24 ENGINEBUILDERmag.com | AUGUST 2020
A
ll it takes is 3.6 seconds for Leah Pruett to cover the length of the dragstrip at 335 mph.
Her road to becoming an NHRA Top Fuel race driver – a whole heck of lot longer than that.
Despite the challenges of becoming a driver at the highest levels of motorsport, that has
never deterred Leah from going after what she wants to achieve on the track.“I grew up around motorsports, but
not drag racing,” Leah Pruett says.
“My father was a land speed racer at
Bonneville and El Mirage, so all I ever
knew was scraping salt o the car and
making dirt clumps.”
Before long, Leah and her older
sister were encouraged by their dad
to race in the Junior Drag Racing
League and the journey to the NHRA
had begun.
“ at’s the rst form of drag
racing I ever saw was somebody in a
20 second 1/8th mile – the slowest
thing in the world,” she laughs.
After attending a national event
at Pomona when she was 12 years
old, Leah fell in love with everythingabout Nitro.
“We would be in the stands all
day,” she says. “We would tape o
blankets to mark our spot. I loved the
cars, the Pedal Fest, the $18 hotdogs,
waiting for John Force and Tony
Schumacher’s autograph – all of that.
I wanted to become a professional
race car driver.”
e big question in Leah’s mind- how to do that? Leah kept racing,
started nding small sponsors, started
to elevate her racing status and
focused on someday representing the
world’s largest and most reputable
brands.
“I would attend the SEMA Show
and try and talk to Shell, Pennzoil
and Dodge, speci cally,” Pruett
says. “I was focused on relationship
building. I’d proven myself on the
race track and won championships.
My rst big break-in point was
getting a call from Don Schumacher
Racing asking if I’d be interested in
driving Nitro.”
is year marks Leah’s fourth year
racing for Don Schumacher Racing.
She won the World Championship in
Factory Stock in 2018 and is looking
to regain that top spot.
“We’re really trying to shove it
down their throat, and in racing,
because it’s such a competitive sport,
that’s how you need to drive,” Pruett
says. “ at’s how you need to tune.
at’s how you need to race. From
a driver’s standpoint, I feel like I’ve
always had to prove myself more as a
female.
“One, my dad told me I would
never be as good as the boys, so I
focused on being better than the boys.
To further prove my worth, I said I
would never want to be a helmet back
driver, much less a female helmet
back driver. at has pushed me to
work on the cars, build them from
a chassis standpoint with the Funny
Car crew, perform clutch work, etc.
“I don’t think that the guys like it
too much when the female portion
gets super, super played up, but at
the end of the day, take Brittany or
I or Erica out of it and the fact that
we’re female, the stats are still freaking
amazing because of the people that
make that job happen. Unfortunately
for everybody else, our will as females
to prove everybody wrong has become
extremely empowering for other
people who want to be behind it.
“I’m looking to win a national
championship. I’m not satis ed with
not being number one. I want to put
Don Schumacher Racing back on
top.” EBLEAH PRUETT
DRIVER, DON SCHUMACHER RACING
23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 24 8/7/20 8:29 AM
Naresh Jariwala