{"id":38728,"date":"2017-04-24T11:42:45","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T18:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=38728"},"modified":"2018-08-16T12:34:37","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:34:37","slug":"pritchett-and-capps-dominate-at-2017-nhra-spring-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/pritchett-and-capps-dominate-at-2017-nhra-spring-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Pritchett and Capps Dominate at 2017 NHRA Spring Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pritchett
Photos courtesy NHRA Media.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The champions of the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series would be all the rage in the Lone Star State this weekend after the series made its first visit of 2017 to Royal Purple Raceway for the 30th<\/sup> annual NHRA SpringNationals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top Fuel
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\"Pritchett<\/p>\n

For the third time this season, the new Girl On Fire<\/a> piloted her Don Schumacher Racing Papa John\u2019s dragster to a SpringNationals Top Fuel victory. After defeating Scott Palmer and Doug Kalitta as well as defending champion Antron Brown, Pritchett moved on to face top qualifier Steve Torrence in the finals. Despite picking up a best pass, of 3.672 seconds, during Saturday\u2019s qualifying session and defeating No. 1 Top Fuel qualifier Clay McMillan, Torrence\u2019s luck would change during Sunday\u2019s final elimination race after taking on one of the hottest Top Fuel drivers on the NHRA circuit.<\/p>\n

With a 3.781-second pass at 321.96 MPH, Pritchett would take down Torrence\u2019s powerful Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster, which put up a fight with a 3.787-second pass at 322.11 MPH. Thanks to her latest win, Pritchett not only picked up another Wally, but achieved her real goal of taking over the Top Fuel points lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal was to leave as the points leader, and that was not easy at all,\u201d said Pritchett. \u201cGoing into the finals, we said this is our bounce back and we\u2019re going to keep it interesting. I have never been in a position to be counting points and I know it is early in the season, but I\u2019m definitely enjoying this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Funny Car<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pritchett<\/p>\n

Following Pritchett\u2019s impressive win, another champion would prove that his Funny Car would be the one to beat during Sunday\u2019s finals after racing his way past Todd Simpson, 16-time world champion John Force and\u00a0teammate Jack Beckman before facing Robert \u2018Top Gun\u2019 Hight for the win.<\/p>\n

Despite Capps\u2019 engine violently exploding as he crossed the finish line, Hight experienced similar engine problems after crossing the center line and would lose the chance to take home another win for this John Force Racing team.
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