Leah Pruett walks away from scary NHRA Top Fuel Crash

Jeff Glucker

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Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett is currently in 3rd place of the 2020 NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing series. The entire nitro and noise circus is currently in Illinois and there are less than a handful of races in the season. But the one this past weekend was filled with action and a showcase of how well the safety features of a modern dragster really are built. We learned this with a clear lesson after watching Pruett’s Mopar monster snap in half and then take flight.

The dragster buckles in the middle not long after Leah leaves the starting line. That chassis failure leads to Pruett’s machine heading into the sky and sending her on a terrifying ride. Thankfully, the safety features all work as designed. The driver cell protects her as the chutes immediately come out and keep this crash from heading in more insane directions. And then the track safety workers are out to Leah in short order, but, amazingly, she gets out of the cockpit on her own. She appears a bit rattled but otherwise unhurt. Anyone would be pretty damn rattled by that. Just standing near the starting line of a Top Fuel event and witnessing the cars leave is enough to scramble your brain.

That was a crazy failure, a wild ride, and the only kind of result we can hope for when something like that happens. Hopefully, Pruett is cleared to get back behind the wheel and keep competing for her 2020 podium finish.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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11 responses to “Leah Pruett walks away from scary NHRA Top Fuel Crash”

  1. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    Is it too soon to crack Mopar jokes?

    Reply
    1. Jeff Glucker Avatar
      Jeff Glucker

      She’s ok so I think it’s alright

      Reply
  2. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Ii wouldn’t be surprised to see a rule change to change the underside of the car so that there isn’t so much surface area for the wind to push against.

    Are they still calling the season “Mello Yello” after Coke cut off the money spigot?

    Reply
    1. smokyburnout Avatar
      smokyburnout

      I dunno how much underbody aero has to do with it, I’d guess it’s a combination of already having enough horsepower to stand the car straight up and having a huge rear wing while the front wing is no longer attached to the car

      Reply
  3. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Why did it disintegrate though? Surely these cars are built to take the strain? Metal fatigue?

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Don’t know but the same thing has happened several times.

      Reply
      1. dukeisduke Avatar
        dukeisduke

        The chromoly tube frames on the cars are spliced, due to metal fatigue in the long span between the front axle and the cockpit. You can see this process at about 23 minutes in, in Season 1 Episode 3 of Mike Brewer’s World of Cars. In this episode Mike visits with Antron Brown, and travels with Antron to Don Schumacher’s shop, where Antron’s and Leah’s cars are built. We get to see the frame on Antron’s car being cut and spliced, and it’s spliced in two places – right behind the front axle, and just forward of the cockpit. So it’s possible it failed at the rear splice. Or it could be that it was just a random failure, not caught before the frame was due to be spliced.

        Reply
    2. njhoon Avatar
      njhoon

      I know the chassis is designed to flex, as for the panels they are the thinnest of carbon fiber with the minimum of dzus fasteners. As to why it folded in half my guess would be fatigue like yours.

      Reply
  4. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
    Peter Tanshanomi

    I find professional drag racing an odd trailblazer in gender equality. For as down-home, good-ol’-boy as it has always been, it seems to be the one sport (motor or otherwise) where women competing against men at the top echelon has ceased to even be much of a novelty.

    Reply
    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      And Leah is a great ambassador for the sport – very down-to-earth and very approachable.

      Reply
  5. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    She’s fortunate that she had the presence of mind to pull the chutes, and that the front of what was left of the car didn’t hit the wall. I mean, where it snapped, her feet were right there. It reminds me of Danny Ongais’ (ironically a Top Fueler) crash at Indy in 1981. Danny’s legs were sticking out of the front of the monocoque.

    Reply