NHRA's Leah Pritchett Races In Joliet This Week

JOLIET, IL - Leah Pritchett, one of the biggest stars in NHRA, will be racing this week here in Joliet at the Route 66 Raceway. The 29-year-old drag racer for Don Schumacher Racing competed in all 24 events last year in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series. Her popularity in the sport is soaring. She currently has more than 29,000 followers on Twitter and climbing.

"Joliet brings back a sense of gladiators," Pritchett told Joliet Patch during a recent interview. "You're stepping into an arena. It's your time to shine. I love seeing how happy their fans are."

Route 66 NHRA Nationals rolls into Joliet on Thursday, May 31 and concludes Sunday, June 3. For more information about the racing event, admission and tickets, visit the Route 66 Raceway website here.

For Pritchett, she hopes to make this weekend at Route 66 Raceway "a table turner. We've had a very good month. It's going to continue our momentum."

Her goals are to claim a top qualifying position and if all goes well, "claim a track record on Sunday."

For people who haven't ventured out to Route 66 Raceway before, Pritchett promised it will be worth the experience. The sport's top racers will be speeding down the drag strip at speeds of more than 300 mph.

"Every ticket is a pit pass," she reminded Patch. "It's all inclusive, from watching to interacting with the drivers. It's a family event."

She also said the Route 66 Raceway is a great place to take someone on a first date or "if you're looking for something different" for entertainment.

As far as the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, "it's only coming around once," Pritchett said.

Here is some additional drag-racing bio material on Leah Pritchett, supplied to Patch by Route 66 Raceway's marketing and communications staff.

"After winning three of the first five NHRA events, Pritchett and her ‘TF4’ team as she affectionately refers to them, went on to reset track records at Atlanta and Epping before racing to a runner-up finish in Bristol and Denver. At the final event of NHRA’s ‘regular season,’ Pritchett became the quickest woman and second quickest driver in NHRA history when she ran a 3.640-second pass at Brainerd International Raceway before going on to win the race.

"By the time the 2017 season had come to a close, Pritchett had added four event titles, two runner-up finishes, six No. 1 qualifiers and seven track records to her 94-race Top Fuel resumé."

Pritchett is from Southern California and lives in the Indianapolis suburb of Avon. She got involved in the sport drag racing as a youth, capturing 37 trophies in the NHRA Jr. Dragster youth racing program between ages 8 and 16.

At 18, she built a Nostalgia Nitro Funny car with her father Ron, a former Bonneville Salt Flats record holder, and became the first woman to run in the 5-second range in a Nostalgia Funny Car. She also set the record for fastest Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car, being the first to exceed 250 mph, her racing bio notes.

Images of Leah Pritchett via Route 66 Raceway