Gary Pritchett had waited a long time for somebody to hand him the keys to a Top Fuel dragster and let him show what he could do. Doug Foley finally gave him that chance in 2026, and four races into the IHRA season, Pritchett had made a pretty convincing argument that Foley picked the right guy.
The scoreboard reads out like a veteran’s record with four races, four final rounds complete with two wins, two runner-up finishes and the points lead.
Then the IHRA season fell apart, leaving Pritchett with a championship lead that wasn’t going to produce the kind of championship he had spent his career chasing.
“We feel like we got cut short,” Pritchett said. “That was one of the big things Doug Foley and I and the team talked about was we didn’t want to get cut short of such a great season that we had.”
There was no questioning what Pritchett and the Foley team had accomplished. The question was what they might have done had the schedule continued.
“We really wanted to finish the season out because we started running really well, we started working together great as a team and it felt like all the stars were aligning,” Pritchett said.
Pritchett knows what winning a championship feels like, having been part of NHRA championship teams as a crew member. Leading the points when a series stops racing isn’t quite the same thing, regardless of what the standings say.
“There’s not a banquet or we’re not being crowned the world champ so it doesn’t really feel like you’re a world champ,” Pritchett said. “But inside as a team, we did the best we could, we performed very well.”
Pritchett could spend plenty of time complaining about how the season ended. Instead, he’s looking at what those four races did for a team that had struggled to find consistency.
Foley’s operation wasn’t running away from the competition when Pritchett climbed into the cockpit. Nor were they dragging behind but the reality was the crew had work to do, and so did its new driver.
“We proved that we can make consistent runs down the racetrack and run with the fast guys,” Pritchett said. “And in high pressure situations, we were able to perform.”
Foley had seen enough to know he wanted Pritchett back. The team owner announced recently that he has parked his Top Fuel operation for the remainder of 2026, but the dragster will return next season with Pritchett driving.
The organization will operate as Foley Racing beginning in January, dropping the Foley Lewis Racing name. The plan calls for an eight-race Top Fuel schedule in 2027, with crew chiefs Doug Kuch and Ron Douglas returning and the rest of the crew expected back.
United Garage Door and Coble Enterprises will remain primary sponsors. Insinger, Red Line, BAMR Restoration and TechnoCraft also are returning to the program.
Foley isn’t planning to return to the Top Fuel cockpit himself. He made that decision before the IHRA season, and Pritchett’s performance gave him no reason to reconsider.
“Gary’s going to return. Keeping the same two crew chiefs, which is Doug and Ron,” Foley said. “And right now, as far as I can tell is the entire crew’s coming back. And so that’s one thing that we really were concerned about, because we were stopping so early.”
Foley also has purchased an A/Fuel dragster for his sons, Doug Jr. and Joe, with Shane Conway and Ricky Howell involved in developing that program. Testing is planned as the brothers prepare for competition in 2027.
Pritchett has developed an appreciation for Foley that goes beyond having an owner willing to put him in the car. He sees some of the same qualities he admired in Bunny Burkett, another important figure in his racing life.
“I really look up to Doug Foley,” Pritchett said. “He has done a lot for the sport and he’s been on all the sides of it, that guy is a businessman. He knows how to race cars. He knows a lot about the car. He knows how to find the sponsors. He’s a great mentor.”
Pritchett also learned something about himself during those four races. Working on a Top Fuel dragster for years is one thing; being strapped into one with a round win on the line is another.
He discovered that winning from the driver’s seat can be a strangely solitary experience. The celebration starts on the starting line, but the driver is several hundred yards away when it happens.
“When you win in the race car, you’re down there by yourself,” Pritchett said. “You see the win light come on and it’s a little bit of an emotional experience by yourself, it’s just a whole different world.”
He hasn’t abandoned the racing that brought him this far, either. Pritchett continues competing in sportsman categories and driving Burkett’s Funny Car, and he would like nothing better than to bring a Top Fuel dragster to Maryland International Raceway, his home track.
The eight-race program with Foley is the next assignment. The bigger dream is to put together a full-time NHRA Top Fuel operation and find out what this group can accomplish over an entire season.
“That’s everything we’ve ever wanted,” Pritchett said. “That’s everything Doug Foley has ever wanted. If we had that, you got true, true drag racers from the grassroots, from the ground up that had nothing that made it and that would be the story. We finally made it and we’re going to do everything we can to make the best of it and win and have fun and enjoy every second of it because those deals go, they don’t last. And when they’re there, it’s like you hit the lottery.”
