{"id":26501,"date":"2014-03-25T22:29:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T05:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/?p=26501"},"modified":"2014-03-25T22:29:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T05:29:41","slug":"getting-to-know-leah-pritchett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know Leah Pritchett &#8211; More Than a Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Fgetting-to-know-leah-pritchett%2F&amp;media=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F03%2FLeah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3.jpg&amp;description=Getting+to+Know+Leah+Pritchett+%E2%80%93+More+Than+a+Driver\" class=\"pin-it-button\" count-layout=\"none\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img border=\"0\" src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/PinExt.png\" title=\"Pin It\" \/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button_count\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" data-via=\"myrideisme\" data-text=\"Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver&amp;body=https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/icons_small\/email.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Email\" title=\"Email\"\/><span class=\"mr_small_icon\">Email<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" data-text=\"Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver\" data-desc=\"I Met Leah Pritchett Driver of\u00a0Gumout Top Fueler \u00a0 Thank you to Nicole Erickson for the pictures!\u00a0Thanks to friends from Gumout, I met Leah Pritchett at her pits during the Arizona NHRA race at Wild Horse Pass. Check this out: \u00a0 She's always been daddy's girl at the track She's just the\" data-image=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3.jpg\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><h2>I Met Leah Pritchett Driver of\u00a0Gumout Top Fueler<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img class=\"alignnone  wp-image-26504\" title=\"Leah Pritchett - Gumout Top Fuel Dragster driver\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3.jpg\" width=\"575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3-200x150.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-3-575x431.jpg 575w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<address>Thank you to Nicole Erickson for the pictures!<\/address>\n<address>\u00a0<\/address>\n<p>Thanks to friends from Gumout, I met Leah Pritchett at her pits during the Arizona NHRA race at Wild Horse Pass. Check this out:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She&#8217;s always been daddy&#8217;s girl at the track<\/li>\n<li>She&#8217;s just the driver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>NOPE! Both are TOTALLY FALSE! Check it out&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-8.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leah Pritchett - Gumout Top Fuel Dragster driver\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-8.jpg\" width=\"575\" height=\"431\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ya know how before you meet someone you start to anticipate what they&#8217;re like? I guess you&#8217;d say it&#8217;s just guessing, but I just figured I knew a little more about Leah before I arrived&#8230;\u00a0OK. Yes. She&#8217;s good looking&#8230; Better looking in person too and believe this too: Easy to like! Our interview could have been done quicker except for all the friends stopping by to wish her luck.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After a disappointing first round loss, I expected Leah to be down. I would be! Losing first round sucks even if it&#8217;s a, &#8220;Run watch-cha brung&#8221; Wednesday night at your local track. She wasn&#8217;t happy, but she took it in stride. Running 15 races this year with the help of Gumout (up from only 12 last year) she&#8217;s got plenty to look forward to. Plus, she ran back to back career bests in qualifying even with any ear buds that help her communicate with her team. Distracted? No. Ear drums rattled? She bought two more pairs so she&#8217;d have a backup, so you decide.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-11.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Leah Pritchett - Gumout Top Fuel Dragster driver\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-11.jpg\" width=\"575\" height=\"384\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As we talked, I found out no, she&#8217;s not wide open all the time&#8230; At least not on the track. Wearing as many hats\u00a0as needed to get the job done for 2014, she&#8217;s got the big new sponsor, all the rigs rapped with the new colors, this cool new logo&#8230; but the driving&#8217;s only about 3% of the work she does. No, on an up and coming team, Leah&#8217;s not just the driver. She mixes the fuel, of course packs her own parachute and is always switched on for marketing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px;\" title=\"Leah Pritchett Logo\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett Logo\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/leah2.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"279\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Case in point&#8230; Leah&#8217;s \u00a0got her phone in her hand here getting introduced to the crowd. No doubt for her <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" title=\"Leah Pritchett's Twitter feed\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeahPritchettTF\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter <\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">and <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" title=\"Leah Pritchett's Facebook fan page\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Leah-Pritchett\/285984598127157\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0pages. As she&#8217;s building her team, her driving skills (best reaction time of round one!