Leah...a victorious weekend on the west coast

One week after advancing to the final round in Sonoma, Pruett followed up her strong NorCal performance by securing the second seed at the venue where she first got her NHRA start while competing in Jr. Dragsters 25 years prior. The Redlands, Calif. native opened eliminations with a round-one triumph over Steve Chrisman to earn the coveted quarterfinal Bye run. Against Mike Salinas in the semis, Pruett took the Sparkling Ice Spiked machine on a winning 3.927-second ride to secure a bid to the finals for the 18th time in her career.

Pruett was lined up and ready for battle against No. 7 qualifier Justin Ashley in the final showdown when her opponent chose to err on the side of caution after experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion, and opt-out of the run. That provided Pruett with her second solo opportunity of the day, and an uncontested win to officially earn her second Pomona Wally trophy (2017).

"First and foremost, I hope Justin (Ashley) is doing well. He is an incredible competitor and I wanted nothing but to race against him,” said Pruett of her final round Bye.

“This win is about the perseverance of this Sparkling Ice Spiked team, our dedication to do this on a home track is phenomenal,” added Pruett, who moved into fourth in the Top Fuel rankings after a frustrating dry spell that found her winless since Brainerd 2019. “Thank you so much to everybody that stuck with us. I mean, we dug deep. It's been a long time since I’ve seen a Wally (trophy). The most impressive part for me today was how our team has continued to persist and persevere and grow into the success region that we have right now.

“For (crew chief) Todd Okuhara to have an aggressive tuning persona and an application while being in the mud, and (assistant crew chief) Neal Strausbaugh, having leadership ability and bringing us all together. It's about the fundamentals of what's happening in the trailer and having each other's back and pulling the rope in the same direction. We had been doing that, but we really got in sync together and that's what makes me the most proud. This win is because of the progression over the last couple of weeks and what it has taken. The Sparkling Ice Spiked team definitely deserves every bit of this one no matter how it came. I'm very proud of them.”