Papa John's Pizza, Pritchett get fourth Mello Yello title of year for DSR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pritchett ties Muldowney, joins DeJoria as first women to sweep nitro; 4th win moves Papa John's Pizza dragster closer to points lead BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 20, 2016) - The Papa John's Pizza Top Fuel team and driver Leah Pritchett with crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam started the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season strong and are appear headed to finish it the same way after winning their fourth title of the year on Sunday at Brainerd International Raceway. Pritchett, who won the first two events of the season and her last at Houston in April, moved within 60 points of Top Fuel leader and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown, who she beat in a final round for the first time. She is within 29 points of second place with the regular-season finale approaching with the NHRA U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis. Her first final-round win over points leader Brown came two days after she reset her world time record with a run of 3.640 seconds to earn their category best sixth No. 1 qualifying position through 17 Mello Yello events with the Papa John's dragster Powered by Pennzoil. Her winning time in the final was 3.682 seconds, her team's fourth 3.6-second run of the weekend. "In order to be a champion someday y ou've got beat the champion," she said. "We're on our way, but we have a lot of work to continue doing. "Antron is by far the measuring stick right now, and he always has been for me." She was disappointed with her reaction times in the first two rounds on Sunday and didn't feel like her practice starting-line device was helping. "I went to him after (the second round) and said, 'I've got to hit your tree. I've got to practice.' I was off on both of my practice trees and couldn't get dialed in. We spent about 20 minutes working on it." Her four wins in a season ties legendary Shirley Muldowney for most nitro event titles in a season by a woman. And seven races remain including the six-race Countdown to the Championship that begins after Indy. "That's something to be incredibly proud of," Pritchett said. "She was an incredible racer, she was as tough as nails. It's awesome to tie her." Pritchett shares another piece of history. Alexis DeJoria won the Funny Car title marking the first time women swept nitro titles at the same event. "It's absolutely incredible. Alexis and I go back a long ways. I felt this is our race to win, this is our time to double-up. One of her crew members is the brother of one of my crew members, so it's a double-up inside the family." The following are Sunday's final results from Brainerd: TOP FUEL Event winner: Leah Pritchett (Don Schumacher Racing) No. 1 qualifier: Leah Pritchett (Don Schumacher Racing) 3.640 sec.-world record, 330.63 mph LEAH PRITCHETT, Papa John's Pizza Fuel dragster - 3x winner, five finals in 2017 Crew chief: Todd Okuhara; Assistant: Joe Barlam SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATIONS First round: PRITCHETT (3.709 sec., 325.30 mph) def. Rob Passey (4.321, 247.75) Second round: PRITCHETT (3.715, 330.63) def. Scott Palmer (3.906, 257.48) Semifinals: PRITCHETT (3.666, 330.88) def. Clay Millican 3.792, 263.00) Final: PRITCHETT (3.682, 328.06) def. Antron Brown (4.001, 246.35) QUALIFYING RESULTS Qualified: No. 1 FRIDAY: 3.677 sec., 331.53 mph-career best, (first session); 3.640 sec.-world record, 330.63 mph, (second session) SATURDAY: 4.670, 155.65, (third session); 3.783, 322.19, (fourth session) BRAINERD BY THE NUMBERS A year ago at Brainerd: Qualified No. 8, lost in first round to Clay Millican Career at Brainerd: Wins 1 (2017), Runner-ups 0, Poles 1 (2017) 2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES TOP FUEL STANDINGS (Official after Brainerd; 17 of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS) 1. ANTRON BROWN (4) 1,513 ---- 2. Steve Torrence (6) 1,482 -31 3. LEAH PRITCHETT (4) 1,453 -60 4. TONY SCHUMACHER (1) 1,121 -392 5. Brittany Force (1) 1,052 -461 6. Doug Kalitta 1,038 -475 7. Clay Millican (1) 1,014 -499 8. Terry McMillen 722 -791 9. Scott Palmer 679 -834 10. Troy Coughlin Jr. 576 -937 12th annual DSR Open House for Riley Kids presented by Pennzoil set for 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Friday Sept. 1 to during U.S. Nationals Don Schumacher Racing will host its most special day of the year on Sept. 1 (Friday) when it opens its doors to the public to support Riley Hospital for Children with its 12th annual Open House presented by Pennzoil from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as the nitro kickoff for the NHRA U.S. Nationals. The DSR Open House presented by Pennzoil attracted more than 4,000 fans last year to DSR's 145,000-square-foot facility and raised a record $65,000 that pushed DSR's total contributions to over $500,000 for the Riley Hospital for Children. Open House activities include: * A meet and greet with DSR's seven winning drivers (Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown, Leah Pritchett, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan, Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr.) along with hall-of-fame owner Don Schumacher; * Expansive silent auction courtesy of DSR with racing memorabilia, products and services donated by friends and sponsors; * Behind-the-scenes access to the DSR drag racing facility including tours of its fabrication and machine shops; *One of the largest indoor car shows in Indiana featuring 200 of the Midwest's best custom and muscle cars, and motorcycles; * Cacklefest featuring nostalgia dragsters that will delight fans with the sounds of vintage nitro horsepower; * Papa John's Pizza will be selling pizza with all proceeds going to Riley Kids; Food trucks also will be on site with a portion of sales going to Riley; A new feature this year will be a performance by the Gordon Pipers bagpipe and drum marching band that features Scottish/Celtic culture and music. The Gordon Pipers have been one of the most popular elements of Indy 500 pre-race festivities and perform at Indianapolis Colts games and other major Indy events. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT DON SCHUMACHER RACING Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered near Indianapolis in Brownsburg, Ind., includes seven professional NHRA teams in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. In Top Fuel, the Leah Pritchett in the Papa John's Pizza dragster, U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher, the three-time and reigning world champion Matco Tools dragster driven by Antron Brown. In Funny Car, two-time world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane 2017 Dodge Charger R/T, 2016 world champion Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge and Chandler's Make-A-Wish Dodge with Tommy Johnson Jr. DSR has won 313 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships. Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368 Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward This Email to a Friend http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=5uv7snbab&m=1101041391262&ea=$submit@theautochannel.com$&a=1128657655238 This email was sent to submit@theautochannel.com by wolfj@shoeracing.com. 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