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-4.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img title=\"Leah Pritchett - Social media queen\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-4.jpg\" width=\"575\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-9.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img title=\"Leah Pritchett - Always time for fans!\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-9.jpg\" width=\"575\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So not just the driver, but she&#8217;s on the gas nearly all the time&#8230; but like I said, not daddy&#8217;s girl as you might guess.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Leah started Jr. dragster racing at 8 years old and knew at about 13 she wanted to race professionally. At 18 or so, she started racing for other teams to go faster and attend more races. Along the way, Dad&#8217;s influence wasn&#8217;t always positive. With skills on the volleyball court good enough for her to think of a possible scholarship, Dad saw sports as a distraction and wondered if Leah was working hard enough to make it. Well, I&#8217;d say she did! Finally, Leah chose Sportsman racing over the scholarship and now drives Top Fuel, the pinnacle of NHRA racing. The fastest machines on the planet! (and still got her college degree!)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-6.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[26501]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Leah Pritchett - Social media queen\" alt=\"Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel driver\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Leah-Pritchett-top-fuel-drag-racing-6.jpg\" width=\"575\" height=\"384\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It was my pleasure to meet Leah and spend just a little time with her. Even as a nobody at MyRideisMe.com, she followed up with a gracious and timely email. That&#8217;s more than I can say for this story! It&#8217;s great to have another team to root for!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"mr_social_sharing_wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Social Sharing Toolkit v2.2 --><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.myrideisme.com%2FBlog%2Fgetting-to-know-leah-pritchett%2F&amp;media=&amp;description=Getting+to+Know+Leah+Pritchett+%E2%80%93+More+Than+a+Driver\" class=\"pin-it-button\" count-layout=\"none\"><img border=\"0\" src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/images\/PinExt.png\" title=\"Pin It\" \/><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><fb:share-button type=\"button_count\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\"><\/fb:share-button><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"horizontal\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" data-via=\"myrideisme\" data-text=\"Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver\"><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><div class=\"g-plusone\" data-size=\"medium\" data-annotation=\"none\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\"><\/div><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a class=\"mr_social_share_email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver&amp;body=https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-sharing-toolkit\/images\/icons_small\/email.png\" class=\"nopin\" alt=\"Email\" title=\"Email\"\/><span class=\"mr_small_icon\">Email<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/span><span class=\"mr_social_sharing\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"linksalpha_button linksalpha_link\" href=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/social\/mobile\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/getting-to-know-leah-pritchett\/\" data-text=\"Getting to Know Leah Pritchett \u2013 More Than a Driver\" data-desc=\"I Met Leah Pritchett Driver of\u00a0Gumout Top Fueler \u00a0 Thank you to Nicole Erickson for the pictures!\u00a0Thanks to friends from Gumout, I met Leah Pritchett at her pits during the Arizona NHRA race at Wild Horse Pass. Check this out: \u00a0 She's always been daddy's girl at the track She's just the\" data-image=\"\" data-button=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/images\/social_share_button.png\" alt=\"Share\" class=\"linksalpha_image\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/scripts\/loader_iconbox.js?v=2.4\"><\/script><\/span><\/div><p>Email I Met Leah Pritchett Driver of\u00a0Gumout Top Fueler &nbsp; Thank you to Nicole Erickson for the pictures! \u00a0 Thanks to friends from Gumout, I met Leah Pritchett at her pits during the Arizona NHRA race at Wild Horse Pass. Check this out: &nbsp; She&#8217;s always been daddy&#8217;s girl at the track She&#8217;s just the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[19],"tags":[1946,2237,2236,376,444],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26501"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26521,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26501\/revisions\/26521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myrideisme.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}