Leah Pritchett, Robert Hight Set National Records in Brainerd Qualifying

Leah Pritchett

Brainerd International Speedway saw a record setting night of racing at the 36th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on Friday.

Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel) and Robert Hight (Funny Car) ran national elapsed-time record runs in their respective categories during qualifying.

Tanner Gray (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also provisional qualifying leaders at the 17th of 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

Pritchett piloted her Papa John's Pizza dragster to the quickest run in NHRA history with a pass of 3.640-seconds at 330.63 mph to close out the second qualifying session while Hight's 3.793 pass at 338.00 in his Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS also landed him in the record books.

Pritchett held the previous Top Fuel national record of 3.658 set in Phoenix at the beginning of the season.

"We've looked forward to this night session for a long time," Pritchett said. "Knowing that Brainerd, this track, this surface, the conditions and what NHRA is able to do to it, lays down the ground work for us to pull out the most power possible. That's what this team did. They have been working tirelessly at finding small amounts of power here, there and everywhere and to be able to put it on the track tonight was incredible."

Robert Hight

Hight's pass was the first 3.7 second run in Funny Car history, he also holds the Funny Car national speed record of 339.87 set recently at Sonoma Raceway.

In Pro Stock, rookie Gray holds the No. 1 position with a 6.607 at 208.617, while Arana Jr. leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle field after running a 6.879 pass at 194.24 on his Lucas Oil Buell in the second qualifying session.

Qualifying at the 36th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will continue Saturday at 1:50 p.m. ET.