Last Friday, Leah Pritchett broke the Top Fuel national time record with a ludicrously quick 3.658-second pass at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, reaching a ridiculous 329.34 mph in that short time. Here’s everything she and her team had to remember to get out of the way to prepare for such a run.
Racing snobs tend to write off drag racing as overly simple, but there is nothing easy about keeping an 11,000-horsepower engine in top shape, or about keeping it heading in a straight line at speeds most road racers will never see.
Here’s not only Pritchett’s insanely fast record-breaking run, but the full ritual she went through beforehand. She doesn’t just strap in—she runs through a few systems checks and her crew has to attach the starter to the car just to get it going.
We’re big fans of the pre-run burnout, naturally.