NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

It wasn’t hard to find the happiest guy at Lucas Oil Raceway during Wednesday’s first day of the annual pre-U.S. Nationals test. That honor went to Gary Pritchett, who had the time of his life preparing for his NHRA diving debut behind the wheel of Jonnie Lindberg’s Landmeco Camaro Top Alcohol Funny Car. After a couple of warm-up runs, including one where a sprag broke in the transmission, Pritchett drove to a 5.72 at just 211-mph. Looking at the time slip, he quickly realized the run would have run in the 5.5s had he stayed in the throttle to the finish line. A while later, that notion was confirmed when Pritchett made a full 1,320-foot pass, and was rewarded with a very competitive 5.518 at 266.95 mph. By the end of the day, he’d qualified for his Top Alcohol Funny Car

Pritchett has been friends with Lindberg ever since the transplanted Swede and two-time national champion relocated to Brownsburg a couple of years go. The two had often joked about Pritchett driving Lindberg’s record-holding Camaro but that talk became more of a reality after Lindberg’s older brother, Johan, was forced miss the 2018 U.S. Nationals while he and wife, Coco, await the birth of their first child.

Talks began to get serious about a month ago, and Pritchett wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass him by.

“We talked seriously about doing this and when I went to my bosses [the Torrence family] they were cool with it,” said Pritchett, who has played a vital role in the success of Torrence’s Capco dragster over the past three seasons. “It meant a lot to me that the Torrence’s supported what I was doing. We worked to put together the funding and now it’s a reality. I drove this car last year at the PDRA race here in Indy, but we didn’t get to make a full run, and that was an eighth-mile race. I’ve also driven a nostalgia-type car, but this is different. The clutch, brake, shifter; it’s all different. And, it’s got a lot more power. I am convinced that the alcohol cars are the hardest to drive. I’m pretty humbled by this car and I’ve got nothing but respect for the people who can get in here and win with them. We still have a few sponsorship issues to iron out, but I’ll find a way to make that happen. Even if I don’t, I’ll sell something to get the money to do this. It’s going to happen.”

Lindberg’s car was in pieces when he and the rest of the teams returned from last weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, which meant a late-night thrash to prepare the car for the Indy test. With the help of friends and fellow crew members Dom and Bobby Lagana, Chuck Grospitch, Lindberg, and Pritchett’s wife, Leah, the car was ready to run at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Luckily, Lindberg’s shop is in Brownsburg, less than two miles from Lucas Oil Raceway so their early-morning commute was short.

“There were a few things on the car that I wanted to change and a few that I had to chance,” Lindberg explained. “Gary is a lot taller than I am, and he’s taller than my brother so we had to change the seat and move the steering wheel, brake and gas pedal to get him comfortable. I’ve also got a few tune-up things I want to try. Gary did a good job today. He’s going to be just fine.”

Pritchett had previously held a Top Fuel license but needed to make three runs in order to successfully cross-grade it to a Funny Car. He accomplished that on Wednesday and how plans to file the necessary paperwork with the NHRA Competition Dept. to officially enter the “Big Go.”

"That’s a dream come true for me,” Pritchett said. “I’ve wanted to do this my whole life. I’m lucky to have so many opportunities in this sport. I can’t thank Jonnie enough and the same goes for everyone who has helped us out.”