Leah Pruett turns 33 years old today, and while birthdays are always a momentous occasion, this particular year is extra special for Pruett as it marks the 25th anniversary – to the day – that her NHRA career began.
 
Pruett, a native of Redlands in Southern California, grew up around racing and her journey to becoming a bonafide championship-contender in the NHRA’s premier Top Fuel category started when she officially joined the NHRA’s Jr. Dragster youth racing program on her eighth birthday.

NASCAR’s Wood Brothers team may be the only racing operation that has bled Ford blue longer than the Tasca family of Rhode Island.

Those long-time ties certainly didn’t hurt when Bob Tasca III made repeated pitches to upper management to resume sponsorship in drag racing after it pulled out in 2014. And Tasca essentially put everything on the line when he made his bid for Ford backing: We’ll run up front — or else.

Tasca’s promotional prowess looks especially prescient since Jim Farley was elevated to Ford Motor Company’s CEO and president in October 2020. The latter’s promotion from within meant that racing had a major supporter in the highest place in the company, and Tasca was able to make the most of his family ties.

Funny Car racer Bobby Bode surprised even himself last October 24, when he debuted here as an Arizona State University freshman majoring in business administration.

At the time, so many aspects of his life were new experiences: late-night math exams via computer, for example, not to mention trying to juggle his need to study and his desire to concentrate on his racing career.

“It’s pretty hard,” he said of trying to hit the books after hitting the throttle of an 11,000-horsepower Funny Car. (Take that, campus cruisers at Tempe!)

Dave Stine grew up in a hot rodding family. His father, John, and mother Joyce were both car people who enjoyed their hot rods, passing on that love to their offspring. Dave and his brother Dean both raced motorcycles for a while before Dave became infatuated with four wheels, finally ending up with a dragster to run in NHRA’s Super Comp class.

In the meantime, growing up with sort of the same foundation, Kara Stricker began with Jr. Dragsters, working with her father Jeff, who is a noted racer himself. Finally, Kara found herself behind the wheel of a Top Dragster and a separate Super Comp car, earning a number of Wallys along the way including a divisional championship.

At Houston Raceway Park, Steve Torrence was like a Timex watch: He took a lickin’ and kept on tickin’.

But Monday afternoon at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals it was Torrence’s time.

Thanks to the financial complications of COVID, Robert Hight had to sit out of competition from the February 2020 race at Phoenix until the delayed first event of this year in March at Gainesville, Fla.

All he had won since the September 2019 race at Charlotte was a AAA promotional fan-popularity contest through the Internet over NASCAR’s Joey Logano – cool for him, but not the rush of winning four rounds of NHRA drag racing and holding another Wally trophy.

For Matt Hartford and his team, it could have been easy to get distracted during this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals at Baytown, Texas.

They could have concentrated on and complained about the rainstorms that forced cancellation midweek of Friday’s qualifying at Houston Raceway Park, constantly threatened Saturday’s lone day of Pro Stock qualifying, and washed out Sunday’s racing altogether in their class.

Point standings (top 10) following the 34th annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, the fifth of 22 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the 34th annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, the fifth of 22 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series: