Leah Pritchett was grateful for her canopy at the end of her first-round win over Shawn Langdon.

Leah Pritchett had an extra exciting weekend at Charlotte. Not only did she get a chance to go tandem skydiving with the U.S. Army Golden Knights but she also visited a Kannapolis (NC) Fire Station to honor firefighters on behalf of sponsor FireAde 2000 Personal Fire Suppression systems and then donned full firefighting gear to join in a training exercise inside a burning house a few hours before qualifying.

The excitement continued on the track with her first-round win in Countdown competition.

"We had trouble warming the car before the first round but figured out our electric issues. We worked together hard trying to figure it out from the get-go before we raced against (Richie) Crampton. I knew I was on an OK run but then it wasn't feeling so great. As soon as I lifted off the throttle, the motor blew. Huge fire, body panel comes off.

"If it wasn't for running a canopy, the panel would have hit me right in the face.  I've always been a believer in the canopy system and I am even more now - now that it saved me from getting hurt. As soon as the panel hit the canopy and got in my line of sight, I was looking for the win light and there it was.

"It was glowing. I've been racing for a long time and the turnaround we had right there, was one of the most intense. We had to rebuild the clutch (system) along with the body.

"Leaving in eighth is good. We had expectations of leaving higher than in 10th where we started, so I feel good about that."

"Today proved that the teamwork that we've been working on, actually showed. We showed we can work together at a championship caliber rate and pace. That's where we're at, and it will only get better."

Cameron Ferre (far lane) qualified number 14 in the field and got an unexpected win in the first round over Tony Schumacher, but was a no-show for his second-round match with Pat Dakin.