Leah Pritchett (shown) was pumped up for the first round Sunday as the Dote Racing team prepared her Gumout "Solid Gold" Top Fuel dragster. Pritchett had posted 3.79 and 3.83 in the last two first contests at Bristol and Norwalk.

Everything looked good going into the first race of the day as Pritchett was ready to battle veteran J.R. Todd at the Joliet drag racing facility.

"We looked over all of the information on Saturday night after the final qualifying round was rained out and we felt good about the first round today (Sunday)," said Pritchett, who qualified tenth in the 16-driver Top Fuel field with a 3.78-second run on Saturday. "I know I was excited for the first round and we felt the car would have a good pass."

Unfortunately, the good feelings went sour for Pritchett and her Dote Racing squad right after the opening burnout Sunday. After staging for the match-up against Todd, the Gumout 'Solid Gold" car had an issue immediately at the starting line and Leah's day was done.

FUNNY CAR

Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Terry Chandler-sponsored Make-A-Wish Funny Car team have been waiting all year for this day, and it finally came on Sunday at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

It was a Funny Car intra-squad battle when Johnson in the Dodge Charger R/T with crew chief John Collins defeated teammate and points leader Matt Hagan. Hagan's Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team with crew chief Dickie Venables has won four events this year but suffered his first championship round loss of the season when his car lost traction at the starting line. The win moved Johnson into sixth in the point standings and put him into the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, along with DSR teammates Hagan and Jack Beckman.

Johnson was in something of a mini-slump at the two most recent events on the tour and exited in the first round at both Bristol and Norwalk, but on Sunday in Chicago there was a whole new story to tell. Starting from the No. 4 position, his best qualifying position since earning the No. 1 spot in Epping three races ago, Johnson launched into eliminations with a 4.102-second pass at 308.21 mph to advance on a fouling Brian Stewart, who left the starting line .065-second too soon.

Sacrificing lane choice to DSR teammate Jack Beckman in the quarterfinals proved irrelevant, and Johnson sailed smoothly down to the 1,000-foot mark with a 4.068, 305.22 to beat his friendly foe - both driver's teams are sponsored by Terry Chandler.

His 4.06 was good for lane choice over Cruz Pedregon in the semifinals, and Johnson was on a tear as he launched off the starting line with a blazing .057-second reaction time to Pedregon's .091. At the finish line stripe it was all Johnson with a 4.101, 305.08 to his opponent's 4.116, 299.53.

"The days you win, you get up and you feel it," said Johnson Jr. "I woke up this morning feeling like we were the car to beat. We've had a really good car, a really good performance but we couldn't get it to go our way and we kind of beat ourselves a couple of times with mistakes. I've got to hand it to our guys. They kept working. The last two races in qualifying the car has been flawless."