If Leah Pritchett learned one lesson early in her career, it's to understand the regular season is a marathon and not a sprint.
 
Pritchett, who led the NHRA Top Fuel points earlier in the season, has now dropped to third behind Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher headed into the tenth race of the season. Peaking too early in the season is the least of her worries.
 
"If we can peak in the beginning of the season I think we can peak multiple times throughout the year," Pritchett explained. "[Fox TV pit reporter] Amanda [Busick] had asked last week if I was discouraged with qualifying last week when we weren’t on top and we weren’t in the bottom half of the field and I still have that same mentality of ‘absolutely not."

The second day of the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance at Beech Bend Raceway Park was a day filled of honoring the legends of racing at the scenic facility.

Grand marshal Eileen Daniels took part in events during the course of the day including the honoree’s reception. Daniels was recognized for her decades long dedication to racing and her passion for the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance.

 Bristol Dragway became the Father's Day destination for drag racing starved fans, as well as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2010.
 
Many of those who run in the professional ranks pay homage to their fathers on this weekend.
 
Probably one of the more famous fathers racing this weekend at the NHRA Thunder Valley is a drag racer who coveted sons and ended up with daughters. And for John Force, the 16-time champion, the gender deficiency has worked well in his favor.

Tim Wilkerson said before heading to Bristol Dragway that his primary Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang Funny Car was “doing things I don't think it should do.”

As he awaits a new car from builder Murf McKinney, Wilkerson is racing his back-up car. And it’s doing exactly what he wants it to do.

With ambient temperatures pushing 90 degrees and the track reading at 105 at about 9 p.m. Friday, Doug Kalitta managed to do what about half of the NHRA Top Fuel field could not.

He made it down the 1,000-foot Bristol Dragway course in the Mac Tools Dragster and took the tentative No. 1 qualifying spot for the Thunder Valley Nationals.

Troy Coughlin is the provisional No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Real Pro Mod Association, is the seventh of 12 events on the 2017 schedule.

Coughlin raced a 5.854-second pass at 254.33 mph in his JEGS Mail Order ’15 Corvette.

Doug Kalitta is the current Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier Friday evening at the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.  

Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) are also provisional qualifying leaders at the 11th of 24 events on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

With his graduation into Pro Stock, eighteen-year-old Tanner Gray completed a milestone. This Sunday, the third-generation drag racer will check off another significant achievement which took much longer, 12 years to be exact. 

Gray will graduate high school Sunday during pre-race festivities for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. He will attend in cap and gown, accompanied by his parents Shane and Amber Gray, grandparents Johnny and Terry, as well as a score of other family and friends. 

When you are born into the Coughlin family, drag racing participation isn't mandatory; it's recommended.

This weekend as the NHRA's Mello Yello Drag Racing Series rolls into Bristol Dragway for the Thunder Valley Nationals, there will be three generations of the decorated racing family in attendance for the Father's Day horsepower spectacular. 

Jeg Coughlin Sr., no longer races, choosing to live vicariously through his four sons, and grandchildren, two of whom race in NHRA competition. 

Morning showers couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the 2017 NHRA Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance at Beech Bend Raceway Park on the opening day of the three-day event. The event is a celebration of classic cars, nostalgic quarter-mile drag racing and numerous interactive displays at the facility.