Leah Christine Pruett (formerly Leah Pritchett, born May 26, 1988) is an American

drag racer Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

, currently driving an

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 seconds ...

dragster for Tony Stewart Racing.

Racing career

Pruett debuted in Top Fuel in 2013 with Dote Racing after previously competing in Pro Mod and Nostalgia

Funny Car Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appea ...

. Her first career national event win on the professional level came February 28, 2016 at the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the ...

, defeating

Brittany Force Brittany Leighton Force (born July 8, 1986) is an NHRA drag racer and 2-time NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel dragster champion. She is the daughter of drag racer John Force and the sister of fellow racers Courtney Force and Ashley Force Hood. Car ...

in the first all-female final round in Top Fuel since 1982. She finished seventh in points in 2016 with one win, fifth in 2017 with four wins, and fourth in 2018 (two wins), 2019 (one win) and 2020 (no wins). In 2021, she claimed one win. On October 14, 2021, Pruett was announced as the Top Fuel driver for Tony Stewart Racing in 2022.

Personal life

Pruett was married to Gary Pritchett, who is a crew member for NHRA Top Fuel drag racer Steve Torrence. Leah filed for divorce from Gary on July 31, 2019, in Hendricks County, Indiana. Leah was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct in Hendricks County, Indiana, on October 21, 2012. The terms of a pre-trial conversion agreement were met on February 7, 2014. She and former

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

driver

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

announced their engagement through simultaneous

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

posts on each of their accounts on March 18, 2021. They married on November 21, 2021 in

Los Cabos, Mexico Los Cabos () is a municipality located at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, in the state of Baja California Sur. It encompasses the two towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo (the municipal seat) linked by a thirty ...

. She is not related to former

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

open-wheel racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single-s ...

and

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

driver

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go ...

Career highlights

* Claimed the NHRA SAMTech Factory Stock Showdown championship in 2019, DSR's first series championship in their first year in the class. Pruett is also the only female champion in the short history of the class. * Pruett also won the 2010 Nostalgia Funny Car title in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series * Has earned 12 total event wins (9 in

, 3 in Pro Modified) * Has a career best E.T. of 3.631 seconds, and a best speed of 334.15 miles per hour

References

External links

Leah Pruett official websiteDon Schumacher Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruett, Leah Living people American racing drivers Female dragster drivers Dragster drivers Racing drivers' wives and girlfriends 1988 births