Bristol Event Recap for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals

Leah Pruett & Matt Hagan

Top Fuel | Funny Car
NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
June 9-11 | Bristol, Tennessee

Event Recap

Leah Pruett, driver of the Rush Truck Centers Top Fuel Dragster:
• Earned No. 16 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (15.426 ET at 38.87 mph)
• Earned No. 1 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.745 ET at 322.42 mph). Q2 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA New England Nationals that were delayed in Epping, New Hampshire due to rain.
• Round 1: 3.745 ET at 322.42 mph, defeated Doug Kalitta (3.764 ET at 319.22 mph)
• Scored three bonus points for quickest run of the session
• Maintained No. 1 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Pruett ran a 3.894 ET at 298.47 mph. Q3 also served as Round 2 of the NHRA New England Nationals.
• Round 2: 3.894 ET at 298.47 mph, lost to Mike Salinas (3.848 ET at 322.58 mph)
• Secured No. 1 qualifying position based off Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Pruett ran a 3.815 ET at 317.87 mph.
• NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Round 1: 3.824 ET (mph malfunction), lost to Spencer Massey (3.781 ET at 325.77 mph)
• Currently tied with Brown for fifth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 134 points behind Top Fuel leader Justin Ashley

Matt Hagan, driver of the Operation Healing Force/Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
• Earned No. 11 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.328 ET at 218.65 mph)
• Earned No. 9 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (4.051 ET at 308.50 mph). Q2 also served as Round 1 of the NHRA New England Nationals that were delayed in Epping, New Hampshire due to rain.
• Round 1: 4.051 ET at 308.50 mph, defeated Terry Haddock (9.974 ET at 73.00 mph)
• Maintained No. 9 qualifying position based off of Friday’s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Hagan ran a 4.608 ET at 193.16 mph. Q3 also served as Round 2 of the NHRA New England Nationals.
• Round 2: 4.608 ET at 193.16 mph, lost to J.R. Todd (4.117 ET at 314.90 mph)
• Secured No. 8 qualifying position in Q4 on Saturday (4.038 ET at 314.61 mph)
• Advanced to Round 2 in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals on Sunday:
• Round 1: 4.021 ET at 324.75 mph, defeated Mike McIntire Jr. (4.164 ET at 265.01 mph)
• Round 2: 3.952 ET at 330.23 mph, lost to Robert Hight (3.913 ET at 324.20 mph)
• Currently second in the Funny Car championship standings, 32 points behind leader Ron Capps

Notes of Interest

• Pruett earned her first No. 1 qualifier of the season, which marked the 14th of her career. It was also her first No. 1 qualifier at Bristol Dragway. Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier was the second of the season, following a provisional No. 1 qualifier in the last event at the NHRA New England Nationals.
• Hagan represented Operation Healing Forces (OHF) and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage (JHG) at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. OHF was formed in 2011 with the goal of strengthening human bonds amongst the Special Operation Forces (SOF) community. OHF’s programs are specifically designed and tailored to enable war-torn men and women to break through the silence and openly discuss their battlefield and personal hardships and provide needed support. OHF believes in reintegration, rehabilitation and resiliency. JHG was formed in 2021 by Jason Johnson and brings a passion and flare to the automotive realm. They aim to inspire, drive and celebrate progress. JHG spans across Johnson’s car collection featuring more than 200 sought after vehicles from classics, to hot rods and supercars. JHG’s mission is to preserve and showcase the automotive industry.

Leah Pruett, Driver of the Rush Truck Centers Top Fuel Dragster

“We might be going 320 plus miles per hour, but that run was slow motion. I was in as shallow as possible trying to go for that low ET (elapsed time) Sunday morning. About half track, I could tell the car wasn’t charging hard, but wasn’t spinning, so I stayed with it. Then I saw Spencer (Massey) out in front of me and pull away. I was taking it to the finish line and only got one parachute out, which made for a wildly bumpy ride. Bristol has been pretty brutal to us points-wise today. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to take our Rush Truck Centers dragster further into eliminations. Sometimes you’re the window, sometimes you’re the bug and we’ve been the bug lately for too long. Every round is pretty much a UFC match, whether people racing are full-time or part-time. I look forward to running Spencer again as he’s always a class act, but for now we’ll be getting straight to work finding the culprit of these randomly dropped cylinders.”

Matt Hagan, Driver of the Operation Healing Forces/Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car

“It looks like we’re struggling a little bit right now, but we’re actually making really good progress in preparation for the summer months and once we get into the Countdown. We have gathered a lot of great data this season and continue to do so in the heat. We just have to keep working at it, but we’re moving in the right direction. I have full confidence in Dickie (Venables – crew chief), Mike (Knudsen – co-crew chief), Alex (Conaway – car chief) and all of my guys. They’re working extremely hard and I know we will get back after it in Norwalk. I’m proud that we got to represent Operation Healing Forces and Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage this weekend.”

Next Up

The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals June 23-25 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

-TSR-

Contact Ashley Wilson
Tony Stewart Racing
(303) 594-8147 or [email protected]