdon her teammates.
She’ll be in good hands at DSR with her former crew chiefs at BVR, Mike Gruger and Joe Barlam, bringing familiarity and consistency to keep Pritchett on the racetrack.
Lots to do before Atlanta, but excited to be in a canopy dragster for @shoeracing for the first time ever, come Q1. https://t.co/jMCXGBivDO
The deal between DSR and Pruett was struck last Monday, just before she headed to Houston. It makes sense for both sides. Pritchett lives in suburban Indianapolis and is less than 10 miles from DSR’s headquarters in Brownsburg, Indiana.
She competed at Houston for Quaker State Oil, which was her primary sponsor while with BVR. Plus, Quaker State’s headquarters is in Houston, so it was a natural fit.
It’s unknown whether Quaker State will return to sponsor Pritchett for more races, but don’t be surprised if it does. She’s one of the bright young faces on the NHRA scene, is a fan favorite, is very media and marketing savvy and has paid her dues.
While with BVR, and especially after her win at Phoenix, Pritchett appeared ready to become the sport’s next new star. With a team like DSR behind her, she can certainly continue on that route, indeed.
Admittedly, Pritchett still wonders what she could have accomplished if Vandergriff hadn’t folded up shop so abruptly.
“I will always wonder what could have been,” she told Bobby Bennett of CompetitionPlus.com. “Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
“In life, there are so many experiences to reflect upon. Life is bigger than a race car. It’s bigger than a win. I do feel we had a team capable of challenging for a championship. What could have been has now been replaced with what could come forth.”
Who knows, Pritchett, who grew up about 50 miles from Hollywood in Redlands, California, may wind up with a script that potentially could be even better than her short stay with BVR if team owner Don Schumacher finds enough sponsorship to keep Pritchett on and makes her a regular full-time member of the team.
Even with the struggles that came out of the BVR collapse, she’s still eight in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel class. She’s 173 points behind series leader Brittany Force, is 154 points behind Brown, four points behind Schumacher and is 72 points ahead of Langdon.
Given that performance, she seems to be a perfect fit for DSR long-term. Only time will tell if that takes place.
Another crash while leading at Seattle dropped Chase Sexton from the top of the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings while solid performances by Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac allow them to climb the chart and threaten to make this a two-rider battle with six rounds remaining in the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season.Cooper Webb wags his finger at Chase Sexton after winning his heat in Seattle. – Feld Motor Sports
During the race, Webb knew he had ground to make up. Riding behind both Tomac and Sexton early in the Main, he was as far back as fifth on Lap 7 at Seattle. That position would cost him the red plate and give away the advantage he began to build with his first win of the season in Tampa. Sexton is often at his best as he battles from the back and he methodically worked his way through the field. At the end of the feature, he was nearly five seconds off Tomac’s pace, but during the past 45 days, he holds the advantage. A resurgent Tomac that could erase that advantage quickly though.
Tomac struggled in Indianapolis with a neck strain. That contributed to his worst performance of 2023 and his second result outside the top five. He finished third in Detroit two weeks ago, but it was a distant third after finishing off the podium in his heat during that round. In Seattle, it appeared the same thing might happen when Tomac finished third in the prelim behind his two principal competitors Webb and Sexton. The Main was a different story.
Tomac dropped to fourth in the opening laps behind both of his rivals early in the race, but he got around Webb on Lap 2 and kept charging. When Sexton fell to the ground on Lap 11 and dropped to fourth, Tomac was in position to strike. He scored his sixth win of the season to tie James Stewart for second on the all-time wins list. He now shares the red plate with Webb as the rounds wind down.
Sexton has the speed, but he lacks the seasoning of Webb and Tomac. He’s pressing hard on every lap and that has bitten him several times this year. Sexton’s mistakes are costing him with a 10th-place finish at Indy, the loss of seven points at Detroit and a fifth in Seattle as the riders he’s battling stood on the podium. No one seriously questions Sexton’s talent or speed, but ultimately the results are what counts.
Justin Barcia is hitting his stride. He advances two positions this week after scoring his fourth consecutive top-five and second podium in that span of races. Barcia finished between sixth and eighth in five consecutive rounds from Anaheim 2 through Arlington, but he’s mostly avoided controversy and that puts him fourth in this week’s SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Seattle.
Jason Anderson had a solid performance in Seattle, but with a fifth-place finish in his heat and fourth in the Main he just keeps losing a little ground to the leaders. The biggest impact to his standing in the NBC Power Rankings is a 10th-place finish in Indianapolis that will take a while to age out of the 45-day formula. He’s tied for fourth in the championship points with Ken Roczen, who sits sixth in the rankings below. It’s important to be the rider “best in class” with Webb, Tomac and Sexton stealing the show.
The 250 West riders were back in action in Seattle and that gave Jett Lawrence the opportunity to break out of a tie with his brother Hunter Lawrence on the all-time wins list. It also provided Jett the opportunity to take back the top spot in the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Seattle.
Jett Lawrence regained the top spot overall in the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings with a near-perfect race in Seattle. – Feld Motor Sports
Jett has stood on the podium in every race this year with the exception of the second Triple Crown race at Anaheim 2 and that level of perfection gives him bragging rights. Rest assured that while the two brothers have a bond that is unapparelled in motorsports, there is no one they would rather beat. Neither has been particularly successful in Triple Crown rounds this year, however, and Jett could lose his advantage in two weeks in Glendale, Arizona under that format.
A rivalry is developing between Lawrence and Cameron McAdoo. Tired of losing to the affable Australian, McAdoo pushed the envelope last week in Seattle. He crowded Lawrence in the whoops during their heat race and sent both to the ground. That frustration could bubble over with four rounds remaining. One thing is certain, when these two riders are in proximity on the track, the cameras will be aimed in their direction.
A little means a lot this season. Finishing second to Lawrence in four of five rounds, RJ Hampshire would be losing ground to the leader no matter what, but an 11th-place finish in the overall at Anaheim 2 places him eighth on the chart below behind two of the 250 West riders and five 250 East competitors.
In the mains, Levi Kitchen has been all over the board with a win, one more top-five, two results on the high side of the single digits and a crash-induced 21st at San Diego. He’s really shown his speed in the heats, however, with a perfect record of top-fives and a win.
Mitchell Oldenburg makes the top five list among West riders with a perfect record of top-10 finishes. He’s heading in the wrong direction, however, falling from ninth overall to 11th after finishing outside the top five in both his heat and the Main last week.
250 Rankings
This
Week
Rider
Power
Avg.
Last
Week
Diff,
1.
Jett Lawrence – W
90.75
2
1
2.
Hunter Lawrence – E
90.43
1
-1
3.
Nate Thrasher – E
84.00
3
0
4.
Cameron McAdoo – W
80.50
4
0
5.
Haiden Deegan – E
78.21
5
0
6.
Jeremy Martin – E
78.00
6
0
7.
Jordon Smith – E
76.77
7
0
8.
RJ Hampshire – W
76.75
10
2
9.
Levi Kitchen – W
76.67
8
-1
10.
Max Anstie – E
74.43
11
1
11.
Mitchell Oldenburg – W
73.67
9
-2
12.
Max Vohland – W
72.55
13
1
13.
Tom Vialle – E
72.07
12
-1
14.
Pierce Brown – W
68.64
19
5
15.
Enzo Lopes – W
67.83
17
2
16.
Chris Blose – E
67.43
15
-1
17.
Chance Hymas – E
67.10
16
-1
18.
Michael Mosiman – E
65.80
18
0
19.
Stilez Robertson – W
64.45
14
-5
20.
Phil Nicoletti – W
59.25
20
0
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).
