Leah Pruett Channels Tom Brady, Tony Stewart for 2021 NHRA Focus

Leah Pruett had an epiphany.

And it wasn’t when the NHRA drag racer was twirling via the air at St. Louis final September as a result of her 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster broke in half and launched her like an astronaut, then slammed her again to the asphalt.

And it wasn’t when she broke her proper foot in the course of the offseason in a kickboxing incident. That, nevertheless, satisfied her how a lot safer she feels, surprisingly, in her unpredictable, nitromethane-powered, 11,000-horsepower beast.

No, she got here to the belief that she possible will enhance from consecutive fourth-place season finishes prior to now three seasons if she merely does one factor: give attention to herself and her personal group.

She heard Tremendous Bowl MVP and profitable quarterback Tom Brady say the essential elements for fulfillment are “simply confidence in your self and specializing in your self.” Perhaps she found it by observing her boyfriend, motorsports mogul Tony Stewart. She mentioned he has a behavior of being “targeted on the dynamic of being good.”

That’s arguably an inconceivable aim, however from her relationship with Stewart—driver and sequence, racetrack, and group proprietor—she has gleaned a contemporary perspective on the whole ecosystem of motorsports. However she has remoted maybe probably the most vital behavior for a profitable particular person driver. And it simply may be what’s going to deliver her a High Gasoline championship to go together with those she has gained within the NHRA’s Manufacturing facility Inventory Showdown (2018) and Sizzling Rod Heritage Humorous Automobile (2010) courses.

She additionally had three Professional Modified victories earlier than incomes eight High Gasoline wins in 16 finals. However this new technique may show to be career-pivoting for her, beginning with this weekend’s Amalie Oil Gatornationals season-opener at Gainesville, Fla.

“My efficiency elevated on the finish of 2020 as a result of I now not cared who I used to be towards within the different lane,” Pruett advised WFO Radio’s Joe Castello. “I do know what I must do and what my group must do. And if we do this proper . . .

“I’m beginning the season like that,” she mentioned. One other position mannequin for her, she mentioned is certainly one of her chief rivals on the monitor. “I like Doug Kalitta. He’s so targeted on a regular basis,” she mentioned. “He’s bought a enterprise to run in the course of the week. He flies in, he will get the job completed, and he flies out. Drag racing isn’t his life. That’s maturity. Maturity goes via waves, and it’s about staying in your lane. I’m in a wave of my maturity journey of drag racing.”

Maturity, sure. Perhaps the journey to success, in itself, isn’t simple, however perhaps the habits of a driver are basic. This new outlook for her and her entire Mopar Dodge Dragster group has led them to taking, in her phrases, “each single alternative—of time—to delve into ‘What can we do higher and larger and extra environment friendly?’ I’m right here to inform you: This Mopar group, we’re not simply collaborating on this 2021 season.”

The group goal, she mentioned, is “to be higher than we have been final 12 months.” And he or she had a season that many would envy, minus the crash at St. Louis. Pruett by no means misplaced within the first spherical and by no means dropped within the standings under fourth place. In a pandemic-marred 12 months that’s dragging right into a second, she mentioned she and her group are “not simply surviving however thriving.”

She was gritty and relentless earlier than she ever met Stewart. Her father, Ron, whom she misplaced in January, handed alongside to her his motto of “Laborious work, dedication, and focus.” She has a tattoo with that ingrained, actually engraved, on her.

Proof of it’s what caught the attention of her former sponsor, “Papa John” Schnatter. He mentioned when he met her, he observed burns on her arm. He was intrigued to seek out out they have been from a sizzling muffler, as a result of Schnatter not solely had completed some drag racing but additionally had his personal oven burns from baking pizzas. And he was impressed along with her hustle.

And he or she has needed to hustle to earn her place within the sport, first with the privateer Dote group, then notably when Bob Vandergriff Racing abruptly dissolved proper after she had simply gained her first High Gasoline trophy. She’s with Don Schumacher Racing, the sports activities’ most profitable group with 358 victories. However even Schumacher has inspired her to tone down her admirably frenzied quest for sponsorship {dollars} and social-media supremacy, calling it a “distraction.”

Schumacher acknowledged she “works very laborious at that,” however he additionally mentioned, “Leah wants to pay attention extra on her job. Her job isn’t essentially to be out beating the doorways for sponsors and worrying about that and all of that distraction. She loves it. She loves doing that. That’s a part of what she likes to do.”

She didn’t shrug off her highlight-reel crash at St. Louis precisely, for she mentioned she has watched video of it nearly each week and mentioned she remembers “each single portion of it from the way it felt when it left the [starting] line.” However she did come to treat it as “a blessing in disguise.” It was simply one other lesson in Pruett’s college of laborious knocks.

Don Schumacher’s yardstick usually measures intangibles, and he mentioned towards the top of final 12 months, “Oh, my—you don’t have any concept how gritty she is and what a robust competitor she is and what a tough employee she is. She has actually stepped herself up this 12 months, and I’m actually enthusiastic about what we’re in 2021.” However along with her new mindset, he may see much more eyebrow-raising outcomes.

In drag racing, racers don’t practice with simulators. “The simulator’s proper right here,” she advised Castello, pointing to her head. And perhaps that ought to fear her opponents, particularly those who haven’t concluded, like Pruett, that the bottom line is to disregard every little thing you possibly can’t management.

As for her problem to earn her first High Gasoline title, the query is whether or not anybody can derail the Steve Torrence practice as he powers towards a fourth consecutive championship. Pruett mentioned, “If there’s anyone that may do it, we’re undoubtedly that group. We are able to’t outspend them, however I suppose we will outwork them. We are able to outwork, outplan, outlast, and all these Survivor issues. That’s what it’s going to take. They’ve bought all the nice assets, however it’s not inconceivable. It may be completed. It lies with coronary heart.”

She praised the Torrence group’s coronary heart however mentioned her co-crew chiefs, Todd Okuhara and Neal Strausbaugh, have loads, too. “I don’t wish to say, ‘Steve, we’re coming for you,’ as a result of no, we’re going to remain in our personal lane. However for the followers, that is going to be an amazing season to observe, I can assure you.”

One benefit Pruett and group have this season is the dearth of musical dragsters and overloaded crew chiefs. Final 12 months, her stock was raided when the group introduced again Cory McClenathan and Tony Schumacher. The additions have been optimistic ones, to make certain, however it meant switching chassis and all kinds of behind-the-scenes breaks in routine. She mentioned it has been reassuring to start this season with the possibility to give attention to only one automotive.

And he or she has her objectives properly outlined, this formidable racer who’s competing not solely in High Gasoline however within the Manufacturing facility Inventory Showdown Drag Pak Challenger eight-race sequence.

“I all the time have objectives to win races and a championship. Nevertheless, going winless in 2020 has made me set extra particular incremental objectives. I intend to win at the least three nationwide occasions this season. Name it a aim, or bucket checklist, or dedication to no matter it can take this season—my aim is to win each a High Gasoline and Manufacturing facility Inventory Showdown nationwide occasion title on the identical day. We’ve got eight alternatives to take action this 12 months, and my intention after 4 years of perfecting the craft of competing in each is to solidify this aim.”

It doesn’t pay to doubt Pruett, for she nonetheless clings to an announcement she made final 12 months about her profession historical past: “Every thing that shines brilliant within the gentle all the time occurs at nighttime.”

She isn’t afraid of the darkish—or any of her opponents. She barely will discover them.

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