NHRA Top Fuel Newcomer Leah Pruett Excels as Dote Racing Dragster Advances to Round Two at the 29th Annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.

MONROE, Ohio (Feb. 27, 2013) – Following a solid season debut at the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., the Dote Racing NHRA Top Fuel team looked to improve on their performance as the tour headed to Phoenix for the NHRA Arizona Nationals, and they did as new driver Leah Pruett scored her first round win in NHRA’s premiere category.

After qualifying No. 14 in Pomona, crew chief Doug Kuch found the right combination in Phoenix as Pruett entered Sunday’s final eliminations as the No. 7 seed, earning lane choice for her opening round match against Pomona champion Shawn Langdon. Both Pruett and Langdon are former racers in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League, and were one-time teammates in 1997, this was the first time they had faced each other in eliminations.

Pruett gained the starting line advantage with a .029-second reaction time to Langdon’s .052, but her car immediately began to shake the tires after dropping a cylinder. Langdon also smoked the tires and Pruett was able to quickly work the throttle and regain traction in order to take her first Top Fuel victory with a 4.522 elapsed time to Langdon’s 5.466.

“I am so thrilled to have won my first round in Top Fuel,” Pruett exclaimed. “This is a race I will never forget; winning in a pedal-fest against one of the best racers out here.”

 Hoping to build on the momentum of her first win, Pruett faced a less-than-ideal situation in the quarterfinals. The team’s data-recorder failed to gain any information from the opening round, depriving crew chief Kuch of critical information needed to tune the car for the team’s round two match against defending world champion Antron Brown. Despite Kuch’s best efforts, Pruett smoked the tires in the less-favored left lane and trailed Brown’s 3.786 E.T. to the finish line.

Afterwards, Kuch addressed the data-recorder issue, which also hampered the team during qualifying. “Without being able to review any data of our last qualifying run really made it difficult to prepare for first round,” said Kuch. “We also may have been a little over-center today, but we managed the best we could without having any run data to help us tune the car on race day.”

Following the Phoenix event, Pruett is now ranked 11^th in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel standings. She is also the only driver in the running for the prestigious Automobile Club Road to the Future Award, which recognizes the series’ top rookie driver, to record a round win this season.

The Dote Racing team will make its next appearance at the Amalie NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 15-17. The complete Dote Racing schedule can be found at www.DoteRacing.com as well as the latest updates on Facebook and Twitter at; @LeahPruett and @DoteRacing.

Source: DOTE Racing